The Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program
LECTURES, LUNCHES, CLASSES & VISITING SCHOLARS
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 Christine Hayes
Christine Hayes
Robert F. and Patricia R. Weis Professor of Religious Studies in Classical Judaica at Yale University. A non-Jewish specialist in Rabbinic studies, her published works include Between the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud’s (1997), Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities: Intermarriage and Conversion from the Bible to the Talmud (2002), The Emergence of Judaism . (2010), Introduction to the Bible (2012) and numerous articles in peer reviewed journals and scholarly anthologies. Professor Hayes is nearing completion on a book entitled What’s so Divine about Divine Law? She is active in professional and academic organizations, and currently serves as co-editor of the Association for Jewish Studies Review. ‘We’re No Angels:’ Perfectionism in Rabbinic Judaism
Wednesday May 22 • 7:00 p.m. Siegal College, Free & Open to the Public. $18 Preferred Seating This lecture explores radically diverse ancient Jewish conceptions of the nature of human perfection and whether or not humans can be, or should aspire to be, like angels. The Moses of Midrash: God’s Partner or Adversary?
Thursday May 23 • 12:00 p.m. Siegal College $25 includes lunch (dietary laws observed) Rabbinic tradition provides dueling portraits of Moses in the climactic moments of the Golden Calf story, as God’s partner on the one hand and God’s defiant adversary on the other. What do these traditions tell us about the divine-human relationship and the power of humans to shape the course of history? |
 Fern Levy, Instructor
Arab Muslims and European Muslims: Righteous Among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem
Tuesdays May 21 - June 4 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Siegal College ($36) Almost 70 Muslims from Albania, Bosnia, and Turkey have been honored as Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem for the role of North African Arab Muslims in helping Jews during the Holocaust. Muslims have also played a large role in safeguarding the priceless 600-year-old illuminated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. Few people know about the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education in Nazareth, which was founded in 2005 by an Arab Muslim attorney to create a greater context for peace and understanding in the region. |
Terrorism and a Just War
Dr. Alan Rosenbaum Professor Emeritus, Philosophy Cleveland State University Tuesdays July 16, 23, 30, & August 6 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. SiegalCollege This brief course explores both the Just War tradition and the moral constraints this tradition imposes upon the initiation and conduct of war. Further, our focus upon the modern scourge of terrorism, as viewed from the perspective offered by the Just War tradition, should provide an ethical (and legal) basis for assessing and rejecting both terrorism as well as the oft-quoted, relativist claim that “one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter.” 
Visiting Scholar: Ilan Troen Stoll Family Chair Israel Studies; Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University. Before Joining Brandeis, S. Ilan Troen served as director of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute and Archives in Sede Boker, Israel, and dean of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University. Professor Troen has authored or edited 11 books in American, Jewish and Israeli history. He is the founding editor of Israel Studies (Indiana University Press).
Whose Land Is It Anyway?: Theology and Secular Politics in the Land of Israel/Palestine
Wednesday August 21, 7:00 p.m. Siegal College, Free and Open to the Public $18 Preferred Seating Available Imagining Zion: Dreams, Designs, and Realities in a Century of Jewish Settlement.
Thursday August 22 @12:00 p.m. Siegal College $25 includes lunch (dietary laws observed) |
Hebrew Classes
 Rabbi Moshe Adler, Instructor
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Biblical Hebrew: Beginners & Beyond
Mondays June 3 -July 8 • 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Students develop basic reading skills as a foundation for understanding biblical texts. 
Nili Adler, Instructor
Israeli TV as a Window on Contemporary Israeli Society
This course reinforces conversational skills with an emphasis on contemporary culture. Selections from modern literature, newspaper articles and Israeli television programs are part of the course. Advanced students and native speakers will examine current Israeli TV programs and the ways in which they depict various sectors of society, current events, the pop music culture, human interest and political commentary. Wednesdays June 5 - July 10 • 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Language, Stories & Conversations (Intermediate)
Instructor Rivka Taub Mondays June 3 -July 8 • 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. OR Wednesdays June 5 - July 10 • 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. For students who have acquired an intermediate knowledge of Hebrew and who wish to develop a greater fluency in conversation and a stronger command of grammar and syntax. |
Biblical Hebrew: Intermediate
Mondays June 3 - July 8 • 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Students continue to acquire vocabulary and grammar needed for understanding biblical narratives. Conversational Hebrew Beginners & Beyond
Instructor Leah Cooper Tuesdays June 4 - July 9 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Students acquire conversational vocabulary and knowledge of grammar necessary for basic interactions and for reading short texts in Hebrew. |
Advanced Readings in Biblical Narratives: Parables in the Bible
Wednesdays June 5 - July 10 • 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. A donkey teaches wisdom to a wizard; a tale of talking trees sparks a revolution; a prophet rebukes a king by telling the story of a lamb. The parable – perhaps the oldest form of teaching – is alive and well in the Hebrew Bible. We will study selected biblical parables by paying attention to how Hebrew vocabulary, grammar, syntax and style advance meaning. All Hebrew classes held at the Siegal Beachwood facility. $90 per course. A Taste of Literature, News & Drama (Advanced)
Tuesdays June 4 - July 9 • 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. This course reinforces conversational skills with an emphasis on contemporary culture. Selections from modern literature, newspaper articles and Israeli television programs are part of the course. |
