Hadar Campus Scholars

What happens when it is no longer obvious how a technology works? To what degree are rabbis responsible to fully understand the technological systems with which they are grappling?

The source sheet for this class can be found here: http://goo.gl/UK0ZXN

This is a short invitation to this series of classes, taught by David Zvi Kalman at Penn Hillel. It explains the rationale behind the class and the hopes that have gone into its creation.

This class was co-taught by David Zvi Kalman and Rabbi Jonathan Shulman on April 24, 2014.

davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/how_to_dvar_torah_sources.pdf

This class lays out several ways in which it is possible to have a relationship with God based in feelings of anger and investigates why one would wish to do such a thing in the first place. Delivered on April 9, 2014.

http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/03_God_through_Anger_sources.pdf

A survey of two major ways in which Jewish sources have related to God as being a person. This class was originally delivered on Mar. 3, 2014.

http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/02_God_is_a_Person_sources.pdf

This class was originally delivered on Feb. 24, 2014. The topic was notions of God in Judaism where God is understood as having some kind of special relationship with the Jewish people.

Source sheet: http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/01_God_is_Jewish_sources.pdf

This is a short statement explaning the structure of the class.

This class is part of the second version of the series. It uses rabbinic responses to new technologies (e.g. electricity,lab-grown meat, Jews in space) as a peculiar subset of Halakhah which helps illuminate how rabbis negotiate between halakhic sources and their realities. It was delivered by David Zvi Kalman at Penn on Dec. 3, 2013.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_and_New_Technologies.pdf

This class is an attempt to provide new ways of thinking about God that do not clash with the way of thinking about God that we have so far put forward in this series. It was delivered by David Zvi Kalman at Penn on April 24, 2013.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_10_Halakhan_and_Theology.pdf

This class is an attempt to reconcile issues of social justice with traditional modes of halakhic interpretations. The class was given on April 10, 2013, at Penn by David Zvi Kalman.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_9_Is_Social_Justice_Halakhah_a_Farce.pdf

This lecture is an attempt to think about Jewish law as occupying a number of distinct genres, and to think about the halakhot of sexuality as representing a kind of halakhic writing which is frequently overlooked. The class is part of the ON HALAKHAH series. It was delivered at Penn on March 20, 2013 by David Zvi Kalman.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_8_Halakhot_of_Sex.pdf

Weekly class on commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, with a focus on traditional medieval commentators (ex. Rashi, Ramban), along with midrashic texts and medieval commentators.

Recording of class on March 17, 2013, taught by Yael Kalman.

This class attempts to cover a wide variety of Orthodox and Conservative approaches to Halakhah and Homosexuality, include those of Rabbis Steven Greenberg, Joel Roth and Gordon Tucker. It concludes with a suggestion as to a new approach. The class was delivered as part of the ON HALAKHAH series at Penn on March 13, 2013, by David Zvi Kalman

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_7_Halakhah_and_Homosexuality.pdf

Rules about forgetting to say v'ten tal u'matar.

Rules of the 4th and 9th blessings of the Amidah

This is part of the *On Halakhah* series. It was delivered on February 27, 2013 at Penn by David Zvi Kalman. It addresses some of the halakhic material dealing with barriers (or lack of barriers) to women leading tefillah.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_6_Women_in_Prayer_II.pdf

Finishing up the rules of mashiv ha'ruach, plus the third blessing of the amidah.

Rules about mistakes in the amidah and having to go back.

Rules of mistakes in mashiv haruach...

Laws of recalling rain in the second blessing.

This is the fifth class in the series ON HALAKHAH. It was delivered by David Zvi Kalman at Penn on February 20, 2013.

davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_5_Women_in_Prayer_I.pdf

Verses before the Amidah, and the first blessing and the concentration required during it.

More laws of bowing during prayer, including straightening at G-d's name and not bowing at other times during prayer.

Rules of bowing while praying.

Weekly class on commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, with a focus on traditional medieval commentators (ex. Rashi, Ramban), along with midrashic texts and medieval commentators.

Recording of class on February 17, 2013, taught by Yael Kalman.

Weekly class on commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, with a focus on traditional medieval commentators (ex. Rashi, Ramban), along with midrashic texts and medieval commentators.

Recording of class on February 10, 2013, taught by Yael Kalman.

Waiting for people to finish before leaving the syangogue and praying drunk.

The direction we face while praying.

This is the fourth installment of the On Halakhah class. It was given at Penn by David Zvi Kalman on February 13, 2013. In this class, we discuss an approach to read (and writing) all halakhic sources.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_4_Forms_Norms_and_Values.pdf

This is the third class in the series ON HALAKHAH. The class was given on Feb. 6, 2013 at Penn by David Zvi Kalman. This week we began our discussion of halakhic interpretation by examining contemporary philosophy of law, including legal positivism, natural law, legal realism, Critical Legal Studies, and Robert Cover.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_3_Values_Based_Halakhah.pdf

The second Episode of ON HALAKHAH, delivered at Penn on January 30, 2013 by David Zvi Kalman. It specifically focusses on how we have, both now and in the past, made halakhic decisions for ourselves.

Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_2_Halakhic_Activism.pdf

This is a pre-recorded description of the themes that we plan to cover in the On Halakhah class, as well as an argument for why such a conversation so is important today.