On-Line Learning
Fall 2008

Register now for Conservative Yeshiva Online Learning beginning the week of October 26, 2008.

Students of all Hebrew levels and Jewish learning backgrounds are welcome. Students should be self-motivated and willing to devote 1-2 hours per week to study. Hevruta - study with a partner - is strongly encouraged for all students including those with no prior experience in hevruta study! Conservative Yeshiva Online students have set up hevruta study in person, by phone, and even via Skype!

Two ten-week courses will be offered, Contemporary Issues in Halakha (Jewish Law) and Recipe for an Empire: From David’s Jerusalem to Ahab’s Samaria.
Complete course descriptions are found below.


Registration: To register for the class, please click on the link to the Conservative Yeshiva on-line registration system, https://uscjisrael.researchsuccess.com/programs/survey.asp?nsurvey=55 and choose “online learning fall 2008” for your choice of program. Follow the instructions for completing the application. Alumni of the Conservative Yeshiva, please email yeshiva@uscj.org to receive an application.

Tuition: $250 for each 10 week course. A 10% discount will be given to Hevruta partners who sign up together for the class. Alumni of the Conservative Yeshiva receive an additional 10% tuition discount. Students from Asia, South Africa, Eastern Europe and other developing nations will receive a 50% tuition discount. (The course is open to a limited number of USCJ employees for a registration fee of $50.)

Please share this announcement! For more information about the course or about on-line learning with the Conservative Yeshiva, please contact Rabbi Gail Diamond at yeshiva@uscj.org.

Contemporary Issues in Halakha
Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow

In this course, we will examine how halakha – Jewish law - confronts modernity (and vice-versa) on a number of issues which have riveted the Jewish world over the past year.

Pidyon Shevuyim – The Redemption of Captives: While we know that it is highly worthy in Judaism to save lives and provide the dead with a proper burial, are there no limits? If paying too high a "price" for captives will only spur the captors to step up their activities in the future, what has been gained? To what extent does halakha take into consideration the needs of individuals as opposed to the needs of the community as a whole?

Giyyur – Conversion: Once a Jew always a Jew? Is conversion final in Judaism or can a Bet Din – a Jewish Court – revoke the conversion at a later date? Must the convert accept the yoke of all of the mitzvot at the time of conversion? What happens if it is later discovered that the convert is not leading an observant lifestyle or even deceived the judges at the time of conversion?

Hekhsher Tzedek: Should a kashrut certificate attest only to the technical aspects of how an animal was slaughtered? To what extent are business practices a religious issue? Before issuing the seal of approval, should kashrut agencies also investigate the corporate integrity, working conditions, product development and environmental impact of the business at hand?

Musical Instruments in the Synagogue: In the last couple decades we have seen significant growth in musical accompaniment to services on Shabbat and Holidays in a number of synagogues that consider themselves to be bound by halakha. Often there are a wide array of instruments and sometimes even "rock bands" performing. Can these developments be justified by Jewish law?

Instructor: Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow received his MA and Rabbinic ordination from the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. Before joining the Conservative Yeshiva, he served as the Rabbi of Congregation Shevet Achim in Gilo. He now teaches Biblical Hebrew and Halakha and learns in the yeshiva's kollel. Rabbi Zacharow is certified as a mesadder gittin (specialist in Jewish Family Law).

Recipe for an Empire: From David’s Jerusalem to Ahab’s Samaria
Vered Hollander-Goldfarb

The recipe for success of a great king: A capital devoid of the tribal affiliations, and a religious center loyal to the royal family. Season with ambitions, emotions, and intrigues.

The course will study the creation of Jerusalem by David: The establishment of a religious center, the organization of a state, and some of the intrigues of the palace. Then we will watch the missteps of David’s heirs, the splitting of the empire and the rise of a new kingdom just north of Jerusalem. The fledging new kingdom will establish itself as a great power under Omri and Ahab (and Jezebel!), who created the independent capital city of Samaria. (Did they learn something from David?)

The course will focus on the relevant biblical texts from the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. Whenever appropriate, we will discuss relevant Midrashim and archeological information. A Hebrew or a Hebrew-English Tanakh is needed.

Instructor: Vered Hollander-Goldfarb received her M.A. in Judaic Studies and Tanach from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University and studied at Bar-Ilan University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Before making aliyah, she taught at Ramaz School and Stern College in New York. She teaches Tanach at the Conservative Yeshiva.

Conservative Yeshiva of United Synagogue
8 Agron Street, PO Box 7456
Jerusalem, Israel
011-972-2-622-3116
011-972-2-624-6473 (fax)
yeshiva@uscj.org
www.ConservativeYeshiva.org

The Conservative Yeshiva
10a Agron Street, Jerusalem
Telephone (02) 622 - 3116, Fax (02) 624 - 6473
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7456
Jerusalem, 94265
E-Mail: Yeshiva
www.conservativeyeshiva.org
© 2008