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                            RABBINICS 360
                        PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL READINGS
                        OF THE PARASHAT HASHAVUA

Thursday 8:30-10:15 a.m., Seminar Room #506
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
New York City
Fall Semester 5758-9 / 1998
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Readings from Itturay Torah and collateral texts chosen to acquaint students
with some of the classic psychological and spiritual themes in the weekly
lection. The primary goal is to find oneself mirrored in sacred text.
  
Participants will share their own translations and interpretations with 
the "table." In lieu of a final examination or lengthy paper, regular class 
attendance and the submission of weekly Divrei Torah (which could only be 
convincingly delivered by their author) are required.

Pending class convenience 2 or 3 sessions will meet on late Wednesday 
afternoon or evening.

REQUIRED TEXTS
  Itturay Torah, ed. Aaron Greenberg, Yavneh, Tel Aviv, 1976, 7 vols. (Hebrew).
  Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer, ed. Arthur
     Green and Barry Holtz, Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, 1993 (English).
  Hasidism and Modern Man, Martin Buber, trans. and ed. Maurice Friedman,
     Harper & Row, 1958; The Way of Man according to the Teachings of Hasidism
     is also published separately by Citadel, 1966 (English).
  Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary, Lawrence Kushner,
     Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, 1996.
  
SEPTEMBER 3
KI TETZE / READING AND BEING TEXT
  1. Itturay, VI.129a, Shnei Lukhot HaBerit, "Returning Your Evil"
  2. Itturay, VI.129b, BeSHT, "Sublimation"
  3. Itturay, VI.137e, Avraham Mordecai of Ger, "The Easiest Mitzvah"
  4. Itturay, VI.149c, Ketev Sofer, "Not from Vengeance"
  5. Itturay, VI.150d, Taamei HaMinhagim, "Testing a New Pen"
  Moshe deLeon, Zohar on "The Old Man and the Maiden"
  Dov Baer of Mezritch on "How to Say Torah"
  Israel of Ryzhin on "The Experience of the Story"
  Edmund Jabes on "Breaking the Book"
  Read for next week:
  "Infinities of Torah in Kabbalah," Moshe Idel, in Midrash and Literature

SEPTEMBER 10
KI TAVO / BITTUL YESH / DEVEKUT
  1. Itturay, VI.152e, Elimelekh of Lizhensk, "Fruit of Teshuva"
  2. Itturay, VI.157d, Sefas Emes, "Doing and Remembering"
  3. Itturay, VI.158c, Kotzk, "Fulfilling the Mitzvah"
  4. Itturay, VI.162f, Taub of Modzitz, "Overtaking Blessings"
  5. Itturay, VI.172b, Sefas Emes, "Garment of Lights"
  6. Itturay, +IV.154a, Mignazay Tsadikim, "Speaking of Pain"
  7. Itturay, +IV.162e, Zaddok HaKohen of Lublin, "Cause of All Causes"
  Avodat Yisrael on Loss of Selfhood
  Dov Baer of Mezritch on Beyond Distinctions
  Shneur Zalman of Ladi on Acosmism
  Michel of Zlotchov on the Ocean
  Richard Rubenstein on the Ocean
  Hasidic dynasties
  Eastern European Geography
  Read for next week:
  "The Meaning of the Torah in Jewish Mysticism," in On the Kabbalah and its
  Symbolism, Gershom Scholem, trans. Ralph Manheim, Schocken, 1965, 1-86.

SEPTEMBER 17
NITZAVIM / YAMIM NORAIM / TESHUVA
  1. Itturay, VI.174x, Mezbuzh, "Movin'"
  2. Itturay, VI.175b, Hatam Sofer, "On your Own"
  3. Itturay, VI.181e, Kotzk, "Secrets Sins"
  4. Itturay, VI.186e, Yehousha Sheinfeld, "Turning levels"
  5. Itturay, VI.187e, Shaym MiShmuel, "The Power of the Sender"
  6. Itturay, VI.187f, Shearit Menahem, "Nothing left in Heaven"
  7. Itturay, +II.399b, Sefas Emes, "Rewriting the Past"
  Read for Yontif:
  Rav Kook on Teshuva
  Steinsaltz on Teshuva
  Scholem on Three Types of Jewish Piety

SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 1 / YONTIF RECESS

OCTOBER 8
HOL HAMOED SUKKOT
  1. Itturay, VII.69a, Shaym MiShmuel, "Life after Yom Kippur"
  2. Itturay, VII.71c, Yehiel of Alexander, "Seeing through the Roof"
  3. Itturay, VII.80e, Kotzk, Ushpizin, par. #2, "Seeing and Believing"
  4. Itturay, VII.92a, Hanokh of Alexander, "Reading Kohelet"
  Tsavat HaRibash, 44, 45; 103:72; Or HaEmet 102:2 / "Serve God with Joy"
  Read for next week:
  "Contemplative Mysticism and 'Faith' in Hasidic Piety," 47-55, in, Studies in
  Eastern European Jewish Mysticism, Joseph Weiss, ed. David Goldstein, Oxford
  University Press, 1985.

OCTOBER 15
BERESHIT / YINYANG
  1. Itturay, I.10f, Mimkorot Shonim, "Bet""
  2. Itturay, I.10h, Przysucha, "Ten Utterances"
  3. Itturay, I.20c, Kotzk, "Truth and Peace"
  4. Itturay, I.20d, Kotzk, "Repression"
  5. Itturay, I.24b, Oznayim LaTorah, "Shabbos"
  6. Itturay, I.26b, Myana shel Torah, "Light of Face"
  7. Itturay, I.28c, Kotzk, "Gan Aden"

OCTOBER 22
NOAH / HISHTAVUT
  1. Itturay, I.53b, Zeitlin, "Ascent through Levels"
  2. Itturay, I.57c, Yehiel of Alexander, "Two Pockets"
  3. Itturay, I.60e, Hayim Sofer, "Defiling Nature"
  4. Itturay, I.61d, Zeitlin, "Rude Guests"
  5. Itturay, I.64g, Baer Mayim Hayim, "According to your Nature"
  6. Itturay, I.69c, Aharon Shmuel Tameret, "Survivor"
  7. Itturay, I.82d, Greenwald, "Journey's End Awakening"
  Read for next week:
  "Imagining the Synagogue: These are the Generations of Abraham and Terah"

OCTOBER 29
LEKH-LEKHA
  1. Itturay, I.82d, Moshe ben Amram Greenwald, "Paralysis in the Middle"
  2. Itturay, I.83x, Sefas Emes, "High Test"
  3. Itturay, I.87f, BeShT, "God of your Parents"
  4. Itturay, I.88d, Hiddushei HaRim, "A Walking Blessing"
  5. Itturay, I.111d, MaHaRShA, Yehudah Leib Eger, "Abraham saves Terah"
  Nosson Sternhartz on Avraham Avinu
  Synopsis of Rabbinic Work

NOVEMBER 5
  VAYERA
  1. Itturay, I.120b, Dvash v'Halav, "Awakening Above from Below"
  2. Itturay, I.126e, Meir of Premeshlin, "Body Parts"
  3. Itturay, I.159c, answer #5, Isaac of Vorki, "Satan on Survival"
  4. Itturay, I.162b, BeSHT, "Youthful Fire"
  5. Itturay, I.165x, Mayir Einey Yesharim "When I was Your Age"
  6. Itturay, I.170a, Kotzk, "Younger Generation"
  7. Itturay, I.170b, Mendl of Vorki, "Walking with Shleppers"

NOVEMBER 12
HAYE SARA / HISHTAVUT
  1. Itturay, I.174f, Sefas Emes, "The Best Years of Life"
  2. Itturay, I.194a, Kotzk, "The Letter 'Vav' as Ego"
  3. Itturay, I.200d, Divrei Yermiyahu, "Veil of Twins"
  4. Itturay, +VI.179a, Shaym MiShmuel, "Covenant without Romance"
  Elijah DeVidas (Reshit Hokhma) on The Princess and the Bathhouse
  Yitzhak ben Shmuel of Acre on Hishtavut
  Hayyim Haykl of Amdur on The Way things Are
  Hayyim Haykl of Amdur on Your Will and God's
  Asher Zevi of Ostraha on Divine Pleasure

NOVEMBER 19
TOLEDOT / VAYETZE / YEHIDO SHEL OLAM
  1. Itturay, I.204b, Yehiel of Alexander, "Parent of, Child of"
  2. Itturay, I.227a, Shaym MiShmuel, "Deep Truths"
  3. Itturay, I.227b, Shearit Menahem, "Wells my Parents Dug"
  4. Itturay, II.245a, Sefas Emes, "Passage of Time