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December 25, 2016

Chanukkah and Sukkot

We will conduct a detailed analysis of the significance of the commonalities the festivals of Chanuka and Sukkot.
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February 13, 2024

Hanukkah: Holiday of Homebodies

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December 12, 2016

Light against Darkness: The Miraculous Survival of the Holiday of Chanukkah

The holiday of Chanuka was one of many celebrations connected to the Hasmoneans, and virtually the only one to have survived antiquity. How can we explain the curious survival of Chanuka – a holiday that celebrates the re-dedication of a temple later destroyed? Why did Chanuka’s flickering lights continue to outshine the darkness?
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December 25, 2016

What Did Chanukkah Stand For in Ancient Times?

We will explore the earliest sources that retold the dramatic story of Chanuka, and will consider how ancient retellings of Chanuka changed over time – and why. (12/25/2016)
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October 27, 2013
Mishnah and Memory: An Educational Exploration
How should we think about Mishnah study if we take it seriously as ...
Dr. Devora Steinmetz

Dr. Devora Steinmetz

Devora Steinmetz serves on the faculty of the Hebrew College Rabbinical School and the Mandel Leadership Institute. She is the founder of Beit Rabban, a Jewish day school profiled in Daniel Pekarsky’s Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban. She is the author of scholarly articles on Talmud, Midrash, and Bible as well as of two books, From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis and Punishment and Freedom: The Rabbinic Construction of Criminal Law. She has served on the faculty of Drisha, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Yeshivat Hadar, and Havruta: a Beit Midrash at Hebrew University.

Click here to access podcasts recorded by Devora Steinmetz.

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December 2, 2021
Shemittah in the Mishnah: Challenges and Opportunities
Rabbi Avraham Walfish

Rabbi Avraham Walfish

A retired teacher of Talmudic Literature and Rabbinic Thought, Avraham (Avie) Walfish was recently appointed as head of the Halakhic Beit Midrash of the Beit Hillel Rabbinical Organization.  At Yeshiva University he completed his B.A. in philosophy, while studying Talmud with Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik. After making aliyah, he received his rabbinic ordination from R. Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at Hebrew University, writing his dissertation on literary features of Mishnah. He has taught and lectured in many frameworks in Israel and abroad, including Herzog College, Michlala, Pardes Institute, Bar Ilan University, and Drisha. His extensive publications in different areas of Jewish studies include the Iyun Mishnah website and a commentary on Mishnah Berakhot, Mishnaic Tapestries. In 2005 he was awarded the Prize of the Israeli Minister of Education for creative work in Jewish culture.

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January 29, 2008
Reading Mishnah
An analysis of the structure and meaning of tractate Rosh Hashana. ...
Rabbi Avie Walfish

Rabbi Avie Walfish

Until his recent retirement, Avraham (Avie) Walfish taught Talmud and Jewish Thought at the Herzog College in Alon Shvut, and headed the M.Ed. program in teaching Talmud and Jewish Thought in Michlala College in Jerusalem.  At Yeshiva University he completed his B.A. in philosophy, while studying Talmud with Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik. After making aliyah, he received his rabbinic ordination from R. Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at Hebrew University, writing his dissertation on literary features of Mishnah. He has taught and lectured in many frameworks in Israel and abroad, including Pardes Institute, Bar Ilan University, and Drisha. His extensive publications in different areas of Jewish studies include the Iyun Mishnah website and a recently published commentary on Mishnah Berakhot, Mishnaic Tapestries. In 2005 he was awarded the Prize of the Israeli Minister of Education for creative work in Jewish culture.

Click here to access podcasts recorded by Avie Walfish.

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March 15, 2022
Private: The Book of Samuel and The Question of Kingship
The women of the Talmud both preserve rabbinic traditions and chall...
Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi David Silber

David Silber is the founder and dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York and Israel. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011), For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017), and Malkhut Adam: Iyunim Bsefer Shmuel (Maggid 2021). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz. They have eight children and live in New York City.

Click here to access other recorded classes by David Silber.

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August 8, 2019
The Quest to Reestablish the Bible’s Sacred Space
Part 1: The Loss of Sacred Space- The first man and woman do not la...
Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi David Silber

David Silber is the founder and dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York and Israel. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011), For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017), and Malkhut Adam: Iyunim Bsefer Shmuel (Maggid 2021). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz. They have eight children and live in New York City.

Click here to access other recorded classes by David Silber.

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September 18, 2017
Holy King: Music and Meaning in the Tefillot of Rosh Hashanah
Here Dr. Chaim Kranzler and Rabbi David Silber sing and discuss the...
Chaim Kranzler

Chaim Kranzler

Chaim Kranzler, MD, is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist. Dr. Kranzler has led High Holiday tefilot at Drisha for thirty-five years.

Rabbi David Silber

Rabbi David Silber

David Silber is the founder and dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education in New York and Israel. Rabbi Silber received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is a recipient of the Covenant Award, for excellence in innovative Jewish education, and is the author of A Passover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn (Jewish Publication Society 2011), For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther (Koren Publishers 2017), and Malkhut Adam: Iyunim Bsefer Shmuel (Maggid 2021). He is also a nationally acclaimed lecturer on the Bible. Rabbi Silber is married to Dr. Devora Steinmetz. They have eight children and live in New York City.

Click here to access other recorded classes by David Silber.

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February 13, 2024
Symbolism and Significance: Examining the Yom Kippur Service Avodah
Victoria Sutton
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Victoria Sutton

Rabbanit Victoria Sutton is on the Judaic studies faculty at the Heschel School and has taught in the Drisha High School Summer Program. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at Congregation Beth Israel, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Berkeley. She was ordained through Yeshivat Maharat in 2014. A graduate of Barnard College, with a BA in Biological Sciences, she also holds a Grand Diploma in Pastry Arts from the French Culinary Institute. Victoria sat on the board of Jewish Family and Community Services East Bay and was involved with community organizations in New York City focusing on homelessness, literacy, sexual assault and domestic violence.

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August 26, 2021
Forgiveness and Atonement in Jewish Tradition: Philological and Philosophical Perspectives
Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier

Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Zuckier is Director of Education and a member of the Drisha faculty. A Research Fellow in Philosophy of Religion at Notre Dame, he received his PhD in Ancient Judaism at Yale University and was a member of Yeshiva University’s Kollel Elyon. Previously he served as Director of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus at Yale University and as the Flegg postdoctoral fellow in Jewish Studies at McGill University.

Shlomo is an alumnus of Yeshivat Har Etzion and RIETS, as well as of the Wexner and Tikvah Fellowships. He has lectured and taught widely across North America, as well as at Yale Divinity School, Yeshiva University, the Tikvah Fund, and Bnot Sinai. A Founder of The Lehrhaus, Shlomo serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition and has edited two books on contemporary Jewish thought.