LSJS - For Educators & researchers -

How does God�s Covenant evolve out of primal chaos in the Book of Genesis? We will analyse this theme of brit as it appears at key moments in Bereishit: hidden in Creation, before and after the Flood, on Avraham�s body and in his election, through the lineage of Yitzchak and Ya�akov, and finally in the abduction of Dinah.

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� You will study the biblical text as well as ancient, medieval and modern commentaries and interpretations

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

Some biblical episodes challenge our notions of morality and ethics: Was Joshua guilty of war crimes? Did King David get away with murder? Is the genocide of Amalek justifiable? Did Yiftach slaughter his daughter? Did Reuven really sleep with his father�s wife? We will examine these infamous episodes and discover new ways of understanding them.

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� You will study the biblical text as well as ancient, medieval and modern commentaries and interpretations

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

A giant fish, a plague of locusts, an unfaithful wife... we will study six of the so-called "Minor" Prophets: Hoshea, Yoel, Amos, Ovadiah, Yonah, Micha. This course will look at the background to their prophecies, their metaphors, messages and fi nd startling messages for today.

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� You will study the biblical text as well as ancient, medieval and modern commentaries and interpretations

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

The Tanach is full of �minor� players who are overshadowed by more influential figures in their stories. Some of these have a rich life in midrash, folklore and modern culture. This course gives them the attention they deserve�

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� You will study the biblical text as well as ancient, medieval and modern commentaries and interpretations

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

It�s natural to regard ourselves today as �mainstream Jews�, but there are many fateful crossroads in our history at which Judaism could have gone in a very different direction. This course begins by investigating some of the sects, movements, and ideas that didn�t make it into rabbinic Judaism. We will take a look at the proliferation of competing sects at the end of the Second Temple period including Samaritans, early Christians and Karaites. Then we will move to the medieval period and study the rise and fall of the Shabateans and Frankists, and the success of Hasidism. Finally, we will bring things up to date by following some recent sectarian developments.

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

Rabbi Abraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (1865-1935), Israel�s first Chief Rabbi, was unique. His creative, holistic, yet deeply traditional viewpoint has no parallel within Jewish philosophical writings. Rav Kook�s style of writing and extraordinary sensitivity make his work both fascinating and inspiring. In this course you will have the chance to read, question and discuss key passages from his �Orot� in order to gain a deeper understanding of Rav Kook�s thought and to learn a new way of looking at modern Jewish existence�

� You will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

Study the sedra with some of the great rabbis, scholars and educators of Anglo-Jewry. Each week you will gain a new perspective on the Parashat Hashavua. There really is no other opportunity to hear such high-quality teachers on a weekly basis. Sign up for the whole first book of Torah and get nine classes for the price of seven. Transform your Shabbat week by week with this great new course�

� Each weekly session lasts for two hours, including a break for refreshments

� You will study the biblical text as well as ancient, medieval and modern commentaries and interpretations

� Each week you will receive clear and useful source materials to enhance your learning

Dr Marc Michael Epstein, Associate Professor of Religion & Jewish Studies at Vassar

Dr Stewart Brookes, Currently teaching medieval literature at University College London

Our Perception of Muslims: From Midrash to Modernity R. Gideon Sylvester, Director of Yeshivat Torat Yosef-Hamivtar; United Synagogue�s Rabbi in Israel

The Jews officially returned to England 350 years ago but the truth is that they had never left. In the centuries since then, the Jewish contribution to the breadth and richness of English society has been exceptional, but things have not always been easy. This course will explore the rich history of Anglo-Jewry from pre-Roman times through civic rights in the glorious days of Victorian England to today�s uneasy integration.

Elkan Levy is Director of the Office for Small Communities, responsible for 70 in the UK, from Truro to Margate and from Bognor to north of Aberdeen. He is chair of the New Singer�s Prayer Book Committee and a past President of the United Synagogue. Elkan is a fascinating and lively teacher with a passion for all things Anglo-Jewish!

Each teacher will share their particular pleasure and fascination with this wonderful and well-loved book. Approaches include: analysing Vashti, Esther and Mordechai, comparison with the book of Ezra, understanding the Persian historical context, and rabbinic and midrashic readings of this book. This course will prepare you for Purim and give you a deeper appreciation of the festival.

A seven-week course on history, politics and meaning in modern Jewish thought

How are the various strands of modern religious thought forged by their historical contexts? In this course you will study the growth of Hassidut, the psychology of the Mussar movement, the methodology of Brisk, the revolution of Zionism and the rise of Charediyut. Find out how each of these has had an indelible impact on Jewish life today.

Michael Pollak has a BA in Philosophy from LSE and studied for many years in Hevron Yeshiva where he received his semicha. He gives a daf yomi shiur in the Ner Yisrael community and is an educational consultant for the UJIA Jewish Life Education Centre. Michael was recently appointed as a Teaching Fellow at LSJS.

How does Jewish theology compare and contrast to Aristotle�s philosophy? �The Guide� is the main source for the philosophical views of the great rabbi, physician and philosopher, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204). Following its publication, almost every philosophic work for the remainder of the Middle Ages cited, commented on, or criticised Maimonides� views. In this course you will study sections of this book in-depth and enter the mind of the Rambam.

Simon Cooper is an LSJS Teaching Fellow. He recently submitted his PhD thesis on Jewish Covenantal Theology in the Dept. of Theology & Religious Studies at King�s College, London. He lectures all over the Jewish community on contemporary Jewish thought, and on medieval and modern Jewish philosophy. Simon is editorial assistant of the Journal of Jewish Studies and leads Jewish educational tours to Israel and Europe.

Reb Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, breathed new life into the Hasidic movement. He combined Kabbalistic approaches with in-depth Torah scholarship. Explore his teachings, stories and thought in this ground-breaking new course. Reb Nachman�s unique approach to the days of Mashiach, the nature of prophecy, spiritual prayer and Hasidic halacha will all be discussed.

Rabbi Avi Scharf is the new Rabbinic Scholar in Residence at LSJS, rabbi of the Alei Tzion community at LSJS and Rosh Kollel of the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Immanuel College. He has semichahs from R. Shlomo Riskin, R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat where he studied and later taught. He was the Rabbi of Young Israel-OU Synagogue and Rosh Kollel Torah MiTzion at the Center for Jewish Living at Cornell University.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1887-1970) was a Nobel Prize laureate writer and a central figure of modern Hebrew fiction. In this course we will study a number of his short stories and look at the theme of eternal longing. What happens when being unfulfilled becomes your constant state of being? Some of the many references to the biblical and talmudic phrases in Agnon�s stories will also be examined. All texts will be translated and the course is open to all.

Tamar Agnon was born in Israel and studied Film & Literature at Tel Aviv University. She has scripted and directed shows for Israeli TV and Radio, as well as writing a Purim Rock Opera and performance poetry. Tamar teaches modern Hebrew literature and is working on a PhD at University College London on the literature of the Nobel prize-winning Israeli author S. Y. Agnon. Tamar is the granddaughter of S.Y. Agnon.

19th century Chassidic Poland produced some of the great radical thinkers of modern Jewish history, including R. Simchah Bunim of Przysucha, R. Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin, and the Rebbes of Kotzk, Ishbitz, Sochaczew, Radzin and Gur. Combining the Zeitgeist, traditional scholarship and Kabbalistic insight with profound psychological insight, these thinkers offered a revisionist understanding of Jewish philosophy, Biblical narrative and even of Judaism itself. This course will explore these figures, their ideas, writings and the controversies surrounding them.

Rabbi Harvey Belovski is the rabbi of the Golders Green Synagogue. He graduated in Mathematics at Oxford then studied at the Gateshead Yeshivah, where he gained semichah, and at the Gateshead Beis HaTalmud Kollel. He lectures and counsels widely, contributes frequently to the Jewish Chronicle, and has authored two books. R. Belovski is an LSJS Teaching Fellow and is studying for a PhD at Birkbeck College on the thought of the Chassidic school of Sochaczew.

Mt. Sinai and ends with the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Study the deeper themes

truly diverse range of approaches and you will always be prepared for the coming Shabbat Torah portion.

The author will tell the story of why and how he came to write this fascinating and succinct book.

All lectures will take place at 5.00 pm in the Runcie Room at the Faculty of Divinity

a NIGHT OF LEARNING THAT WILL KEEP YOU WIDE AWAKE

We have invited ten great teachers to each choose a text that surprises, inspires and challenges them.

On this night they will all share them with you...

Simon Cooper

R. Leo Dee

Ben Elton

R. Warren Kaye

Michael Pollak

Sammy Rubin

R. Avi Scharf

Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Dr Raphael Zarum

Thursday Night 28 May 2009

Starting at Midnight:

Two Takes on One: The Significance of 'Echad' Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

�You�ve been CC�d� - Caret and Conversion in Megillat Ruth Rabbi Warren Kaye

Why were the Ten Commandments Engraved, not Inscribed? Rabbi Leo Dee

Sociology and Rav Saadiya Gaon - Second Day Yom Tov Ben Elton

Starting at 1am:

Revelation at Sinai as Legally Binding Contract: The Case for the Defence Simon Cooper

So what are your values? The fourfold song of Rav Kook Sammy Rubin

God and Glass Wombs: The guarantees we made at Sinai Dr Raphael Zarum

Starting at 2am:

When Moshe Rabbeinu met Rabbi Akiva Rabbi Avi Scharf

Does God care about other Peoples? Michael Pollak

Rabban Gamliel in the bathhouse of Aphrodite Dr Raphael Zarum

Shacharit at 3:15 am approx

Organised by the Alei Tzion Community

Refreshments of luscious ice cream, and Fairtrade coffee tea and herbal drinks served through the night.

No need to book but a donation of �10 would help to subsidise the event.