The Joint Commission for Sustaining Rabbinical Education is pleased to announce its upcoming fall season of three Distance Education Mini-Courses

The Mini Courses represent a blend of internet and telephone technology: the courses are presented live via conference call. Additionally, each mini-course includes background and original scholarly materials, comprehensive texts and sources collected by our presenters – all of which are available through the course’s website. The three live presentations are also recorded for later listening through the website.

To register for any of the Joint Commission’s programs, go to our website at www.huc.edu/jointcomm (the actual registration form can be found at http://www.huc.edu/jointcomm/programs/regForm.pdf). This year’s Distance Education Mini Courses are:

Warfare and Violence: The Boundaries of Zionism
With Uri Regev, Adam Rubin and Michael Marmur
October 9th, 16th and 23rd, 2002; 1:00 pm EST.
In the formation and sustenance of our homeland, what limits, if any, are imposed by our traditional and contemporary sources? How has the Zionist ideal changed in our present economic, political, and social climate? What does it mean to be a Liberal Zionist today?

The End of Life
With Bill Cutter, Laurie Zoloth, Richard Address and Dayle Friedman
November 6th, 13th and 20th, 2:00 pm EST.
In cooperation with the Kalsman Institute, this course addresses the cultural foundations of our current ethical dilemmas and some practical strategies for addressing the changing realities surrounding death and dying. Bill Cutter will explore stories and poems that created our cultural context; from Tolstoi to A. B. Yehoshua, from John Donne to Zelda. Laurie Zoloth will introduce new perspectives on public policy and personal decision making in life and death crises. Dayle Friedman joins Richard Address to consider how these perspectives play themselves out and how we may improve our management of the ultimate in the human condition.

Judaism and Islam
With Reuven Firestone and Yossi Klein Halevi
December 4th, 11th and 18th; 1:00 pm EST.
This relevant and timely mini-course will review the history of Jewish Muslim relations and investigate the intertextuality of these two faiths. The final session with Yossi Klein Halevi will address the state of the Jewish-Muslim dialogue today.

The Commission for Sustaining Rabbinic Education is a joint program of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) Alumni Association. Its purpose is to create, promote, and implement programs of sustaining education for the reform rabbinate.

The Joint Commission is chaired by Larry Englander (Cincinnati ’75) for the CCAR and by David Aaron (Cincinnati ’83) as vice-chair for HUC-JIR. Ellen Nemhauser (New York ’93) is its director. The Joint Commission also works closely with Gregg Alpert (Los Angeles ’79), Director of the HUC-JIR Department of Distance Education.

The Joint Commission offers both on-site and on-line study programs led by distinguished scholars. Our participants include rabbis in every job role and from all over the world. To date, over 400 rabbis and rabbinical students have taken advantage of the Joint Commission’s study opportunities.

To find out more about the Joint Commission’s programs, please contact Rabbi Ellen Nemhauser at (513) 221-1875 extension 397 or surf the Joint Commission’s website: www.huc.edu/jointcomm/