Articles

November Update from Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

November, 2013

To our members and friends: It is so inspiring to feel the excitement for learning I have encountered wherever I have been teaching. There is a palpable thirst in our community for Torah that combines tradition and contemporary scholarship; an open intellectual-textual approach that simultaneously inspires and elevates. These classes lie at the heart of our goals of the Institute, and we are grateful for the widespread positive response and support we have been receiving. Thank you for being part of our vision, and making this possible.

Update from Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

October, 2013

To our members and friends: Thanks again for your enthusiastic support and encouragement. Here are a number of updates on my work as National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. ·

We have created a new area on our website, jewishideas.org, Online Learning. On this page you can find a list of links to online classes I have given. We expect this area to grow rapidly as we offer new classes through the Institute. Please join in the online learning at jewishideas.org. ·

January Update from Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

January, 2015

To our members and friends, I hope you are enjoying your winter.

We have completed the year’s first semester with a host of programs and classes, and eagerly anticipate our upcoming offerings.

Here are some of the major highlights coming up in January and February:

Sunday, February 22, 10:00am-1:00pm: I am organizing a symposium to be held at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan on the topic of “From the Academy to the Religious Community: How we can gain religious insight from academic Jewish Studies.”

A nice review by "The Kosher Bookworm"

The Kosher Bookworm
The Study of Bible Commentary--Fascinating
by Alan Jay Gerber

This past week the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst hosted one of America's
leading interpreters of the Bible text and commentaries, Rabbi Hayyim Angel.
Rabbi Angel's presentments that Shabbat to a total of over 700 attendees was
both impressive as to their attentiveness of the listeners as well as to the
comprehensiveness of the content of his message. As reflected in his literary
output over the past decade Rabbi Angel's message is to parse the inner workings
of the text of the holy writ, to define to "amcha" the methodology of peshat and
derash, so as to enable the average layperson to better understand the basic

Of Walls and Bridges: Teaching and Studying

I can trace the seeds of my abiding interest in the intersection of Jewish/Israeli and Arab culture to two specific events that occurred while I was a high school student on a kibbutz in the eastern Galilee. The first took place when the group of American high school juniors of which I was a part travelled to the nearby Arab town of Daburiyya, at the foot of Mt. Tabor. We met Arab Israeli youth of our age in their classroom, where we bashfully introduced ourselves to each other. From there, our hosts took us to their homes where we were graciously hosted.

GETT- The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Israeli films receive large audiences worldwide. Many of them show the realities of life in the holy land, some with humor and some with sadness. Almost all of them demonstrate that Israel is a democratic country which is not afraid to show even its darkest aspects.

Currently one can watch such a dark story at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in Manhattan “Gett- the Trial of Viviane Amsalem”. Gett is Hebrew for divorce. This is a sad story of the difficulties, and one should say, impossibilities for a Jewish woman to obtain a divorce when the husband does not want it. Indeed the husband has to agree to GRANT a divorce. I purposely emphasize the word “GRANT” as the husband is all powerful in that procedure.

Update from Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals, March 2015

March, 2015 To our members and friends, Our ongoing programs for the Institute continue full throttle, including several great recent highlights.

On Sunday, February 22, I organized a symposium, “From the Academy to the Religious Community: How we can gain religious insight from academic Jewish Studies.” Over seventy people attended at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan.

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