Maimonides Scholars Online Seminars
Jewish Ideas Seminars (Choose ONE)
These courses meet 2x per week over a two-week period. They are only open to Maimonides Scholars.
Session One
What is a Way of Life? Jewish Law and its Discontents with Rabbi Jason Rubenstein
June 29, July 1, July 6, and July 8 / Mon. and Wed. / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Together we’ll explore the central questions of Judaism: How are we to live? How should we make decisions about how to live? Can we reach consensus on Jewish living – and should we? And of course, where is God in all this talk about behavior? Our inquiry will proceed thematically, rather than chronologically. We will examine common frameworks around law, custom, authority and autonomy, and we will consider such questions as whether plurality is really a fancy word for chaos. In each discussion, we will aim for personal connection to the material—which will include writings from Paul of Tarsus, Judith Plaskow and Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik, among others—as well as honest, direct dialogue between participants.
Creation, Peoplehood, Redemption with Rabbi Mark Gottlieb
June 29, July 1, July 6, and July 8 / Mon. and Wed. / 6:30 pm – 8:00 PM EDT
This intensive seminar, grounded in classical and contemporary Jewish sources and texts, will examine the relationship between creation, the meaning of peoplehood (both Jewish and general), and the redemption of humanity and the cosmos in Jewish thought. Was humanity created along ethnic, cultural, and political lines or is the division we recognize today a departure from our original being? Is plurality or unity more congenial for our human nature? How did Judaism revolutionize the ancient world in opposition to both more imperialistic and more pluralistic worldviews? Texts include the biblical narratives of creation and the Tower of Babel, select passages from the Talmud, medieval thinkers like Maimonides, and modern religious figures like Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Jonathan Sacks.
Session Two
Justice, Ethics, Theology with Dr. Seth Appelbaum and Kate Rozansky
July 27, July 29, August 3, and August 5 / Mon. and Wed. / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
God is said to be just, and to wish for us to be just. But what is the nature of the justice that we ought to pursue? Where does it come from and what are its limits? The Torah raises this question, but gives no easy answers. In this class, we will seek to understand what the Torah teaches about the origin of injustice, what nations require to create justice within themselves, how the people of Israel ought to relate to others, and ultimately, what role justice plays in the seemingly indifferent, chaotic cosmic order.
Abraham: The Man, The Myth, The Legend with Shuli Taubes
July 27, July 29, August 3, and August 5 / Mon. and Wed. / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions each claim Abraham as the “first” Jew, Christian, and Muslim. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard dubbed him the “knight of faith,” while the German philosopher Immanuel Kant accused him of attempted murder. Through a careful examination of the biblical text, rabbinic tradition, Christian Bible, Quran, and modern interpretations, we will explore the life, lore, and legacy of Abraham.
Maimonides Scholars Electives (Choose up to TWO)
These courses meet 2x per week over a two-week period. They are only open to Maimonides Scholars.
Session One
American Jews and the Religious Liberty Project: From Polygamy and Peyote to Contraception and COVID with Dr. Michael A. Helfand
June 30, July 2, July 7, July 9 / Tues. and Thurs. / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
What should the law do when church and state collide? As a country, we have long debated the extent of the religious-liberty protections owed to individuals and institutions. These questions, which remain pressing to all faith communities, have been of particular importance for American Jews. The goals of this course are two-fold: First, we will seek to understand how constitutional principles of religious liberty govern the relationship between church and state. Second, we will consider how the Jewish community, as a paradigmatic religious minority, has and should continue to engage in ongoing religious-liberty debates.
Zionism and Political Philosophy with Dr. Rachel Fish
June 30, July 2, July 7, July 9 / Tues. and Thurs. / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
This four-part course explores the writings, debates, points of synergy and divergence among Zionist theoreticians. We will study the writings of Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha’am, Abraham Isaac Kook, A.D Gordon and other representatives of Jewish nationalist thought. As we explore the cacophony of Zionisms in the 19th and 20th centuries we will map these ideas onto the present to understand their enduring legacies within Israeli society and politics.
Session Two
Genesis: A Family Drama with Dr. Ronna Burger
July 28, July 30, August 4, and August 6 / Tues. and Thurs. / 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
The Torah opens with God’s creation of the universe, culminating in His creation of Adam, a being in His own image and likeness. The narrative continues with a universal history of mankind, but then turns to a new beginning: God’s selection of Abraham as the father of a particular people, meant to become a “light unto the nations.” The Torah might have gone on, it seems, directly to Moses. Instead we witness, over several generations, a pattern of recurrent problems: the threat of barrenness, problems of succession, bitter rivalries, marital strife, and the constant possibility of fratricide. Our reading of the Book of Genesis will closely examine this family drama and ask why it should provide the foundation for the Torah.
Technology and Freedom with Dr. RJ Snell
July 28, July 30, August 4, and August 6 / Tues. and Thurs. / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
For some, technology has supplanted religion as a source of hope—perhaps even the hope to overcome death. As such, technology alters the way we experience and understand the world, politics, freedom, and ourselves. How ought we to think about technology so as to benefit from its advances while also preserving the wisdom offered by tradition, religion, and the humanities? And how can we use technology so we master it instead of allowing it to master us? In this course, we’ll explore these and other questions prompted by the daunting technological innovations of modernity.
Ideas Electives (Choose up to TWO)
These courses meet 1x per week over a four-week period. They are open to both Maimonides and Tikvah Scholars.
The Heroes of Zionism: Herzl and Jabotinsky with Dr. Brian Horowitz
June 14, June 21, June 28, and July 5 / Sunday / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Two ideas—nationhood and political self-determination—form the basis of a particular kind of modern Zionism. It embodies seemingly contradictory elements: a homeland exclusively for the Jewish people that also emphasizes liberal-democratic principles, from religious freedom to minority rights. In this course, we will examine two thinkers who helped craft this worldview: Theodor Herzl and Vladimir (or Ze’ev) Jabotinsky. Through their forceful activism and writing, they articulated original ways to conceive of the Jews as a nation and the subject of their own political fate.
The Magic of the Market: Literature and Economics with Dr. Sarah Skwire and Dr. Steve Horwitz
June 14, June 21, June 28, and July 5 / Sunday / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Students in this course will have the opportunity to make economics come alive through literature, and consider how literature presents the ideas of economics by engaging in a wide-ranging conversation with instructors designed to deepen understanding of both subjects. Team-taught by an economist and a literature scholar, the course will introduce students to the concepts of specialization/division of labor, opportunity cost, subjective value, and spontaneous order. Readings may include authors such as Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, Frederic Bastiat, Frank O’Hara, the Brothers Grimm, and Robert Frost.
Economics and the Human Good with Dr. James Otteson
June 15, June 22, June 29, and July 6 / Monday / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
What contribution can the principles of economic reasoning make toward our understanding of the nature of, and the chances of achieving, the human good? In this course, we will examine seminal texts exploring human nature, the nature of the human condition, the nature of a good human life, and how markets and economics affect our ability to create lives of meaning and purpose.
American Autobiographies: Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglas with Louis Petrich
July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3 / Monday / 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT
Benjamin Franklin was the first person to define, by means of his own personal history, what it means to be an American, in possession of new virtues befitting the new political and economic orders of the country that he did so much to found. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a classic of the genre, and exemplary Americans ever since have emulated its form and ambition. Perhaps the greatest in that sequence is “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself.” Participants in this seminar will read and discuss both these autobiographies to witness how human beings become cultured by western civilization in its latest American incarnation. Central to that activity of formation is the study of certain worthy things and the fight against enemies inside and out to make oneself worthy of them.
Freedom without Freedom with Dr. Tamara Tweel
July 13, July 20, July 27, August 3 / Monday / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
Try to define freedom. Do you land on words like choice, speech, or even obligation? Does your language emerge from the realm of politics or literature, psychology or religion? In this course, we will study the evolving idea and experience of freedom. Studying texts chosen from ancient philosophy, modern literature, and political history, we will read excerpts from Thucydides, Frederick Douglass, and Herman Melville. We will ask ourselves how this term has developed and begin to shape our own definitions of a concept that has great relevance for our moral and political lives, particularly in a time of uncertainty, instability, and confinement.
The Nature of Reason with Rabbi Mark Gottlieb and Dr. RJ Snell
July 14, July 21, July 28, August 4 / Tuesday / 11 AM – 12:30 PM EDT
In our cultural moment, society appears to have decided to favor quantitative over qualitative reasoning, and with notable results in the sciences, technology, and medicine. At the same time, this reduction of reason to what can be “observed and counted” has left a gaping hole in issues relating to morality, spirituality, and meaning. Can our understanding of reason be expanded to avoid reductionism while still remaining rational and rigorous? Can reason be large enough to make meaningful contributions to our understanding of morality and religion?
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