Eating and Community: Creation and Demarcation
Rabbi Dr. Yosef Bronstein
Rabbi Dr. Yosef Bronstein received rabbinic ordination from RIETS, and a PhD in Talmudic Studies from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies with a focus on Midrash Halakha.
He currently teaches Jewish philosophy and halakha at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim (MMY) and online for Yeshiva University’s Isaac Breuer College. His books, Engaging the Essence: The Philosophy of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Maggid Books) and Reshimot Shiurim shel Maran ha-Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik al Masekhet Kiddushin are, God willing, forthcoming.
In this class we will explore the intersection between two major topics of Jewish law and culture: food and community. From the sectarians and rabbis of old to contemporary Hasidic groups, Jews have identified the social elements of eating as ways of creating and demarcating communities. Through a variety of Jewish texts and practices we will see how the questions of whom to break bread with and whom not is a key portal to understanding how different Jewish communities conceptualized their identities and missions.