Overview

Hadar and Hebrew College's Halakhah Intensive features a week of rich, rigorous, and meaningful learning on a particular Halakhic theme. Led by Rabbi Aviva Richman, Rabbi Micha'el Rosenberg, and Rabbi Ethan Tucker, this year’s Halakhah Intensive will explore the concept of tevilah (ritual immersion).

This immersive learning program is designed for people who have had significant prior exposure to Jewish texts and are comfortable navigating these texts independently.

Most of the programming will take place in-person. For those unable to attend in person, there will be a virtual morning shiur.

Participation is contingent on strict adherence to relevant Covid-19 safety regulations including showing proof of vaccination. More information about Covid-19 and safety policies can be found on the FAQ page.

Hadar is proud to have the support of Mayyim Hayyim in putting on this year's Halakhah Intensive.

Session Titles and Descriptions

Opening Shiur

Purity and Permission: What Are We Doing When We’re Doing Immersion?
When most people think of ritual immersion, they likely imagine it as a person’s attempt to remove impurity and “become pure.” But many classical sources imply other meanings and purposes for immersion. So what are we trying to do when we submerge ourselves in a ritually approved body of water? Get clean? Achieve spiritual purity? Ritually mark a status change? In order to begin answering these questions, we will learn sources about whether intent is required for immersion and what that might mean for the significance of immersion generally.
R. Micha'el Rosenberg

Shiur Klali

Birkat ha-Tevilah: Body and Blessing
Generally when we recite a blessing, halakhah requires that our bodies be clothed and not exposed. Yet the brachah for tevilah involves reciting God's name surrounding a state of exposure. We will explore sources that present detailed discussions of how to navigate this "anomaly" both through the timing and specific ways to recite birkat ha-tevilah. We will ask what is at stake in these details, and what it could look like to claim this practice in a way that embraces embodiment and dignity.

Daily Shiruim

Setting the Stakes: Is Immersion Halakhically Required?
In traditionalist communities, immersion at the end of niddah is taken for granted as necessary to permit sexual relations. Yet the textual source for such an assumption is by no means clear; the Torah does not explicitly mandate immersion at the end of niddah, and though the Rabbis explicitly fill in that gap, medieval and early modern commentators address the theoretical possibility that such an immersion is required only in order to permit contact with sacred goods, but not for sexual relations. We will open our learning about immersion by sinking deeply into the various interpretations and rationales these commentators offer for nonetheless requiring immersion prior to resuming sexual relations.

The “Right” Time Part I: Tevilah Bizmanah
Is there such a thing as “mikveh night”? That is to say, must a menstruating person go to the mikveh as soon as they are halakhically allowed to do so? What if that day falls on Shabbat, when some preparations for immersion (and immersion itself) are halakhically complicated, if not outright forbidden? As we explore these sources we will think through what is at stake in the rigidity or flexibility around which day to go to the mikveh.

The “Right” Time Part II: Night vs. Day
Most (though certainly not all) contemporary mikva’ot are open for “women’s hours'' at night, and “men’s hours'' during the daytime. Unsurprisingly, this gendered divide creates both principled and logistical challenges for many. On our final day of the seminar, we will learn the sources that have led to this common distinction, consider seriously the paths not taken (which those very same sources also describe), and try to understand why the dominant practice became what we now know.

Elective Sessions

Halakhah and Integrity: Egalitarian Tefillah (for college students)
How do we approach halakhah in a way that resonates with our sense of integrity? Through the case study of egalitarianism and prayer, we’ll explore what it means to feel accountable to halakhah, viewing halakhic sources as meaningful expressions of wisdom rather than obstacles to be worked around.
R. Ethan Tucker

Mikveh - Beyond Marriage?
Much of the halakhic canon about the practice of tevilah is focused on mikveh as it interfaces with intimacy in marriage. What does it mean to consider the potential relevance of mikveh outside the context of marriage? Where does a halakhic history of resistance to mikveh practice outside of marriage come from? We’ll study core sources that touch on issues of mikveh, relationships and intimacy in non-marital contexts, and ask how the ideas in the texts might or might not intersect with our own questions.
R. Aviva Richman

Re-imagining Mikveh Guides: The Mayyim Hayyim Model
According to the Shulchan Aruch, the only halakhic responsibility of a witness is to let the person immersing know that their entire body, and all hair, has gone under the water. Why, then, is there so often a disconnect between the text and real-life experience that leaves visitors to the mikveh feeling scrutinized, alienated, and angry? What other ways are there and what possibilities might exist when we re-envision this role? Learn about Mayyim Hayyim’s Mikveh Guide model and the critical role Mikveh Guides play in witnessing not only the kashrut of the immersion itself but also bearing witness in a simpler and more profound sense: accompanying, acknowledging, and honoring the sanctity of another human being in a time of transition.
Carrie Bornstein

Mapping The Rishonim
In this session we will interactively construct a map of the most significant figures in medieval Talmudic interpretation and halakhic decision making, while filling in historical context. Bring a pen, paper, and a phone camera!
R. Ethan Tucker

Immersing in Song: Nigunim as Sonic Guide
How might we encounter the power of song as signpost and guide through moments of immersive ritual? We'll explore several nigunim that may serve as tools in accompanying us through ritual practice that may at once empower and challenge - tevilah and beyond.
Deborah Sacks Mintz

Primordial Waters: The Evolving Image of the Mikveh in Tanakh
The mikveh has become such a standard institution in Jewish life that we tend to associate it only with its functional uses in a community. But the image of the mikveh has a long history, one that stretches back far before it had any ritual function. A literary study of how that image appears in our sacred texts can provide us with a broader perspective on the symbolism of water immersion.
R. David Kasher

Optional Lunch Sessions

Mayyim Hayyim: Thirst/Quench
Using Mayyim Hayyim’s approach to mikveh, we will explore the impact of place and space on kavanah. How might our kavanah deepen or disappear, depending on external and internal factors? We will also share our own water and/or immersion stories through poetry, writing, and visual art.
R. Amalia Mark

Lunch Session for College Students
Meet other college students at the seminar and get to know about each other’s Jewish journeys and interests in halakhah and Torah.
R. Micha’el Rosenberg

Haburah Learning
Spend an evening with a small group exploring a specific halakhic topic with one of Hadar's advanced kollel students. You'll be able to select your topic of interest (TBA).
Hadar’s Advanced Kollel