Adult Education Blog

Join us via Zoom as we delve into some Jewish views on the afterlife!

Classes will run the first three Sundays in August, taught by guest lecturer Professor John Rybicki!

Email Rabbi@nershalomva.org if you need the zoom link.

For the last several weeks, we have been studying Reform Jewish values, through the responsa, formal statements, and platforms of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and through the book, A Life of Meaning: Embracing Reform Judaism's Sacred Path. This Sunday (7/26) will be our final session on this topic. If you have been reading the book along with us, the following essays are recommended as starting points for our discussion on...Read more...

This week's topic is "Living the Texts". You do not have to have done the reading to join us, but if you do have the book A Life Of Meaning, we are strongly encouraging reading the following essays:

If you are so inclined, you should also feel empowered to read the whole...Read more...

A General Question of Marriage after Gender Affirming Sugery (1978)

A Question About Sex/Gender/Sexuality in Marriage (ca. 1980)

Circumcision for Trans Converts (ca. 2009)

Conversion and Marriage with Genderbending Individuals (1990)

Gender Transitions within an Existing Marriage (ca. 2015)

Current CCAR Resolution (2015)

Gay Marriages/Families:

Can a Reform Rabbi Officiate (1985)

Can both moms participate in their son's Bar Mitzvah (1986)

Evolution of Reform Acceptance, and where Civil Law factors (2014)

Jewish LGBTQ Communities:

Gay Synagogues (ca.1972)

Gay Converts (1982)

Contemporary CCAR Resolutions (2015):

Reform Judaism Celebrates 25 Years of Gay Rabbis (now 30!)

CCAR Opposed...Read more...

Before we move on to Responsa on LGBT inclusion, there were some questions about the Responsa Committee more generally.

Here are the two most recent Responsa on the CCAR website (COVID-19 themed) - they list the names of the current committee members at the end, including the current chair (a woman):

Virtual Minyan during a Pandemic

Brit Milah during COVID-19

For Comparison: Rabbinic Assembly (Conservative)...Read more...

Pregnancy and Reproductive Health:

Is Birth Control Permitted? (1927)

On Artificial Insemination and Emergency C-Sections (ca. late 1940's)

When is Abortion Permitted? (1985)

Motherhood:

On Breast-Feeding (ca. 1950's)

Accepting Jews of Patrilineal Descent (1983)

Marriage:

Jewish Commitment Ceremonies Outside of Marriage (1979)

Agunot (1988)

Regulating Uteruses...Read more...

The CCAR Platforms are documents capturing the state of Reform Jewish thought at different key moments in our history. (1885, 1937, 1976, 1997, 1999).

In addition to the Platforms and the Questions and Answers, the Reform Movement also issues annual Resolutions (mostly on political issues to address), going all the way back to 1862.

Ner Shalom Book Club will be reading The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons for our next meeting. We will meet via Zoom on April 29th at 10:30 am to discuss.

From Goodreads about the book:

It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house...Read more...

Book of Zephaniah

Book of Haggai

Summary of Zephaniah

Summary of Haggai

(These books are collectively 5 chapters)

Source sheet for Zephaniah and Haggai

Notes from Heschel's The Prophets

Book of Micah

Summary of Micah

Sefaria Source Sheet on Ovadiah, Jonah, and Micah - Sorry I didn't find this last week, but it gives a helpful timeline and outline of these three prophets and their literary themes

One view of the Jewish beliefs on the Messiah and how to understand the varying understandings of the Prophets' calls for a Messiah and Savior

Content Warning: Hosea has some risque imagery!

The Book of Hosea

Summary of Hosea

Prophecy, Hosea, and Teshuva

An Alliance of Love and Complexity

My Jewish Learning: Hosea and Amos in their historical/political context

The Book of Ezekiel

Summary of Ezekiel

Notes on Abraham Joshua Heschel's The Prophets

My Jewish Learning: Ezekiel