Introduction to the Jewish Experience

Image: Me, lighting Shabbat candles. You’ll learn how to do this, and what it all means. (Photo by Linda Burnett.)

I teach a course called Intro to the Jewish Experience, a class that begins with Basic Judaism. It’s designed to equip students to participate in Jewish community, whether that’s the local synagogue or the local Jewish Film Festival.

For info on where and how to sign up, check out A Course in Basic Judaism!, which I posted last week. There is an online section of the class, which you may attend “live” or via recording, and a completely separate but parallel regular class that will meet at Congregation Beth El in Berkeley, CA.

The class has three separate terms. Students are welcome to take them in any order. Each will also work nicely as a stand-alone course. Here are the topics covered, with the caveat that depending on the interests of class members and on opportunities for interesting visitors, there may be changes:

Fall Term: Jewish Holidays and Lifecycle Events (Oct – Dec)

1. The Sabbath – Basic Concepts
2. God, Covenant, & Mitzvah
3. Spring Holiday Cycle: Purim, Passover, & Shavuot
4. Fall Holiday Cycle: Elul, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, & Sukkot
5. National Holiday Cycle: Chanukah, Tu B’Shevat, the Yoms, & Tisha B’Av.
6. Death & Mourning as a Jew
7. Bar/Bat Mitzvah & Jewish Weddings
8. Welcoming New Jews: Bris, Brit Bat, & Conversion to Judaism

Winter Term: Israel & Texts (Jan – Mar)

1. The Sabbath – looking at a text of Shabbat
2. Ancient Israel – History & Archaeology
3. Torah, Tanakh, and Midrash – Stories about Ancient Israel
4. Rabbinic Judaism (70 CE – 800 CE) – History of the Rabbis
5. Rabbinic Texts – What is the Talmud? – with text study
6. Codes, Responsa and Law – How does “Jewish Law” really work?
7. Anti-Semitism
8. Zionism & Modern Israel

Spring Term: Traditions of Judaism (Apr – May)

We begin with the things that all Jews share, and then look at the great diversity in the Jewish world:

1. The Sabbath: Havdalah 
2. Synagogue, Siddur, and Service
3. Sephardic Judaism: History & Culture
4. Ashkanazi Judaism: History & Culture
5. Mizrahim: Histories & Culture
6. North American Judaism and Movements of Judaism
7. Jews of Color
8. Jews & Food, Jewish Social Action

As you can see, each term begins with the Sabbath. That will tell you how central I believe the day is to understanding Judaism. In the fall, we look at it as the biggest holiday in the Jewish year. In winter, we learn how to do Jewish text study by studying the Kiddush together. In the spring, it is the first of the three things the Jewish world has in common.

If this sounds like it might be for you, you can find more information and registration links here:

Online Class:

Class in the San Francisco East Bay: