UNYESHIVA CLASSES

with Ami Weintraub
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When
Starts September 24th
Thursdays, 12-1:30 pm ET · 9-10:30 am PT
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Take a deep dive into Judaism's core ideas, texts, and practices. In this class, explore what being Jewish has looked like in the past and scout ahead for what it could look like in the future. Judaism Inbound is a perfect course for those considering conversion, in multi-faith relationships, seeking to unlearn/relearn a new framing around Judaism, or just curious about Judaism. 

This class is built around the notion that Judaism is constantly changing and is currently in a period of especially radical change. We believe that there is no singular way to teach “what Jews believe” or “what Jews do,” as Judaism and Jews are constantly evolving. Even more, it isn’t entirely clear how best to introduce people to something that may look very different before too long. As such, this class is a lecture series, a study club, and a spiritual laboratory; a class designed both to teach and to challenge mainstream Judaism. At the conclusion of this class, we hope that students will be familiar with longstanding tenets of Judaism and also feel empowered to experiment with what is most meaningful to them, viewing what they have learned as raw material that can be reshaped in their own lives the way an artist creates a sculpture out of clay. 

While students do not need to be seeking conversion to take Judaism Inbound, it is a pre-requisite for converting via Judaism Unbound.
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This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

This class is not eligible for rabbinical school credit.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $499 (the true cost), $399 or $299.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this form, and we will get right back to you.

with Lex Rofeberg
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When
Starts October 21st
Wednesdays, 1:00-2:30 pm ET · 10:00-11:30 am PT
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The most ancient Jewish tradition is upending Jewish tradition. It is important that that sentence be the first sentence of this course – it will probably be the last as well.

The phrase “Jewish continuity” is used frequently today. When it is, it is often from the vantage point of those who believe Judaism has existed, in a relatively coherent (continuous) form, for thousands of years. It then becomes our responsibility, in the 21st century, to receive that relatively-continuous Judaism, preserve it, and pass it on to future generations of Jews.

Understanding Judaism as one ongoing tradition -- changing a bit over time but still “continuous” from Genesis (or Mount Sinai?) till today -- is an ideological and political choice. In ways we don't always notice, it has ramifications for how Jews think about, talk about, and live out their Jewish practice. In this course, we will explore whether that choice – sometimes consciously, and sometimes sub-consciously – sidelines every Jewish community of the past that didn’t “win” major debates about what Judaism should be. We will also consider how, for those striving to re-invent Jewish practice for our time, alternative frameworks could allow us to more deeply relate to the Jewish past, as we invent and re-invent Judaism today.

This course will embrace unlearning as much as learning – and there will be moments of confusion alongside moments of comfort. If you're looking to break open your assumptions of what Judaism has been -- and, perhaps more importantly, what it might yet be -- this is the course for you!
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This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

This class is not eligible for rabbinical school credit.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $359 (the true cost), $299 or $239.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this form, and we will get right back to you.

with Silas Kotnour and Noa Baron
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When
Starts October 22nd
Thursdays, 6:00-7:30 pm ET · 3:00-4:30 pm PT
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Noa is a rabbinical student. Silas is an Episcopal priest. They are engaged to one another and live together. Can Noa sell their chametz to Silas for Passover?
In this class, we seek to look at specific case studies related to Jewish life that might arise for interfaith families - which we believe are awesome, by the way. We seek to mimic the generative creativity of the Talmud as we explore questions, ideas, and tensions that come with interfaith life.

Much of the Jewish world is still asking “are Jewish-interfaith households allowed,” but we want to ask new and different questions that speak to the actual lived experience of interfaith households. Together, we’ll see what new possibilities can emerge when we approach Jewish tradition with curiosity, creativity, and a willingness to wrestle with complexity.

No Hebrew is required; participants of all backgrounds are welcome.

—
This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

This class is not eligible for rabbinical school credit.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $359 (the true cost), $299 or $239.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this form, and we will get right back to you.

with Eliyahu Freedman
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When
Starts October 21st
Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30 pm ET · 3:00-4:30 pm PT
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From around 850 until 1200 CE, an estimated 90% of Jews lived in the Islamic world and communicated in Arabic. In this course, we will explore the vibrant intellectual and cultural life of medieval Jewish Baghdad by studying primary texts from this period. As an added twist, we will enter this field of study from the vantage point of Jacob al-Qirqisani, a Karaite polymath and rival of Rabbanite leader Saadia Gaon.

Who were the Karaites? What was the Rabbanite response to Karaism? How did both groups defend Judaism in an Islamic empire? Together, through text study, we will uncover the complexity of medieval Babylonian Jewish life — and what it reveals about enduring questions of Jewish authority, tradition, and change. As a class focused on the Medieval period, with a strong interest in Muslim-Jewish relations, none of the teachings will focus directly on Israel/Palestine but students are encouraged to consider how the past is always present and relevant.
—
This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

This class is not eligible for rabbinical school credit.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $359 (the true cost), $299 or $239.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this form, and we will get right back to you.

with Rachel B. Gross
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When
Starts October 20th
Tuesdays, 8:00-9:30 pm ET · 5:00–6:30 pm PT
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Objects shape our experience of the world, including our experiences at home and in our communities. This course explores Jews’ relationships to traditionally religious Jewish objects and less traditional objects. It will introduce students to “material religion,” the study of the material culture (aka stuff) of religious groups. We will study the histories and present-day meanings of mezuzahs, yarmulkes, ketubahs, tzedakah boxes, table settings, Jewish jewelry, and souvenirs.

Focusing on objects can help us open up new questions about how we and other people make meaning in our lives. We will discuss our relationship to these objects, how other Jews have understood them, and how they might change in the future. Along the way, we might expand our idea of what counts as a Jewish object or a religious object.
—
This class will be recorded and available to enrolled students to watch later.

This class is not eligible for rabbinical school credit.

Cost

This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $359 (the true cost), $299 or $239.

If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.

Click here to donate to JUs financial aid fund to support financial equity and access to education for all students.

If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this form, and we will get right back to you.