Our commitment to life-long learning includes a diversity of educational opportunities.
Examples of our programs from 2010
- October 2010
- November 2010
- September 2010
And then there’s TNT (Tuesday Night Temple) a new Adult Education program on Tuesday evenings –
taught by Rabbi David Meyer
THE “BRACKETOLOGY” OF JEWISH HISTORY
Although it may seem humdrum to those of you (my younger readers) raised with the likes of Madden NFL, and various other PlayStation and computer sports simulation games, I remember fondly from my childhood the many hours playing a board game called “All-Star Baseball.”
“The Most Realistic Baseball Game Ever Made!” the cartoon bragged, and to that point, it probably was. The game came with a large and expandable collection of disks representing ballplayers both current (from that era) and historical. Each of those disks was divided into numerous segments which might represent singles, doubles, strikeouts, homeruns, stolen bases and other tendencies in keeping with the overall, lifetime statistics of each player. When placed in the special holder, a spin of the wheel would land on one of those segments, and thereby determine the outcome of the play. So for example, the Yankees’ Babe Ruth’s “homerun” segment was quite large, as was his strikeout potential. Red Sox, Fred Lynn’s rookie year disk would have him hitting to every field, stealing bases, and making the consistent plays on defense for which he would long be remembered. Thus, it was possible to assemble line-ups of the game’s greatest players, and in an era long before computers, to compare and contrast on “level playing field” different stars from different eras.
Some weeks ago, as I was preparing my Rosh Hashanah Morning sermon, I knew that I would be introducing many in our congregation to the remarkable, historical figure, Benjamin of Tudela, someone with whom, I am quite certain, most in our congregation were previously unfamiliar. That was when I began to consider what it might be like to bring together the greatest, the most influential, the most memorable figures in all of Jewish history, the well-known and those of lesser stature, and like that old baseball game from my childhood, compare, contrast, and evaluate their contributions to the Jewish people from the “20/20 hindsight” of history.
Might it be possible, for example, to look at a monumental, historical personality from the Third Century, and consider how he or she might compare to a different figure from a different time and different place? How would history, in its broadest scope, evaluate their standing? At the end of the day, who might emerge as the “greatest” Jews of all time?
And so this November’s Adult Education program offers you a chance to delve into the remarkable stories of the famous and less well-known men and women who shaped Jewish history. This month (November 2, 9 and 30), I will lead a Seminar Series and discussion which I am titling:
“The Bracketology of Jewish History – YOU Choose the GREATEST Jews!”
I have prepared “March Madness”- type “brackets” into which a selection of the thirty-two greatest Jews of all time will be randomly slotted. One “Region” at a time, we’ll study each of their lives, their thoughts, their influence and their contributions to Jewish life. And then we’ll take a vote, winnowing down the nominees to create our own “Final Four” of Jewish History.
As of now, here’s a partial list of the figures from Jewish history we’ll be considering: Yochanan Ben Zakkai, Judah the Prince, Rabbi Akiva, Flavius Josephus, Judah Maccabee, Rashi, Maimonides, Saadia Gaon, Judah HaLevi, Isaac Luria, the Maharal of Prague, the Vilna Gaon, the Baal Shem Tov, Joseph Caro, Baruch Spinoza, Theodore Herzl, Rabbi Israel Salanter, Henrietta Szold, Eliezer ben Yehudah, David Ben Gurion, Isaac Mayer Wise, Menachem Sneerson, Moses Mendelssohn, Albert Einstein, Achad Ha-am, Rav Kook, Solomon Schechter, Golda Meir, Elie Wiesel, Mordecai Kaplan, and Sigmund Freud.
I promise that it will be a study of Jewish History as never been done before!
