JTS in the Berkshires Summer 2024

Date: Jul 12, 2024

Time: 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Sponsor: JTS Learning in Your Community

Location: Massachusetts

Category: Community Courses JTS in the Berkshires

JTS in the Berkshires Summer 2024

Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Dr. Sarah Wolf, and Dr. Yitz Landes will teach in the Berkshires this summer.

Join JTS scholars in Lenox, Massachusetts, for inspiring learning that illuminates the Jewish past and shapes the Jewish future. With Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Dr. Sarah Wolf, and Dr. Yitz Landes. 

Three Sessions 
Fridays, July 12, August 9, and August 23, 2024 
11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  

Shakespeare & Company 
Elayne P. Bernstein Theater 
70 Kemble Street 
Lenox, Massachusetts 

Tickets: $15 per session 

Questions: Contact Alisa Braun at (212) 678-8819 or sabraun@jtsa.edu

Presented in partnership with Knesset Israel and in cooperation with the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires.  

Session I

Nine Months Later: New Frameworks for Confronting Contemporary Antisemitism 

With Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History, JTS 

Friday, July 12, 2024 

Drawing on the conversation that emerged from JTS’s Antisemitism and Allyship convening, Chancellor Schwartz will reflect on the recent spike in antisemitism globally, how we got to this moment, and how we move forward.  Her discussion will weave together insights gleaned from the long history of antisemitism and interrogate of the idea of American exceptionalism. 

Session II

Living with Uncertainty: Truth and Doubt in Rabbinic Literature 

With Dr. Sarah Wolf, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS 

Friday, August 9, 2024 

How do we recognize the truth when we see it? And what do we do when the certainty we desire simply isn’t possible? This talk will explore how the rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud grappled with these timeless problems, and what their wisdom can offer us today. 

Session III

What if the Torah is Forgotten? On the History of an Idea and the Legacy of the Rabbis 

With Dr. Yitz Landes, Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS 

Friday, August 23, 2024 

The concept of Torah is surely one of the most central ideas in Judaism. And yet, how exactly has this concept been defined over the course of Jewish history? By looking closely at how the rabbis of antiquity defined Torah and attended to its preservation, we will be able to better reflect on the meaning of Torah and the Jewish tradition in contemporary times. We will also think about how, on a personal level, we decide what to preserve and pass on to the next generation.