Hello and once again, welcome to my Sabbatical blog! The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the wonderful program at the Hartman Institute: The Rabbinic Leadership Initiative where I will be spending most of the month of July.

I hope to update this blog frequently during the course of my studies and I hope it will serve as a good way to keep you posted on my experiences so we can share this exciting adventure together. If last summer is any indication this will be easier said than done – as I was so busy – finding downtime to compose my blog entries was not as easy as I thought but, feel free to check back often and I will try to give you a taste of what I will be experiencing!

The Shalom Hartman Institute, where I will be studying, is a research and leadership training institute located in Jerusalem. Their mission is to revitalize Judaism, strengthen Jewish identity and foster religious pluralism by providing scholars, rabbis, educators, and lay leaders of all denominations with tools to address the central challenges facing Judaism today. Serving Israeli and world Jewry, SHI’s faculty and graduates are forces of change creating a new dialogue between Jews of diverse backgrounds, between classic Judaic sources and modernity, and between Judaism and other faiths. To read more about the Hartman Institute and see some pictures of where I will be spending my time – check their web site at: http://www.hartmaninstitute.com

The particular program I am involved with is called the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative or RLI. Some 25 rabbis from around the world – Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist and Reform - are selected to participate in this very special program and I am proud to be one of them. To read more about this program go to:
http://www.hartman.org.il/Center_Rabbin ... gram_Id=13

I will be leaving New York on Wednesday June 25 and returning on Monday July 28.

I also hope to use my time in Israel to search out some mitzvah opportunities where I can serve as your shaliach – your agent, to bring tzedakah to various causes in Israel. Many of you have already generously contributed to the Rabbi’s Fund at TBS through the annual Passover Appeal or your contributions in appreciation for my participation at a Wedding or Unveiling or the like – I will be using some of those funds and seeking ways to put them to good use during my stay in Israel. I will report on my experiences seeking out these mitzvah opportunities in this blog.

The main thing is that I hope that by means of this blog you will feel that you are part of my experience. As I have mentioned before, a Sabbatical is an investment on both of our parts in keeping my rabbinate fresh and dynamic. It is not unusual in the course of a normal week for me to address more than a thousand people! From Shabbat sermons to Machon Beth Sholom High School classes; from Sisterhood classes to the Herbert Tarr Adult Education Institute; from sitting on the floor with our tots in our Early Childhood Center preparing for Shabbat, to the hospital visits where I sit with our most elderly members; from Divrei Torah at Board Meetings to counseling sessions in my office; from meeting to meeting to meeting – week after week, year after year - I am called upon to teach and share my insights applying the teachings of our sacred tradition to modern day situations. The challenge is to constantly renew myself and to keep fresh the wells of Torah that nourish me and therefore nourish you my community.
After my experiences last summer, I am more convinced than ever that this opportunity that you have wisely afforded me, to study at the Hartman Institute will be an investment that will pay dividends beyond measure in the months and years to come.

In the meantime, I leave you in the capable hands of Rabbi Jeni Friedman and while I will be checking my email (alucas@tbsroslyn.org) but feel free to check in with Rabbi Friedman or the office if you need an immediate answer. God willing my next entry will be from Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh – from the Holy Land!! L’hitraot!!

Rabbi Alan Lucas





Here is my schedule for the first two weeks:

Summer 2008
RLI Part 1

Monday, June 30
10:00 – 11:30 Registration Osher Plaza
11:30 – 12:00 Orientation Bill Berk
Sharon Laufer Beit Midrash
12:00 – 12:30 Introduction Donniel Hartman Beit Midrash
12:45 – 14:00 Opening Lunch Tauber Hall
14:00 – 15:30 Welcome for spouses Sharon Laufer Osher Plaza
14:00 – 15:30 Electives - Please choose one for the entire week
• The Story of the American Jew David Ellenson Mandel Beit Midrash
• Zohar – The Idra Rabba Melila Hellner-Eshed Lafer 1
• The Troubling Triangle: A Modern Mikraot Gedolot – Sara, Hagar & Abraham Noam Zion Beit Midrash
• Bringing God into Prayer/Spiritual Activism: A Jewish Guide to Leadership and Repairing the World/ Personality Type Theory and Midrash: The Case of Moses and Bezalel Avi Weiss
Alfredo Borodowski (4th session) Beit Midrash Right seminar
• Biblical Intimacies: The Unknown Woman Avivah Zornberg Lafer 2
15:30 – 16:30 Roundtable: Catching Up
16:30 – 17:00 Reception Osher Plaza
17:00-18:45 Panel Discussion & Havruta Journal Launch
Conversion Controversies: Identity, Boundaries and the Future of the Jewish People David Ellenson
Donniel Hartman
Einat Ramon
Moderator:
Stuart Schoffman Beit Midrash

18:45 – 19:30 Dinner Tauber Hall
19:30 – 20:30 An Evening with David Hartman David Hartman Beit Midrash

Tuesday, July 1
The Spiritual and Ethical Dimensions of Memory
08:30 - 10: 30 Hevruta Introduction:
Moshe Halbertal Beit Midrash
10:30 – 11:15 Havurot See locations list according to the letter on the backside of your nametag
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur
Moshe Halbertal Beit Midrash
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch Tauber Hall
14:00 – 15:30 Electives
17:30 – 19:00 Visions of a New American Judaism and its Relationship to Israel David Ellenson
Avi Weiss Beit Midrash
19:00 – 20:00 Dinner Tauber
20:00 – 22:00 Celebrating Israel at 60: Israel's Musical-Textual Renaissance Shlomo Gronikh Beit Midrash
Wednesday, July 2
How Do the Biblical Narratives Create a People?
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta
Introduction
Israel Knohl Beit Midrash
11:00 – 12:30 Shiur Israel Knohl Beit Midrash
12:30 – 14:00 Free for lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Electives
20:00 The Geo-Political Situation of Israel Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror Beit Midrash

Thursday, July 3
Rambam: Memory and Narrative
08:30 – 11:30 Hevruta
Introduction:
David Hartman Beit Midrash
10:30 – 11:15 Havurot See locations list according to the letter on the backside of your nametag
11:15 – 13:00 Shiur David Hartman Beit Midrash
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch Tauber
14:00 – 15:30 Electives
15:45 Roundtable: Peer Teaching Jonah Layman
17:00 Optional:
Buses leave for Na-Lagaat

Friday, July 4
Shabbat Dinner at the home of Donniel and Adina Hartman

Saturday, July 5
17:00 – 19:00 Free Day
Optional Jerusalem tour – Sign-up at courtesy desk

Sunday, July 6
Ways of Remembering Sinai
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta Introduction:
Melila Hellner-Eshed Beit Midrash
10:30 - 11:15 Havurot See locations list according to the letter on the backside of your nametag
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur Melila Hellner-Eshed Beit Midrash
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch Tauber
14:00 - 15:30 Electives: Please choose one for the entire week
• Forgetfulness & Memory in one Commandment: The Talmudic Narrative as a Process of Forgetting (taught in Hebrew) Ari Elon Beit Midrash right seminar room
• Law and Narrative in the Talmud Moshe Halbertal Beit Midrash
• Returning to Cultural Zionist Narratives: Jewish Solidarity in the Midst of Revolutionary Polemics: Mendelei Mocher Sforim, Y.Ch. Brenner, Ahad HaAm, A.D.Gordon, Berl Katznelson & A.J. Heschel Einat Ramon Lafer 2
• Torah M'Sinai? Revelation & Interpretation in Modern and Feminist Jewish Thought
(Heschel, Borowitz, & Plaskow) Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi Beit Midrash Left seminar room
• Remembering Heroes and Martyrs: In Medieval and Contemporary Discourse Noam Zohar Mandel Beit Midrash

15:30 Roundtable: Topic TBA
19:00 Family Dinner Tauber
20:00 An Evening with Donniel Hartman - Yom Hashoah and Yom Hazikaron—Competing Foundational Narratives for Understanding Modern Israel
Beit Midrash

Monday, July 7

Differing times depending on tiyul chosen. Four tiyulim – choose one
 Sde Boker Stories and Hiking in Machtesh Ramon (12 hour outing)
 Is the Bible True? Machloket with Archeologists & Guides
 Jerusalem Narratives – Walking and talking Nachlaot and Rehavia
 Spiritual Narratives of Secular Tel Aviv with Rabbi Julian Sinclair

Tuesday, July 8
Holocaust Narratives and Their Impact on Contemporary Jewish Identities
08:30 – 10:30 Hevruta Introduction:
Rachel Korazim Beit Midrash
10:30 – 11:15 Havurot See locations list according to the letter on the backside of your nametag
11:15 – 13:00 Shiur Rachel Korazim Beit Midrash
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch with families Tauber
14:00 – 15:30 Electives
20:00 Movie Night Stuart Schoffman Beit Midrash

Wednesday, July 9
Megilat Ha’azmaut: The Construction and Deconstruction of the Israeli Narrative
08:30 – 11:00 Hevruta Introduction:
Rani Jaeger Beit Midrash
11:00 - 12:30 Shiur Rani Jaeger Beit Midrash
12:30 - 14:00 Free for lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Electives
15:45 Synagogue Transformation: Focus on Adult Learning Ed Feinstein
Bill Berk
20:00 Evening program:
Islamic Fundamentalism and the New Middle East Res. Gen. Daniel Rothschild Beit Midrash

Thursday, July 10
The Rabbinic Narratives of God
08:30 – 11:00 Hevruta and Evaluation
Introduction
Donniel Hartman Beit Midrash
11:00 - 13:00 Shiur Donniel Hartman Beit Midrash
13:00 - 14:00 Closing Lunch
Closing remarks by David Hartman and Donniel Hartman Tauber
14:00 Roundtable: Peer Teaching Jessica Spitalnic Brockman Room


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