Seeking Our Torah – Together | A Scholar-in-Residency
With Musician, Author, and Teacher Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff
Congregation Beth Am Israel | February 20-22
The Jewish People has been defined by its relationship with Torah for thousands of years, yet each generation has the responsibility and gift to define its own relationship with tradition. Through music, study, conversation, and prayer, we will seek together the many ways each of us can reveal a Torah that enriches and enlightens our communal and personal stories, and a sense of purpose and hope for the future.
TORAH AND MUSIC
Thursday, February 20
7:30-9:30 – Spiritual Soundtracks I: Community Jam Session
How does popular music illuminate the spiritual pathways of our lives? How is Torah embedded in the music we love? Bring your instrument and a song that shapes your spiritual soundtrack. Why does this song feel like Torah to you? How did it find you – or how did you find the song? Teach us your song so that we can play it together.
Friday, February 21
6:00-7:15 pm – “Oh Sister”: Kabbalat Shabbat Inspired by the Music of Bob Dylan
In a special liturgical event co-led by Dr. Arnoff and Hazzan Messinger and Rabbi David, enter the Sabbath on the wings of traditional melodies as well as songs and reflections inspired by one of the great spiritual iconoclasts of our age, Bob Dylan, one of our scholars-in-residence’s areas of expertise as well as the topic of his recent book.
7:15 – Community Shabbat Dinner followed by Spiritual Soundtracks II: A Community Conversation
Using examples from masters of the genre as well as our own playlists, we will take a deep dive into our communal spiritual soundtrack. What music has moved and held us during the past year? What music feeds our fears and kindles our hope for the years to come. Where does Torah meet the musical culture that shapes us?
Saturday, February 22
9:00-9:45 am – Midrash – How Tradition Finds Itself
Our Sages teach that the Torah is unchanging and perfect, and yet midrash – the art of biblical interpretation – has provided a methodology for Jews of every background and age to reframe and reimagine sacred text in the image of those who receive and study it. Explore Parshat Mispatim with fascinating, even radical midrash
9:45-10:00 Coffee and Tea and lite fare
10:00-10:45a – Musical Shacharit
10:45 “Hands-on Torah” with Dr. Arnoff : How Young Israelis Are Finding A New Tradition In Torah and Music Today
Reflected through the lens of the vibrant hub of diverse people and creative programs thriving at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, we will ask how Israel and the Jewish People can and must reimagine what is sacred, what is meaningful, and what is to come after the most difficult period our people have faced in generations.
12p – Kiddush Luncheon
5p – Seudah Shlishit, A Third Meal and a Second Half of Life
Using myths and motifs of personal development, particularly in context of contemporary teachings about “the two halves of life,” we will ease into the end of Shabbat with study and conversation about our personal experience of Torah. How does what matters to the Torah animate or explain what matters to us? What do the pathways of Jewish tradition and sacred stories tell us about becoming who we are meant to be, particularly as we grow deep into adulthood in the second half of life. Then we will end with a rousing, musical, communal Havdalah.
6:15p – Musical Havdalah and Dessert
About Dr. Stephen Daniel Arnoff
CEO of the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center since 2017, Stephen has served in senior leadership roles at institutions including the 92nd Street Y, the 14th Street Y, Shalem College, and the JCC Association. He teaches and lectures around the world, specializing in the nexus of religion and popular culture, and has published widely. His podcast Bob Dylan: About Man & God & Law is part of the Pantheon Podcast Network, and his book About Man and God and Law: The Spiritual Wisdom of Bob Dylan has been called “a stirring meditation” and “a revelation.” Stephen earned a doctorate in Midrash and Scriptural Interpretation from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as a Wexner Graduate Fellow and has been a Tikvah Scholar at the NYU of Law, a Mandel Jerusalem Fellow at the Mandel Leadership Institute, and a Revson Fellow at JTS.
