Edah Baltimore/Washington Regional Conference, April 8-10
The Power of Religious Zionism in Modern Orthodoxy
Pre-Conference Shabbatonim, April 8-9
Ner Tamid Congregation, 6214 Pimlico Road, Baltimore
Rabbi Chaim Landau
with Rabbi Saul J. Berman
Beth Jacob Congregation, 5713 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore
Rabbi Dr. Gavriel
Newman with Rabbi Saul J. Berman
Beth Sholom, 11825 Seven Locks Road, Potomac
Rabbi Joel Tessler with Rabbi
Danny Landes
Ohev Sholom Talmud Torah - The National Synagogue, 1600 Jonquil Street,
NW Washington DC
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld with Rabbi Menachem Liebtag
Friday night: discussion on “Is there a proper
way to study Tanach? Chronicle vs. Composition"
Shabbat morning: "Food for Thought: The Biblical Reason for Eating Matza"
Shabbat Afternoon: "Understanding Maggid: How we (don’t) tell the story
of the Exodus"
Netivot Sholom, (3305 Labyrinth Road, Baltimore) Rabbi Murray Singerman with Devora Zlochower
Friday Night, 9:30 PM: "Talmudic
Tales of Devorah the Prophet” at the home of Jeff and Susan Coleman, 3111 Hatton Road
Shabbat Day, 11:30 AM: “Location, location, location: The land of Israel and
the observance of mitzvoth in the thought of Ramban” at 3305 Labyrinth Road, home of Joel and Jen Bader after Shabbat Tefillot
Saturday Night Shiur, 9:30 pm-10:30 PM, April 9 @ Beth Sholom in Potomac, MD
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag: “The Passover Haggada-
A Source Book for Religious Zionism”
$10 Includes dessert and lecture
Conference, 10:00 am – 4:15 pm Sunday April 10, 2005 @ Ner Tamid Congregation in Baltimore, MD
$25 Includes Lunch and Conference - Click HERE to Register
9:30 am - Registration Opens
10:00 am- ll: 00 am Plenary 1 - On Being a Religious Zionist
A view from Israel: Rabbi Danny Landes
A view from golah: Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot
11:15 am- 12:15 pm - Parallel Sessions
Rabbi Murray Singerman - Retzach Rabin: Avoda Zara Lma'an Eretz Yisrael -- The Murder of Prime Minister Rabin: An Idolatry of Eretz Yisrael
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot - Three Models of Religious Zionism from the Past - What they Teach us About Today
Rabbi Saul Berman - Israel’s Wars: Halachic Perspectives
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm Lunch and Learn
Rabbi Menachem Liebtag - A Modern State of Israel According to the Bible - How Far Off Are We?
1:45 pm – 2:45 pm - Parallel Sessions
Rabbi Chaim Landau - The Religious Zionist Response to Debating Israel as a Religious or Secular State
Rabbi Dr. Gavriel Newman - How to Live as a Diaspora Jew: With guilt, or sense of purpose? (A review of halakhic and philosophic perspectives on the obligation for Aliya and permissibility of exile life)
Rabbi Bob Carroll - HaRav Kuk on Jewish Particularism vs. Jewish Universalism - What is the Ultimate Religious Meaning of the Medinah?
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Closing Plenary
Rabbi Saul Berman - Israel: the struggle to sustain distinctive values
Speakers Bios:
Rabbi Saul J. Berman is a leading Orthodox teacher and thinker. He was ordained at Yeshiva University, from which he also received his B.A. and his M.H.L. He completed a degree in law, a J.D., at New York University, and an M.A. in Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley. He spent two years studying mishpat ivri in Israel at Hebrew University and at Tel Aviv University. He is married to Shellee Berman, and they have four children, one son-in-law, one daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren in Israel. Rabbi Berman served as the Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Berkeley, California, from 1963 to 1969, and as the spiritual leader of the Young Israel in Brookline, Mass. from 1969-1971. In 1971, he was appointed Chairman of the Department if Judaic Studies of Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University. In 1984, Rabbi Berman accepted the position as Senior Rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan, where he served until 1990. In 1990, he returned to academic life, as Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Stern College, and as an adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of Law, where he teaches a seminar in Jewish Law. In 1997, Rabbi Berman became Director of Edah, a new organization devoted to the invigoration of modern Orthodox ideology and religious life.
Rabbi Bob Carroll, Edah’s Program Director, is a graduate of Brandeis University. He received his Smicha from Yeshiva University as well as Master’s in Jewish Philosophy from YU’s Revel Graduate School. He has also completed Doctoral coursework in Kabbalah at NYU, and studied at Yeshivat haMivtar and Yeshivat David Shapell in Jerusalem. Rabbi Carroll worked for four years as a Hillel director at several New York area campuses. Prior to joining the staff at Edah, he worked as a corporate strategist and project manager, while serving as a respected mentor and teacher of Kabbalah and Rabbinic texts at several community based Adult Learning programs. He recently delivered a series of lectures entitled “Rav Kuk, Teshuva, and the Transparency of Existence” for Edah. With Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill, he is the co-Founder of "Kavvanah: Center for Jewish Thought" and is the compiler of the standard Academic bibliography of writings pertaining to Rav Kuk.
Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot is the Chair of the Departments of Tanakh and Jewish Thought at YCT Rabbinical School and Director of its Dept. of Continuing Education. He is the editor of the recently published volume Community, Covenant,and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Toras Horav Foundation/KTAV Publishing CO.). He serves as the co-editor of the Hebrew journal "Or-Hamizrach" published by the RZA and is on the steering committee of the Orthodox Forum and the plenum of the Orthodox Caucus
Rabbi Daniel Landes was a founding faculty member and Director of educational projects at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Professor of Ethics and Values at Yeshiva University of Los Angeles. He taught Jewish Law at Loyola Law School. For a number of years, he was a faculty member at prominent think tanks such as The RAND Corporation and major Jewish educational institutions such as the Brandeis Bardin Institute and CLAL. Landes remains a long-term faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. Landes has lectured at the Rabbinic Seminaries of all major denominations. He is well-known for his struggle to create Jewish unity: in America his synagogue in Los Angeles, Bnai David Judaea, was known for Jewish inclusivity, feminism, social action and Halakhic observance. He now serves on the Educational Advisory Committee of Birthright-Israel. He has written widely in the area of social ethics, theology and mysticism. Landes is the Jewish law commentator for the recent series, My People's Prayerbook, a multi-denominational effort.
Rabbi Chaim Landau graduated from the Guildford Law College, UK with an MA as a Solicitor. He is also a graduated of Jews College with an MA in Jewish Studies/Smichah and he received Smichah from Jerusalem Rabbinate. Rabbi Landau began his career as a congregational Rabbi in the Bnai Jacob Congregation in Charleston, West Virginia. Currently he is the rabbi of Congregation Ner Tamid in Baltimore.
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag is one of pioneers of Torah Education via the internet. His weekly essays on Parshat Ha'shavua, read by literally thousands of subscribers world wide, introduce a vibrant analytical approach to thematic study of the Bible and reflect over twenty years of experience as a student and teacher at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. He was the founder of the Yeshiva's Virtual Bet Midrash [www.vbm-torah.org] and more recently founded the Tanach Study Center [www.tanach.org] which contains a full archive of his lectures in various formats. In addition to his educational responsibilities at Har Etzion, Rabbi Leibtag also lectures at Midreshet Lindenbaum, MMY, and Orot College for Women. He, his wife Thea, and their six children reside in Alon Shevut, Gush Etzion
Rabbi Murray Singerman is currently learning the halachot of O'na'ah (Jewish Business Law and Ethics), endeavoring to integrate them into his life as an entrepreneur in Baltimore, Maryland
Devorah Zlochower is the Director of Full-Time Programs at the Drisha Institute, where she teaches Talmud in the Beit Midrash Program. A 1996 graduate of the of the Drisha Scholars Circle, she has an MA in Political Science from Columbia University. She serves on the board of JOFA (the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance) and teaches and lectures in communities across the United States. She was named one of “The Fifty Who Point the Way Forward” by The Forward in 2001.
Click HERE to Register