July Learning Seminar

Rabbi Tali Adler Rabbi Shai Held Rabbi Elie Kaunfer Rabbi Avi Killip Rabbi Aviva Richman Rabbi Micha'el Rosenberg Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz Dr. Jeremy Tabick Rabbi Ethan Tucker Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish Dena Weiss

Hadar's July Learning Seminar is an opportunity to immerse yourself in Torah study that is rigorous, nuanced, and sensitive to the full range of human experience and emotion. Designed as a deep dive into the ideas at the heart of Hadar, while learning alongside the students enrolled in our full-time Beit Midrash Fellowship, the July Learning Seminar opens up the world of Jewish wisdom through substantive, text-based learning and conversation.

Join us for a stimulating week of study at Hadar, exploring deep issues in our lives as Jews through the lens of Torah.
Connect with an incredible network of people, working together to build bolder, more ambitious, and more meaningful Jewish lives.
Learn with Hadar faculty, including: Rabbi Tali Adler, Rabbi Shai Held, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Rabbi Avi Killip, Rabbi Aviva Richman, Rabbi Avi Strausberg, Rabbi Ethan Tucker, and Dena Weiss.

The schedule for this program is still under formation. The sample schedule below, from Hadar's 2023 Executive Seminar, will give you a sense of the types of sessions this program will include.

5:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Registration

6:00 PM - 6:45 PM

Orientation

6:45 PM - 7:30 PM

Dinner

7:30 PM - 8:45 PM

Opening Lecture
"Build Homes and Pray for the Peace of Babylon: Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles"
Rabbi Shai Held

8:45 PM - 9:00 PM

Arvit

7:45 AM - 8:30 AM

Shaharit (Traditional Service and Learner's Service)

8:30 AM - 9:15 AM

Breakfast

9:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Morning Learning

1) Talmud Track
Seder and Shiur

2) Shiur Klali - Group Learning Track
9:30 - 11:00 - Shiur with R. Avi Killip
11:00 - 11:15 - Break
11:15 - 12:45 - Shiur with R. Elie Kaunfer

12:45 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Learning Electives

"What Is Zionism For and What Can('t) it Accomplish? Ahad Ha'am's Surprising Vision for Israel (and the Diaspora)"
R. Shai Held

"How We Pray Differently: The Siddurim of Bavel vs. Eretz Yisrael"
R. Elie Kaunfer

"How to Question Authority: The Merits of Idol Smashing"
R. Avi Killip

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM

Minhah and Break

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Executive Seminar Plenary
R. Aviva Richman

5:15 PM - 6:00 PM

"Centering the Nigun: The Power of Wordless Song"
R. Deborah Sacks Mintz

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Dinner and "What's Happening at Hadar"

7:30 PM - 8:45 PM

Optional Yeshivat Hadar Class
"King Solomon: The Power and Peril of Genius"
R. David Kasher

7:45 AM - 8:30 AM

Shaharit (Traditional Service and Learner's Service)

8:30 AM - 9:15 AM

Breakfast

9:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Morning Learning

1) Talmud Track
Seder and Shiur

2) Shiur Klali - Group Learning Track
9:30 - 11:00 - Shiur with R. Avi Killip
11:00 - 11:15 - Break
11:15 - 12:45 - Shiur with R. Elie Kaunfer

12:45 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Executive Seminar Plenary
R. Jason Rogoff

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM

Minhah and Break

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Learning Electives

"Ezra's Edicts: The Anxious Restoration of Jewish Life After Exile"
R. David Kasher

"For Love is as Fierce as Death: Modern Women’s Midrash as a Tool for Finding New/Old Sources of Authority"
R. Avi Killip

5:15 PM - 5:45 PM

Small Groups / Workshops

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Dinner

8:15 AM - 8:45 AM

Optional Singing

8:45 AM - 9:30 AM

Shaharit (Traditional Service and Learner's Service)

9:30 AM - 10:15 AM

Breakfast

10:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Group Lecture (All Participants)
"The Curious Case of the Givonim: Israel's Obligations to Other Nations"
R. Tali Adler

12:45 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Learning Electives

"Say What You Mean: Communication Gone Awry"
R. Avi Strausberg

"Exile and Redemption in the Thought of the Maharal"
R. David Kasher

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM

Minhah and Break

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Evening Off

7:45 AM - 8:30 AM

Shaharit (Traditional Service and Learner's Service)

8:30 AM - 9:15 AM

Breakfast

9:15 AM - 12:45 PM

Morning Learning

1) Talmud Track
Seder and Shiur

2) Shiur Klali - Group Learning Track
9:30 - 11:00 - Shiur with R. Avi Killip
11:00 - 11:15 - Break
11:15 - 12:45 - Shiur with R. Elie Kaunfer

12:45 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Learning Electives

"Shabbat and the State: Does Responsibility for an Entire Society Affect our Halakhah?"
R. Ethan Tucker

"If You Will It: Dreams and Zion"
Dena Weiss

"Strangers in Our Land: Avraham to Amichai"
Rabbi Aviva Richman

3:00 PM - 3:45 PM

Minhah and Break

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Closing Shiur
"A New and Improved Exodus: Exilic Dreams of Going Home"
Rabbi Shai Held

5:15 PM - 5:45 PM

Closing Program

Rabbi Tali Adler

R. Tali Adler is faculty at Hadar. A musmekhet of Yeshivat Maharat and alumna of Stern College for Women, R. Adler has studied at a number of institutions including Hadar, Drisha, and Midreshet HaRova.

Rabbi Shai Held

Rabbi Shai Held is President and Dean at Hadar. He is completing work on his next book, Judaism is About Love (forthcoming). His most recent book, The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published in 2017.

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer is President and CEO of Hadar. He received semikhah from his longtime teacher, R. Daniel Landes, and is currently completing a book on the weekday Amidah. He received a doctorate in liturgy from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he was also ordained, and is a graduate of Harvard College.

Rabbi Avi Killip

Rabbi Avi Killip is Executive Vice President of Hadar. A graduate of Hebrew College Rabbinical School, R. Killip was a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a Schusterman Fellow. She is host of the Hadar podcasts Responsa Radio and Ta Shma.

Rabbi Aviva Richman

Rabbi Aviva Richman is Rosh Yeshiva at Hadar. She was ordained by R. Daniel Landes and has a doctorate from New York University in Talmud. R. Richman also studied in the Pardes Kollel and the Drisha Scholars’ Circle.

Rabbi Micha'el Rosenberg

R. Micha’el Rosenberg is a member of the Hadar faculty. He holds rabbinic ordination both from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and from his teacher, R. Elisha Ancselovits, and has a doctorate in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is the author of Signs of Virginity: Testing Virgins and Making Men in Late Antiquity (2018), and, with Rabbi Ethan Tucker, of Gender Equality and Prayer in Jewish Law (2017).

Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz

Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz serves the Hadar Institute as Director of Tefillah and Music. An educator, facilitator, and composer, she has collaborated on over two dozen albums of new Jewish music through Rising Song and beyond, including two albums of her own original music: The Narrow and the Expanse (2020) an Yetzira (2023).

Dr. Jeremy Tabick

Dr. Jeremy Tabick is the Content Manager and faculty at Hadar, where he teaches, curates, and edits Hadar's content—both online and in print—and Project Zug courses. Jeremy received his PhD in Talmud at JTS. He graduated from the University of Manchester (in the UK) with a Masters in Physics, and is an alumnus of Yeshivat Hadar and the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He lives in Riverdale with his wife and three children.

Rabbi Ethan Tucker

R. Ethan Tucker is President and Rosh Yeshiva at Hadar. He was ordained by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and earned a doctorate in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. A Wexner Graduate Fellow, he was a co-founder of Kehilat Hadar. He is the author, along with R. Micha’el Rosenberg, of Gender Equality and Prayer in Jewish Law (2017).

Rabbi Miriam-Simma Walfish

R. Miriam-Simma Walfish is faculty at Hadar and a Senior Coach for Pedagogy of Partnership. She holds a PhD in Rabbinics from Harvard University and has published several articles, including, "Upending the Curse of Eve: Reframing Maternal Breastfeeding in BT Ketubot" (2017).

Dena Weiss

Dena Weiss is Rosh Beit Midrash and Senior Faculty at Hadar, where she teaches Talmud, Midrash, and Hasidut. Dena earned an MA in Theology from Harvard Divinity School. She has studied and taught in a variety of Jewish educational settings including Drisha, Midreshet Lindenbaum, and Pardes.

The July Learning Seminar is open to people of all learning backgrounds looking to deepen their connection to Jewish thought and texts. Please make sure you consult the schedule before registering to make sure the times of the class slots work for you.

The July Learning Seminar will take place at Yeshivat Hadar, 210 W. 93rd Street, New York, NY 10025. Programming begins Sunday evening, July 14 and runs through the afternoon of Thursday, July 18, 2024.

The cost of the in-person program is $750.
An early bird rate of $650 is available until December 1. We also have scholarship and student rates available.
To support our programming and allow others to attend the July Learning Seminar at reduced rates, please consider signing up at the $1,000 rate.

Tuition includes access to the full range of programming, daily breakfast and lunch, and dinner when programming runs into the evening.

If finances pose an obstacle to participation, please feel free to make use of the reduced rate of $750 or contact [email protected] and we will do our best to accommodate.

The July Learning Seminar will only be offered in person. Stay tuned for opportunities to engage with similar topics and modalities online in the near future.

We’d love to tell you more about this program! Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.

Tuition includes access to the full range of programming, daily breakfast and lunch, and dinner when programming runs into the evening.

The cost of the in-person program is $750.
An early bird rate of $650 is available until December 1. We also have scholarship and student rates available.
To support our programming and allow others to attend the February Learning Seminar at reduced rates, please consider signing up at the $1,000 rate.

If finances pose an obstacle to participation, please feel free to make use of the reduced rate of $750 or contact [email protected] and we will do our best to accommodate.

"This week was in a class by itself….The jewel in the crown is the faculty itself, their mastery of the material, their love of teaching, and their warmth and affection for the learners."

"I can't wait to get back to studying with you at Hadar."

"The learning was fabulous. I get more optimistic about the future feeling the energy in the room as young and old learn together. Everyone is so respectful of each other and eager to learn."

July Learning Seminar