September, 2015
To our members and friends, I hope you are all well.
As the New Year approaches, we have a robust new season of Institute programs in store. This report will give an overview, and upcoming reports will announce more specifics as the dates get closer.
A major exciting development over this past summer is that we have created a partnership with Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the East of Side of Manhattan (125 East 85th Street) in my role as their Rabbinic Scholar. Through this shared vision and relationship, we have created a New York home for our Institute’s programming. Last year we held two symposia at Kehilath Jeshurun, and this year we already have several special programs and a lecture series lined up, with more to follow.
In conjunction with the Institute, I will be giving a weekly survey of the Bible at KJ on Wednesday evenings (7:00-8:00 pm) beginning after the holidays on October 14 (subsequent announcements will contain all the dates). Free and open to the public. This course, as with all my work in Bible, integrates the best of traditional and contemporary scholarship.
My father and I will also co-teach a three-part series, History at Home: Saturday Night Fights: Great Jewish Debates (each lecture begins at 8:30 pm at Kehilath Jeshurun): November 21: Dogma, Heresy, and Classical Debates: How We May Create Jewish Unity in an Age of Confusion - Rabbi Hayyim Angel January 23: Controversies over the Historicity of Biblical Passages in Traditional Commentary - Rabbi Hayyim Angel March 5: Rambam vs. Spinoza: Approaches to Religion and Reason - Rabbi Marc Angel
I also speak at Kehilath Jeshurun nearly every Shabbat and on holidays at their Sephardic Minyan (and give additional classes at KJ as well). All are welcome to join our vibrant, growing community, as we develop the ideas and ideals of our Institute in a communal framework.
In the area of teacher training, I taught a course in teaching Bible in synagogues to Honors Rabbinical Students at Yeshiva University last spring. I will be giving a similar course to the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Study at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University this coming fall.
Thus far I have three scholar-in-residence weekends on the calendar, with several others in discussion: October 23-24: Anshei Sfard Beth El Emeth (Memphis, Tennessee) November 13-14: Young Israel of Hollywood-Fort Lauderdale, Florida January 15-16: The Kemp Mill Synagogue (Silver Spring, Maryland)
It is a singular privilege to help develop and promote the ideas of our Institute and teach thousands of people annually. It likewise has been an important development to include teacher training and symposia where we connect with other rabbis, educators, and scholars to promote our vision more robustly. By doing so we have increasingly become the address for discussing the major issues confronting the Jewish community from a traditionally faithful perspective.
We also celebrate the legitimate diversity of opinion within our classical sources as we engage our community in religious conversations. I thank all of our members and supporters for making this vision a growing reality.
Shanah tovah, Rabbi Hayyim Angel National Scholar, [email protected]