As a new Jew, eager to learn and identify, I am so lucky to have so many people who are willing to help, each in their own way. One wonderful family friend sends me frequent emails when she comes across anything of Jewish interest, and I just stumbled across this YouTube video she sent me back in February.

For anybody who's ever been ashamed of being Jewish because it wasn't cool enough, this eight minute video is out to prove that "Judaism is Cool." It features businessmen, artists, songwriters, converted rabbis, and stay-at-home moms, all finding meaning in the Torah years after escaping "Jew jail" - the irrelevant and boring Hebrew schools of youth.

Check it out! 

If you liked this, check out its source: Simple to Remember, Judaism Online. The site offers a lot of insights on Judaism from various perspectives, everything from "Why Do People Hate The Jews?" to "Difference Between Judaism and Buddhism." Keep learning; enjoy!

I'm thrilled to announce that the application for Yeshivat Hadar is now available online!

I was a Hadar fellow this past summer and can tell you that it was a truly enlightening and educational experience. Aside from an amazing cohort and phenomenal faculty, the guest speakers alone were enough to make the summer worth it. I encourage everyone who's eligible to apply, and I'm happy to talk about specifics with anyone who's interested and has questions.

Deep Thoughts: brought to you by the Fellow at Yeshivat Hadar

In the meantime...

 

 

Mechon Hadar is excited to announce that it is now accepting applications for the summer 2008 session of Yeshivat Hadar.

Yeshivat Hadar is animated by two central goals:

-To foster a community of students who engage in intensive Torah study, prayer and action.
-To offer a passionate vision of traditional Jewish life as a spiritual path.

Yeshivat Hadar offers 36 fellows an intensive program in the heart of Manhattan's Upper West Side. The 8-week experience (June 1 – July 26, 2008) will combine traditional text study, egalitarian prayer and social action with a special focus on personal religious growth. Yeshivat Hadar will create a community of learning which will include seminars, havruta (paired learning), elective classes and time for independent study. Students will complete the program equipped with greater textual competence and broader knowledge of the Jewish tradition as a whole. Students will commit to bringing lessons from their summer experience to their local community.

In recognition of the intense time and energy commitment required by the fellowship, Yeshivat Hadar is pleased to offer a generous stipend, intended to cover the cost of tuition and living expenses. Participation in the program is a selective process, and prospective students must complete a full application, as well as a reference, by February 1, 2008. Finalists will be interviewed, and fellows will be notified in mid-March.

For those in the New York area, we invite you to join us for an evening of learning with us on January 16th, 7-9 pm, at West End Synagogue, 190 Amsterdam Ave (near 69th Street), which will once again host the yeshivah in 2008.

For more information (including student qualifications and a tentative schedule with course descriptions), and for the full application, please visit www.yeshivathadar.org. For any questions, feel free to email us at info@mechonhadar.org.

Sincerely,

The Yeshivat Hadar Faculty:

Shoshana Cohen
Rabbi Shai Held
Rabbi Amy Kalmanofsky
Rabbi Elie Kaunfer
Sara Labaton
Rabbi Ethan Tucker

A quick interruption from our High Holiday coverage to give you this exciting news:
Registration for Limmud NY is now open!
Yaaaaay!!!
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Limmud, it’s an organization that runs these awesome conferences that bring together all kinds of Jews and all kinds of Jewish learning. Basically you hang out in a resort or conference center (this year it’s in Egg Harbor Township, NJ) and from early in the morning until late at night you choose from hundreds of different classes and workshops on all kinds of subjects. Everything from Israeli dance to intensive Talmud study. There are tons of different minyanim to try out, rabbis to meet, and friends to make. It’s like Burning Man, kind of, but for people who like to rock the Torah.
Limmud: Is For Jewcers Just Like You
Here’s some info from the Limmud website:

What is Limmud NY?

We are a conference, a festival, a gathering of hundreds of Jews from all walks of life, all Jewish backgrounds, all lifestyles, and all ages. Limmud is four days of lectures, workshops, text-study sessions, discussions, exhibits, performances and much more—all planned by a community of volunteers.

In Hebrew, Limmud means "learning"—and that's what it's about. An opportunity to craft your own Jewish world. Explore your connection to Jewish ideas and tradition. Meet people who share your curiosity and enthusiasm. Relax, reflect, and celebrate.

What will happen

From early in the morning until late each night, you'll have an opportunity to choose from an ongoing menu of 8-12 simultaneous sessions on topics ranging from Talmud to psychology, from film to Bible, from drama to Israeli politics. Some sessions will be given by renowned lecturers; others will be discussion groups, artist circles, or workshops. Some will be small; others will be events for the entire Limmud community. There will be time to make new friends, and time to talk with presenters, so that you can truly learn from everyone.

Immerse yourself—or dip in—as much as you choose. The learning, in all the ways it unfolds, will be nonstop, inspiring, and invigorating.

Who will be there

Anyone from the New York area who is interested in Jewish learning, from every age group and background, is welcome at Limmud NY: Singles, couples, kids, parents, students, homemakers, retirees; artists, lawyers, teachers, computer programmers, business executives, doctors, poets; Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazic Jews; gay Jews and straight Jews. Some participants have been Jewishly involved their whole lives. Others are just beginning to explore their Jewish journeys.

For more info, click here.

To register, click here.

Limmud NY is awesome, and I highly recommend it to any and everyone who can make the trip. The only possible reason I’d skip it this year is if I manage to make it to Limmud UK, the crown jewel of the whole Limmud organization, held this year in University of Warwick at Coventry from 23-27 December.

So sign up already! Scholarships are available, and you might even be able to convince your synagogue or minyan to sponsor some or all of your registration. And if you plan on coming, be sure to let me know—we can have a Jewcy tisch!

Final note to convince you to come: my sister met her boyfriend at Limmud, and last year one night I sat on the floor in some random hallway with my friends and offered limmudniks who passed by a shot from my bottle of scotch. I got three dates out of the weekend, made some great friends and Limmud is what convinced me to apply for Yeshivat Hadar, which ended up being one of the best summers of my life. If Limmud doesn’t rock your world, you’re probably incapable of having fun.

This summer I’m a fellow at Yeshivat Hadar, which is a full time egalitarian and unaffiliated learning program on New York’s Upper West Side. There are eighteen of us learning and davening together all day every day except Shabbat. It’s an amazing group, lead by a truly phenomenal faculty, and many of our classes are free and open to the public!

Learning At Yeshivat Hadar: Rabbi Elie KaunferYou can stop by for morning minyan (or mincha, or arvit), sit in on a Talmud class, look at midrash with us, or come to the Tuesday night beit midrash program. For our learning schedule click here. If you want to join us for a class or two, drop a line to info[at]mechonhadar[dot]org for details. This is a great opportunity to squeeze some Jewish learning into your summer. And you can hang out with me and my purple hair. What could be more spiritual than that?