intro class syllabus

Introduction To Judaism

From time to time some­one might ask a ques­tion that we did not have time to dis­cuss in class. I post mate­ri­als about these ques­tions here. This is not an aca­d­e­m­ic course. Some of the texts men­tioned may be out of print. Some of the links may have rot­ted. The dates refer to the last time the course was taught (2006).

Ses­sion	Date	Jew­ish Date	Top­ic	Prepa­ra­tion / Fol­low-up Assign­ment
1.	9⁄10	17 Elul	Wel­come to a New Expe­ri­ence	For addi­tion­al read­ing see Our Guide­book and Our Space Ship
2.	9⁄17	24 Elul	Shab­bat	Read: Resource Sheet 76–78, 80, 84 Read: A Shab­bat Man­u­al pp. 5–6, 70–80 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 2–8 Before next Shab­bat, Com­plete: Resource Sheet 86 (“Chart of Pos­si­bil­i­ties and Begin­nings”) Look over: Resource Sheet 87 On Shab­bat: Try the two things you’ve cho­sen Jour­nal Entry
3.	10⁄8	16 Tishre	Rosh haShan­nah (Erev Rosh haShan­nah 7/22/06)	Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 28–31 Read: Resource Sheet 68 Look over: Resource Sheet 69 Jour­nal Entries Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 32–36 For addi­tion­al read­ing see “Ser­mons” for Rosh haShan­nah and Yom Kip­pur
4.	10⁄15	23 Tishre	Yom Kip­pur (Kol Nidre 10/01/06)	For addi­tion­al read­ing see “Ser­mons” for Rosh haShan­nah and Yom Kip­pur
5.	10⁄22	30 Tishre	Sukkot & Sim­chat Torah (Erev Sukkot 10/06/06)	Look over: Resource Sheet 109 Pre­pare: Resource Sheet 105 Read: Resource Sheet 98 & 100 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 49–55 Jour­nal Entries For addi­tion­al read­ing see A Sukkot Med­i­ta­tion Etrog Trees for Sukkah & Home
6.	11⁄5 (10:00 — 12:00)	14 Ḥesh­van	Birth	Read: Resource Sheet 6 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 56–69 How to arrange for a Brit Milah
7.	11⁄5 (12:00 — 2:00)	14 Ḥesh­van	Jew­ish Edu­ca­tion	Jour­nal Entries Read: Resource Sheets 37–39 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 69–74 For addi­tion­al read­ing see A Midrash on the Fire Rab­bi Amy R. Schein­er­man has pre­pared a Vir­tu­al Tour of a Syn­a­gogue. In addi­tion to col­lect­ing pho­tos of syn­a­gogues all over the world, her site explains terms and activ­i­ties of the syan­gogue.
8.	11⁄12 (10:00 — 12:00)	21 Ḥesh­van	Mar­riage	Jour­nal Entry Read: Resource Sheets 42, 44, 45, 46, 48 & 49 For addi­tion­al read­ing see Mar­riage Cer­e­mo­ny Text What is a Ketubah? Jew­ish Nation­al and Uni­ver­si­ty Library (JNUL) Dig­i­tized Ketub­bah col­lec­tion How to get a Ketubah: The Ketubah Work­shop The Ketubah Col­lec­tion
9.	11⁄12 (12:00 — 2:00)	21 Ḥesh­van	Chanukkah (1st Can­dle — 12/24/05)	Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 19–22 Read: Resource Sheets 14, 16–19 Dis­cussing the “Decem­ber Dilem­ma” Mate­ri­als for home Chanukkah cel­e­bra­tion
10.	1⁄7 (10:00 — 12:00)	17 Tevet	Death	Read: Resource Sheet 31, 33 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 98–129 For addi­tion­al Read­ing see a Funer­al Ser­vice A Guide for Mourn­ing and Con­do­lence (of Val­ley Beth Shalom in Enci­no, CA) A fas­ci­nat­ing approach to Judaism and rein­car­na­tion from the man who writes on rein­car­na­tion and the Holo­caust.
11.	1⁄7 (12:00 — 2:00)	17 Tevet	Purim (Read Megillah in the evening 3/4/07)	Read: The Book of Esther Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 23–27 Read: Resource Sheet 63, 64 Look over: Resource Sheet 66 Jour­nal Entry
12.	1⁄28	9 She­vat	Pesach (1st Seder 4/2/07)	Read: Resource Sheet 57 & 59 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 9–18 Look Over: Resource Sheet 61 For addi­tion­al read­ing see A Grow­ing Hag­gadah
13.	2⁄4	16 She­vat	Amer­i­can Jew­ish Com­mu­ni­ty
14.	2⁄11	23 She­vat	Erev Yom haShoa (4÷15÷07)	Jour­nal Entries Read: Resource Sheets 128 For addi­tion­al read­ing see The Sho’a (some per­son­al respons­es)
15.	3⁄4	14 Adar (Purim)	Erev Yom haAtz­maut (4÷23÷07)	Read: Resource Sheets: 115–119 For addi­tion­al read­ing see Tour Israel Read: Resource Sheets: 120, 122
16.	3⁄11	21 Adar	Con­ver­sion	Read: Text to be deter­mined Jour­nal Entry Read: Resource Sheet 23, 28, 29 For addi­tion­al Read­ing see Con­ver­sion to Judaism Home Page
17.	3⁄18	28 Adar	Shavuot Erev Shavuot (5÷22÷07)	Read: Resource Sheets 94 Read: The Jew­ish Home, pages 43–45 Read: Resource Sheets 91
18.	3⁄25	6 Nisan	Review	bring your ques­tions

The Final Take-Home Exam

 

Union for Reform Judaism

Pacif­ic South­west Coun­cil

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First post­ed cir­ca: Sep­tem­ber, 1997
Last updat­ed Sep­tem­ber 10, 2006
Web 2.0 ver­sion pre­pared Octo­ber 12, 2010