November 2, 2009 by Alan Abbey
President Obama to appear at Jewish Communities General Assembly, Washington, DC, Nov. 9, 2009
Shalom Hartman Institute will be at the United Jewish Communities (soon to be Jewish Federations of North America) annual General Assembly from November 8-10, 2009, in Washington, D.C. (Booth 311). First, and foremost, I invite you to stop by for a chat. I plan to have some goodies from Israel with me to entice people – if the marketing materials and flyers, and books, and magazines, and videos featuring Hartman Institute scholars aren’t enough!
As I said on Twitter (@alanabbey) I will give an extra piece of whatever I end up bringing if you tell me you heard about it on this blog or my Twitter page.
But seriously, I will be there to present the amazing programs of the Hartman Institute and to offer our new DVD Series of lectures on “Crisis and Leadership,” which is a special program now available for purchase by synagogues, community centers, adult education programs, Hillels, and private individuals tailored for adult education courses, private study, leadership development and more.
By the way, Hartman Institute is not the ONLY draw at the GA. President Obama is scheduled to make his first speech to a Jewish group since becoming POTUS 44, as is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Sensitive to the times, Netanyahu – who, unlike Obama, does not have his own airplane, is flying “economy” to the U.S. Obama will take the short drive from the White House to the conference hotel in NW Washington.
Posted in Diaspora, Education, Hartman Institute, North America, Videos, lectures, politics | Tagged Barack, Bibi, conference, DVD, GA, israel, jewish, lectures, Netanyahu, Obama, Prime Minister, video, Washington | 2 Comments »
October 29, 2009 by Alan Abbey
A student who attended the Religion and the Challenge of Modernity conference at Grand Valley State University in Michigan earlier this month had this to say about Donniel Hartman’s presentation there:
Donniel Hartman, the first lecturer of the day at this conference, did a very good job not only presenting his thoughts, but introducing a theme that could be common in almost every religion. We all have our challenges with modernity, and it creates multiple identities. When we have these multiple identities, we tend to lose sight of who we really are. Years ago, if you referred to someone as Jewish, you knew everything you needed to know about them. Now-a-days this isn’t necessarily the case. People now have more complex identities. Continue Reading »
Posted in David Hartman, Diaspora, Donniel Hartman, Hartman Institute, North America, israel, lectures, students, torah, לימוד | Tagged angel, ethical, Gaza, Goldstone, jewish, lecture, New York, philosophy, Rambam, sephardim, war | Leave a Comment »
October 26, 2009 by Alan Abbey
David Hartman, founding President of Shalom Hartman Institute, will focus on the clash of modernity and traditional Judaism in his fall
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October 25, 2009 by Alan Abbey
350 at the Dead Sea
This isn’t directly germane to the Shalom Hartman Institute, but I haven’t seen this picked up by any Jewish or Israeli media today, so I thought I would post it: Groups of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian environmentalists gathered in the Dead Sea basin in three groups on Saturday, October 24, 2009, to participate in a global event designed to call attention to global warming. The project was the brainstorm of the author Bill McKibben, and has taken shape under the name 350.org. The local participants were organized by Friends of the Earth Middle East.
Can you guess which group made which number?
Posted in Middle East, israel | Tagged israel, dead sea, global warming, palestine, jordan, environment | Leave a Comment »
October 25, 2009 by Alan Abbey
A controversial new book, The Invention of the Jewish People, by Tel Aviv University historian Shlomo Sand, is now in English, after kicking up a dust storm of controversy in its original Hebrew incarnation. This is a summary of the book’s thesis, as explained in a recent review on Tablet, an online Jewish cultural magazine:
Sand… argues that the Jews were not in fact exiled from Israel, and that the bulk of modern Jewry does not descend from the ancient Israelites Rather, he claims, they are the children of converts—North African Berbers and Turkic Khazars—and have no ancestral ties to the land of Israel. Zionism is not a return home, Sand writes, it is the tragic theft of another people’s land. As such, Israel is not the political rebirth of the Jewish nation—it’s a complete fabrication.
The first issue of Shalom Hartman Institute’s Havruta magazine touched on many aspects of the matter of Jewish peoplehood – from a different perspective that accepts and aims at strengthening the concept of Jewish peoplehood. Read the articles here.
Shalom Hartman Institute’s coverage of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, also addresses these issues from a perspective that embraces Jewish peoplehood.
Posted in History, Holidays/Festivals, holidays, israel | Tagged Education, History, israel, jewish, Jewish-people, nation, people, peoplehood, sinai | 1 Comment »
October 21, 2009 by Alan Abbey
Rabbi Elyse Wechterman of Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, Mass., has a nice piece in a recent edition of her local paper, in which she says our job is not only to survive the immediate crisis, “but also to reexamine what is truly important, what it is we want to do with what little time, money, strength, will we have – here, now.” In the piece, she generously quotes from Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman several times:
“When suffering comes to you, you may not be able to do much about it (the specific crisis), but you can do something about yourself (your stance, perspective, attitude in the world).”
Excellent and useful thoughts.
Posted in Donniel Hartman, North America | Tagged crisis, economic, Massachusetts, meaning, rabbis, recession, reconstructionism, reform | 1 Comment »
October 14, 2009 by Alan Abbey
David Hartman will focus on the clash of modernity and traditional Judaism in his fall 2009 public lectures, the Fred and Della Worms Lecture Series, which is titled, ”The Spiritual Opportunities and Dangers of Halakhah: Readings from Rosenzweig, Buber, Soloveitchik, Berkovits, Heschel, and Leibowitz.”
Dates
Oct. 19, 2009
Nov. 2, 2009
Nov. 16, 2009
Nov 30, 2009
Dec. 21, 2009
The Winter-Spring semester will be titled the Jay and Hadasa Pomrenze Lecture Series, and the topic will be: ”Talmudic and Traditional Perspectives on the Legal and Moral Status of Women, Converts and Non-Jews.”
Dates
Dec. 28, 2009
Jan. 11, 2010
Jan. 25, 2010
Feb. 8, 2010
Feb. 22, 2010
For additional information, please contact Brenda Yagod, shi@shi.org.il
Posted in David Hartman, Education, Hartman Institute, Middle East, israel, jerusalem, jewish, lectures, ירושלים | Tagged jerusalem, lecture, modernity | Leave a Comment »
October 13, 2009 by Alan Abbey
A high-powered panel of religious scholars and clerics, including Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, President of Shalom Hartman Institute, will be speaking at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Thursday, October 15, 2009. The theme: “Religion and the Challenge of Modernity.”
Along with Donniel, the daylong conference and panel discussion will include Vincent Cornell, a professor of Islamic and Middle East studies at Emory University in Atlanta, and James Carroll, author of the best-selling book “Constantine’s Sword: The Church and the Jews,” and a longtime advocate of efforts toward Jewish-Christian-Muslim reconciliation. Lutheran scholar and writer Martin E. Marty will moderate the discussion. Find more information here and registration information here.
Whether the Twins were three outs or eight outs from a win, the Yankees were never uncomfortable. Instead, the Twins were the club that seemed edgy.“You look up at the scoreboard, and every single player on that team has 175 at-bats in the postseason,” first baseman Michael Cuddyer said. “I think that’s one reason they don’t panic. They’re all 10-, 15-year veterans that know how to play the game. They believe in themselves and they’re good.”
If Nick Punto had not run past third base in the eighth inning of Game 3 and Carlos Gomez had not been caught off second base in the fourth inning of Game 2, probably costing the Twins at least a run each time, would the Yankees have still won both games? The Twins would love to say they had those games clinched, but they did not. Somehow, the Yankees stayed calm and prevailed.
So, even if Punto and Gomez had not made their gaffes, there was a feeling that the Yankees, who were better and more seasoned, would have won anyway. The division series sweep pushed the Yankees’ record to 10-0 against the Twins this season, including four games that they won on game-ending hits.
“Every time we put up a run or two or we scored, they don’t panic,” outfielder Denard Span said. “They seemed like they just took a deep breath. It’s almost like they relaxed even more and answered back. They always answer back.”
Span recalled how when he was 12, he watched in awe as a 22-year-old Derek Jeter helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series. Thirteen years later, Jeter helped doom Span’s team during another October dash.
“That’s why they’re the Yankees,” Span said. “You got to give them credit. They did what they were supposed to do.”
Great players often cite the importance of being able to slow the game down, even when the game is at its quickest and most stressful. From Alex Rodriguez to Jorge Posada to Jeter, the Yankees made the important plays in the most important situations, while the Twins stumbled through those spots.
Carl Pavano, who was a ghost of a Yankee for four injured seasons, said the Yankees were formidable because they had talented players. But Pavano said the Yankees’ success stretched beyond their talent to the belief that they were going to win. Rodriguez and Posada smashed home runs off Pavano in the seventh inning of Game 3 to erase a 1-0 deficit and propel the Yankees.
“It’s a cliché, but if you’ve done it once, you can do it again,” Pavano said. “And they’ve been doing it. A lot of those guys have been around a while and have done it from behind and from ahead. They keep the game pretty simple.”
Posted in Diaspora, Donniel Hartman, Education, Interfaith, North America, lectures | Tagged Christian, conference, Interfaith, michigan, muslim, religion | Leave a Comment »
September 29, 2009 by Alan Abbey
Donniel Hartman: Ethical Responses to Uncertainty, Part 1 (RTS). lecture to Rabbinical Torah Study Seminar, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel, Summer 2009
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September 29, 2009 by Alan Abbey
Donniel Hartman: Ethical Responses to Uncertainty, Part 2 (RTS), lecture given to Rabbinical Torah Study Seminar, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem, Israel, Summer 2009
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