CLAL Curricula (A-L)

Becoming a Partner in Transforming the Jewish World

Throughout the astonishing growth and development of the American Jewish community since World War II, the style, structure and dynamics of community leadership have changed in significant ways. In the early post-war period, the institutional leadership sought financial commitments to run the nascent institutions building up a communal infrastructure and the phenomenon of volunteerism. In the late 1960's and the 1970's, emphasis shifted to Israel and Soviet Jewry, and this shift required a more highly political leadership. As we near the end of the century and look ahead, we are increasingly aware of the cultural, spiritual, and ideological non-rootedness of our Jewish community, and we have begun to respond to these problems by proclaiming the need for Jewish continuity and renewal. This shift, like the others, requires a new sort of leadership. The leaders of the next generation must have a deep understanding of what it has meant to be a Jew over the many centuries of the Covenant. They must appreciate what Jewish living, thinking, and dreaming have involved on a personal, as well as a communal level. They must be personally and actively engaged in Jewish learning, not only for the purpose of acquiring information, but in order to become a part of our ancient ongoing dream of perfecting the world.

This study program is a serious and intensive first step in the creation of a leadership committed to continuity and equipped to insure it. It requires more time, more energy and more thought than typical "adult education" programs. Its goals are not only educating the program participants, but also transforming them into a community. Its dream is nothing short of the redemption of the world, a vision of perfection that can only be accomplished one small step at a time.

BECOMING A PARTNER IN TRANSFORMING THE JEWISH WORLD—YEAR I

Unit 1: What Happens When Traditional Worlds Break Down?
Unit 2: Creating a Shared Culture: The Centrality of Storytelling
Unit 3: The Master Story
Unit 4: Critiquing and Constructing: A Method for Enhancing Jewish Culture
Unit 5: The Rabbinic Revolution
Unit 6: Relationships and Sex
Unit 7: The Passages of Life: Jewish Personal Choreography
Unit 8: The Jewish Family

BECOMING A PARTNER IN TRANSFORMING THE JEWISH WORLD—YEAR II

Unit 1: All that ts Solid Melts into Air: The Power of Modernity
Unit 2: Israel, the Ethics of Power, and Sibling Rivalry
Unit 3: Education, "And You Shall Teach Your Children"
Unit 4: Spirituality and the Personal Tikun
Unit 5: The Environment
Unit 6: Health and Healing
Unit 7: Tzedakah: From Suffering to Celebration
Unit 8: Transforming Institutions

Building a Relationship to Torah

Gaining an understanding of the content of the Torah text along with the form of the Torah is the emphasis in this curriculum. The goal is to understand the Torah as our sacred history and the account of our unique relationship with God and the world. Through a wide-ranging approach utilizing traditional, modern, critical, literary and other methods of analysis, participants will gain the confidence that the treasures of the Torah are indeed accessible and can add immense richness to Jewish life.

Unit 1: First Encounters
Unit 2: The Flood: A Covenant of Life with All People
Unit 3: Abram and the Covenant
Unit 4: The Binding of Isaac
Unit 5: Ideology vs. Family: Covenantal Tension
Unit 6: My Son's Father, My Father's Son: Isaac
Unit 7: Alternative Responses to Covenant: Sarah and Rebecca
Unit 8: Jacob: Ladders to Heaven
Unit 9: Reawakening the Promise
Unit 10: The Covenant of Law
Unit 11: Mishpatim: Practical Legislation for an Ideal Covenant
Unit 12: Kedoshim: The Holiness Code
Unit 13: Leadership in the Desert
Unit 14: Method, Message, and Meaning

The Covenantal Community: The Biblical View of Human Responsibility

The Bible addresses the following question: What is the purpose of human life in the world? Judaism is a response to the imperatives of the Biblical vision. As the heirs of that vision, we struggle with the covenantal responsibility placed on us by our tradition and history. These sessions will immerse us in the formative events of the Jewish people and in the ways different generations understood these events and their potential meanings. And we will see in the struggles of our ancestors our own task to become the architects of the Jewish community of the future.

Unit 1: The Covenant and Creation
Unit 2: The Environment of the Covenant
Unit 3: In the Image Of God
Unit 4: Chosenness and Abraham
Unit 5: Abraham's Choice
Unit 6: The Exclusivity of Israel
Unit 7: The Dream of Redemption: The Exodus
Unit 8: A Moment at Sinai—Revelation
Unit 9: The Golden Calf
Unit 10: The Covenantal Community
Unit 11: The Methodology—Kedoshim and Mishpatim
Unit 12: Sacred Space—The Mishkan
Unit 13: The People's View—Escape From Freedom
Unit 14 & 15: Moments and Models of Leadership
Unit 16: Korah's Rebellion
Unit 17: The Transfer of Authority
Unit 18: From Event to Memory

Covenantal Responses to Modernity

The modern era inspired a remarkable flourishing of Jewish responses of which we today are the intellectual and real-life heirs. This curriculum focuses on great Jewish intellectual movements and on individuals who attempted to resolve the tensions of living within a secular Christian world while still remaining connected to the past.

Unit 1: The Western Experience of Emancipation
Unit 2: The Reform Revolution
Unit 3: The Traditionalist Rejoinder: Neo-Orthodoxy
Unit 4: Conserving Judaism: The Tension of Method and Practice
Unit 5: The Star of Redemption: Franz Rosenzweig
Unit 6: I and Thou: Martin Buber
Unit 7: Power and Powerlessness in Eastern Europe
Unit 8: Religious/Intellectual Currents of Eastern Europe
Unit 9: Socialist Revolutionaries: Bolsheviks & Bundists
Unit 10: Eastern European Haskalah
Unit 11: The Zionist Idea: Competitive Visions
Unit 12: The Founding Fathers: Socialist Labor Zionism
Unit 13: The Stirrings of Messianic Redemption: Rav Kook and Religious Zionism
Unit 14: The North American Jewish Experiment: Leadership Models
Unit 15: The Denominations in Their American Settings
Unit 16: Reconstructing Jewish Civilization: Mordecai Kaplan
Unit 17: The Cracks of Collapse: Europe in the Twentieth Century
Unit 18: Could Modernity Succeed?

Deuteronomy: The Quest for a More Perfect World

The Book of Deuteronomy is the most "complete" book in the Torah, beginning with the early history of the people of Israel and coming to conclusion with the death of Moses. In between, the book reviews many of the Torah's earlier laws, hence its name "deutero-nomos" (Hebrew: "mishneh Torah") meaning "the repetition of the law." But Deuteronomy is far more than mere repetition. It offers a grand vision of an ideal Jewish society, while redefining and re-establishing the ancient covenant for all generations to come.

In this course, we will study Deuteronomy in depth. We will read the book in detail, and supplement our reading with study materials from many later periods and genres of Jewish writing, all of which respond to the compelling ideas and issues raised in Deuteronomy. Having considered some of those responses, we will focus on our own contemporary responses as we allow the words of antiquity to address our lives.

DEUTERONOMY—YEAR I

Unit 1: New Generations, New Covenants
Unit 2: The Decalogue
Unit 3: The Shema: Teaching, Transmitting and Questioning
Unit 4: The Bible's Conception of Holiness
Unit 5: Idolatry
Unit 6: Intermarriage
Unit 7: "Chastisements of Love"
Unit 8: The Land of Blessing
Unit 9: Sacred Space and the Centralization of Worship
Unit 10: Dietary Laws
Unit 11: Tzedakah and Tithing: " If There Be Among You a Needy Person"
Unit 12: The King
Unit 13: The Administration of Justice
Unit 14: The Sacredness of Human Life
Unit 15: The Conduct of War
Unit 16: Obligations to One's Neighbor: The Lost Object, The Lost Animal, The Collapsing Carrier
Unit 17: Life Isn't Fair: The Problem of Divine Justice
Unit 18: Review For Deuteronomy—Year I

DEUTERONOMY—YEAR II

Unit 19: Obligations to One's Neighbor: The Battlement, Taking Precautions
Unit 20: Rape and Seduction
Unit 21: Interest and Economic Justice
Unit 22: Maintaining The Genetic Family: Yibbum (Levirate Marriage)
Unit 23: The Law of Disgrace
Unit 24: Commercial Justice: Honest Weights and Measures
Unit 25: The Ritualization of Hateful Memory
Unit 26: The Stranger in the Land
Unit 27: Blessings and Curses
Unit 28: Renewing the Covenant
Unit 29: Assuring Succession
Unit 30: From Presence to History/Memory
Unit 31: The End of Torah: Canonization and Its Meanings
Unit 32: "Thou Shalt Not Add Thereto": The Problem of "A Living Word"
Unit 33: The Impact of Deuteronomy
Unit 34: Lamentations
Unit 35: Job
Unit 36: Qohelet (Ecclesiastes)

Ethical Leadership in a Time of Change

There was a time, we imagine, when ethical decisions were easier to make—issues were simpler, the human capacity to change things was limited and society clearly dictated what was right and what was wrong. But today, many of us feel besieged on a daily basis with difficult and even painful ethical dilemmas. As heirs to traditions learned in our homes and schools, as Americans and as Jews, we are asked to find answers for the dilemmas that sometimes paralyze us. Whereas at one time a small cadre of people made such decisions, the open and democratic nature of our society makes us all players in setting policy guidelines for businesses, organizations and even governments.

As Jews who are heir to a tradition of ethical concern, we are not without resources. We can learn from the stories our people have recorded for millennia, the words of the Torah along with its commentaries and applications, and our own personal experiences. The Jewish tradition has significant things to say about how Jews should behave. This curriculum addresses the centrality of ethical behavior for the Jewish community and for society in general.

Unit 1: Jewish Ethics in a Complex World
Unit 2: If I Am Not for Myself, Who Will Be for Me?
Unit 3: To Behave as an Image of God
Unit 4: If I Am Only for Myself, What Am I?
Unit 5: Ethics, Character and the Religious Life
Unit 6: From Covenant to Covenantal Partnership
Unit 7: Covenantal Ethics and the Workplace
Units 8 & 9: Articulating the Jewish Mission: Constructing a Jewish Organization —Part I & Part II
Unit10: Covenantal Ethics When Building a Jewish Organization
Unit 11: Covenantal Ethics in Jewish Allocations: Imagining a World of Tzedakah
Unit 12: Covenantal Ethics on the Policies of Jewish Organizations
Unit 13: Covenantal Ethics, Tikkun Olam and Civic Activity

Jewish Spirituality and Healing

How does Jewish tradition help us to understand how we can find comfort and personal meaning in the face of the pain, isolation, and vulnerability of serious illness? By examining sacred texts and traditional practices as well as contemporary sources, we will discover both Jewish responses to illness and Jewish resources for healing.

These days, there is an intense popular and scientific interest in the relationship between healing and religion. Thus it is no surprise that many Jews are eager to explore healing in a Jewish context. At CLAL, we know that in turning to Judaism, in its classical and contemporary expressions, we will find an abundant treasury of resources that will guide us as we explore the connections between health and prayer, faith and spirituality.

Unfortunately, many of us are familiar with only a small sampling of Jewish resources for healing. Perhaps we know about the Mi Sheberakh prayer offered for sick people; we know about rabbis visiting the sick in hospitals; we know about paying a shiva call to mourners. But too often, when we are in the midst of a health crisis or are overwhelmed by illness, we, as Jews, don't know where to turn for healing.

Curiously enough, we may be more familiar with Christian resources for healing: the laying on of hands, healing ministries, healing waters, and healing vigils. This is ironic since many of the healing techniques that we think of as being quintessentially Christian derive from Jewish sources!

In this course, we will discover that Jewish texts and traditions offer the wisdom that can provide solace and guidance, hope and community for those inevitable times in life when we face illness and loss. This curriculum will offer a whole range of Jewish wisdom—ancient and modern, textual and practical, spiritual and material—that will meaningfully address healing.

Unit 1: What is Jewish Healing? An Introduction
Unit 2: What are Jewish Ways of Understanding Why We Get Sick and How We Heal?
Unit 3: Healing Relationships: Bikkur Cholim
Unit 4: What are Jewish Healing Rituals?
Unit 5: Can We Pray for Healing?

Jews and Arabs in Israel: The Quest for Coexistence

In the isolation and political powerlessness that often characterized much of Jewish history, being ethical was a personal matter and there were few options from which to choose. Now, after two thousand years of homelessness and dependence on the governance of others, we have a Jewish state which must determine complex policies that affect not only Jews around the world, but Arab Muslims and Christians who are also her citizens. Difficult choices face Jewish leadership as it balances the need for a homeland for Jews everywhere with the responsibilities it has to all its citizens, Jews and non-Jews alike. This course focuses on how to imagine Jews and a Judaism that values democracy, freedom and co-existence. The number of units is flexible and open for discussion.

Unit 1: Introduction
Unit 2: Judaic Approaches to the "Other"
Unit 3: The Faces of the Other: The Palestinians of Israel
Unit 4: The Modern Origins of the Conflict
Unit 5: Jewish, Liberal and Democratic Views of Israel's Palestinian Citizens
Unit 6: Nation-Building, Coexistence and Democracy in Israel Since 1949
Unit 7: Alternative Coexistence Visions in Israel Today
Unit 8: Making a Difference

Leadership for a New Age

As individuals, Jews have "made it" in our society. We have the means and the clout to effect change and to insure that our desires as well as our needs are met. Most of our children will not face the struggles of their grandparents nor have they even the memory of what it meant to go to sleep hungry. Yet, with all our successes, we are often unsure of the purpose for our continued struggle to acquire more. If we are to help structure a community of meaning for our children, we must respond to the insight that, for many, having everything we ever wanted is not enough. Who are we? Where are we going? How are we going to get there? These are the themes of this communal leadership curriculum that confronts a changing Jewish world.

Unit 1: From Generation to Generation: The Demographics of Change
Unit 2: Tikun Olam: A Responsibility to Change the World
Unit 3: The Covenantal Implications of Affluence and Power
Unit 4: Tzedakah: From Suffering to Celebration
Unit 5: Israel: From Nachas Machine to Relationship
Unit 6: Community: From Social Service to Jewish Renewal

Leadership for the Post-Modern Era: The Dilemma of Contemporary Life

Gaining an understanding of the content of the Torah text along with the form of the Torah is the emphasis in this curriculum. The goal is to understand the Torah as our sacred history and the account of our unique relationship with God and the world. Through a wide-ranging approach utilizing traditional, modern, critical, literary and other methods of analysis, the classes are equipped with the confidence that the treasures of the Torah are indeed accessible and can add immense richness to Jewish life.

Unit 1: A How To Guide for Creating the Future: Jewish Values and Decision Making
Unit 2: Avoda Kedosha: Defining the Holiness of Work
Unit 3: Organizational Decision Making
Unit 4: Business Ethics
Unit 5: Capital Punishment
Unit 6: The Centrality of the Land of Israel
Unit 7: Co-existence: How Jews See the Other
Unit 8: Covenant: Jewish Dream of a Perfect World
Unit 9: Down to Earth Judaism: Food, Sex, Money
Unit 10: Ethics in the Allocations Process: Shaping the Future
Unit 11: Ethics of Jewish Sexual Relationships
Unit 12: Ethics of Language
Unit 13: Ethics of Life: Abortion
Unit 14: Ethics of Relationship
Unit 15: Ethics of War: The Ethics of Power
Unit 16: Gender and Judaism
Unit 17: Medical Ethics
Unit 18: Imagining Jewish Community
Unit 19: Implications of the Holocaust: Theological Dilemmas
Unit 20: Individual vs. the Community
Unit 21: Israel—Diaspora Relations
Unit 22: Jewish Family: Covenant in the Family Way
Unit 23: Jewish Legal Ethics for Lawyers
Unit 24: Creating the Jewish Mensch for the 21st Century
Unit 25: Jewish Pluralism: Ideal or Evil
Unit 26: Jews and Non-Jews: Understanding The Complexities of a Relationship
Unit 27: Judaism as a Way of Life
Unit 28: Land for Peace
Unit 29: Pesach: You Should Tell Your Children
Unit 30: Power Politics: Reality and Jewish Institutions
Unit 31: Power: Public and Private
Unit 32: Redemption of Captives
Unit 33: Secular or Religious: The Nature of a Jewish State
Unit 34: The Problem of Evil
Unit 35: What Is Jewish about Money?
Unit 36: Transforming Institutions
Unit 37: Tzedakah Is Not Charity
Unit 38: Weare What We Eat: What is Jewish about Food?
Unit 39: What Can We Do to Help Our Children and Grandchildren Stay Jewish?
Unit 40: What is Jewish about Politics?
Unit 41: Who is a Jew
Unit 42: Zionist Vision