YOU HAVE 525,600 MINUTES IN ISRAEL. HOW WILL YOU SPEND THEM? TAKE 10 MINUTES NOW TO LEARN ABOUT AMUDIM LOOK BEYOND THE “WHAT” TO EXPLORE THE “WHYS” AND “HOWS” In a world with unprecedented encounters and exchange on a global scale, Amudim is a cut- ting-edge Shana ba-Aretz experience that opens exciting intellectual and spiritual horizons by offering: • An innovative style, empowering each student to bring her own voice to Torah learning • Seamless harmonization of traditional and modern scholarship • A derekh ha-limmud, the necessary toolbox for lifelong independent Torah study • The Land of Israel itself as a Beit Midrash, with classes regularly taking place off-campus— at the Bible Lands Museum, Bar-Ilan campus, National Library and in the Old City • Weekly seminars with leading representatives of the Jewish intelligentsia in Israel • Honest conversation about essential issues, such as: The Existence of God • Free Will • The Afterlife • Evil and Suffering Rabbinic Authority • Judaism and Postmodernity • One-of-a-kind tiyulim, internships, and extracurriculars that bring the values of Amudim into real life • A warm thoughtful environment that inspires steadfast Shmirat ha-Mitzvot and love of Torah חָכְמוֹת בָּ ְנָתֵה ּבָיתה ָחְצָבה ַע ּמ ּו ֶדָיה ִׁ ָשְבעה LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR 7 PILLARS Amudim | 2 | Think Higher Amudim | 3 | Think Higher Explore Jewish ideas with nuance, depth and NQUIRY intellectual honesty. A NEW APPROACH TO LEARNING With the understanding that students today enter a classroom with much broader exposure to information and appetite for knowledge than they did even a decade ago, Amudim offers a new way of learning that speaks to modern expectations and sensibilities and ultimately leads to significant and sustainable growth in Torah. Amudim’s approach is: EXPANSIVE META Catering to the most inquiring minds, Amudim, in It is one thing to read a Rashi; it is another to read addition to traditional sedarim and shiurim, offers it in historical context, compare and contrast it to out-of-the-box courses and activities led by world other texts, ascertain how the ideas in it unfolded renowned scholars and artists, geared toward in- over time, analyze authorial decisions and, in depth exploration of fundamental questions of general, dialogue with it. Amudim’s classes take religion and Torah and an appreciation for the a higher perspective, looking beyond the content thought processes and complex negotiations that of Jewish texts to processes: How do these texts have taken place within Jewish thought and culture work and how are they meant to be understood? throughout the ages. EVIDENCE-BASED STUDENT-CENTERED Learning at Amudim is based on the premise Amudim promotes independent thought and that the Jewish religious experience begins and decision-making, asking students to interact ends with text, and that all conclusions must be personally with texts, even on tiyulim—constantly textually-justified. Utilizing classical sefarim, visual, observing, summarizing, inferring, critiquing, audial and other types of texts, the process of questioning and challenging. Teachers are interpretation stands at the core of how we learn. facilitators rather than knowledge-dispensers, and In this way, Amudim students are simultaneously with an eye towards experiential learning, students empowered to advance their own understandings are asked to engage in peer-review, intellectual while situating themselves within the mesorah. exchange and team-teaching. Amudim | 2 | Think Higher Amudim | 3 | Think Higher There is a lot of creativity to learning at Amudim, as students formulate their own A WEEK AT AMUDIM MAGINATION interpretations, draw comparisons, apply theory and uncover meaning. SAMPLE OF COURSES MORNING SEDER Each day at Amudim begins with traditional morning seder in Tanakh, Talmud and Halakhah, during which time our Beit Midrash resonates with a kol Torah, as students study be-havruta in preparation for an in-depth shiur. JERUSALEM MONDAYS BODY, BEAUTY, GENDER GEMARA FOR THINKERS Jerusalem serves as the backdrop AND DRESS A companion to our course for all Monday afternoon classes, the What does it mean to be beautiful “Thinking for Gemara,” this class centerpiece of which is “Tanakh at and who determines it? What or who trains students to uncover the the Bible Lands Museum.” Additional determines how people dress? In universal tools of logic embedded classes in Hassidut, Hebrew literature, this class, we consider the historical, in the Gemara’s rhetoric, analyses Jewish history and Safrut are held psychological, social, political and and dialectics. Students come at the museum, National Library of legal ramifications of beauty and dress to understand the Gemara’s Israel and in the Old City. across cultures, and specifically within methodology, learn how to ask the correct questions, organize the THEORIES OF GOD the Jewish context. Students articulate their own positions regarding dress. various arguments, derive a sevara, Does God exist? Is it and ultimately approach any area of epistemologically justified to believe AMUDIM AND YESODOT knowledge in an intelligent manner. that God exists? These two questions Learn how to learn. This class are addressed in this class through introduces the variegated devices WEEK-IN-REVIEW analyses of teleological, cosmological and processes used today in the This special hour is geared toward and ontological approaches to study of Tanakh, Talmud and reflection upon texts, concepts, the existence of God. Examining Halakhah and that are available to arguments, and ideas that students Jewish and non-Jewish philosophical the modern lamdanit, including the have encountered over the course approaches to the topic, students are approaches of “lomdus,” Nechama of their week at Amudim. This introduced to arguments based on Leibowitz, “Torat Eretz Yisrael,” time allows students to consider evidence, the absence of evidence, academia and more. and articulate which ideas spoke practicality, rationality and faith. to them, their personal positions BUILD-A-SHIUR WORKSHOP on matters, and how the disparate THE MIDRASHA AT With an eye towards empowering aspects of their learning fit into the BAR-ILAN students to deliver shiurim larger tapestry of their intellectual One day each week, we study in the themselves, this night seder and spiritual Jewish identities. largest Beit Midrash for women in workshop focuses on the anatomy the world, where leading scholars of a shiur, how mekorot work and rabbis blend traditional Talmud together to illuminate a subject, the Torah with modern scholarship. research process and shiur-building and delivery. Amudim | 4 | Think Higher Amudim | 5 | Think Higher A WEEK AT AMUDIM SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY Halakhah Seder 9:00- 9:00- 9:00- and Shiur OR 9:00- Read This! Amudim & Yesodot Va'ad 10:00 9:30 11:00 Intellectual 9:45 A Collection of Must-Reads 9:00- Theories of God Jewish History 10:15 Halakhah Seder and 10:00- Gemara Seder and 9:30- 11:00- Hasa’a To 9:45- Shiur OR Intellectual Gemara Seder and Shiur 1:00 Shiur 11:30 12:00 Bar-Ilan 11:45 Jewish History 1:00- 11:30- 10:15- 11:45- LUNCH & BREAK LUNCH BREAK ilutz Atzamot 3:00 12:30 10:30 12:30 Ḥ Tanakh Seder OR 3:00- 12:30- 10:30- Gemara Seder 12:30- Malbim on Shir Hasa’a to Jerusalem LUNCH & BREAK 4:15 1:15 1:30 and Shiur 2:30 HaShirim 4:15- 1:15- Texts in Context: 2:30- MINḤA 1:30 LUNCH Siḥah 4:30 2:30 Tanakh at the Museum 12:00- 3:00 The Midrasha 4:00 Museum Library at Bar Ilan Halakhic Track Track 4:30- Methodology OR 2:30- 1:30- Internships and 3:00- 2:30-3:00 Tanakh Beit Midrash 5:45 Naḥmanidean 3:45 Intro to 7:00 Hitnadvut 4:15 Walk to Exegesis Hasidic National Thought Library 3:00-4:00 Logic 5:45 - 3:45- Jewish- 7:00- 4:00- History of 4:15- OR History of the BREAK DINNER MINḤA 7:00 4:00 Christian 8:00 5:30 Halakhah 4:30 Siddur Polemics Body, 7:00 - 4:00- Beauty, 4:00-4:15 8:00- Israel & the 4:30- DINNER Maimonidean Thought 8:00 5:00 Gender & BREAK 9:00 Mid-East 5:30 5:30 Dress Hasa’a to Modi'in 6:30 Homiletics & 4:15-5:30 8:00- 5:00- Walk to 5:30- Hermeneutics OR Midrash BREAK 9:00 5:30 Library 5:45 Hilkhot Shabbat Agnon 5:30- 6:30- 5:45- Contemporary Halakhah OR MINḤA 9:00- DINNER 5:40 Night Seder 8:00 7:00 Tanakh for Thinkers 10:00 9:00 - 5:40- 7:00- Night Seder Safrut DINNER 10:00 6:45 8:00- Amudim Seminar 8:00 6:45- 10:00 & Learning 8:00- Optional Hasa'a Shiur Klali & Night Seder 7:30 10:00 Amudim | 4 | Think Higher Amudim | 5 | Think Higher With one foot firmly planted in the world of Torah and mitzvot, and the other in the dynamic and eclectic CHANNAH world of Jewish scholarship in Israel, each member of LOCKSHIN BOB Ra”m the Amudim faculty has a wealth of knowledge and Judaica Collection,The NNOVATION experience and is uniquely poised to look at Torah National Library of Israel from multiple angles, address big questions at the forefront of students’ minds, press students to “think higher” and facilitate independent thought. FACULTY AND STAFF R. DOV LAIMON DR. JULIE GOLDSTEIN Sofer St”am and Teacher Rosh HaMidrasha, Director of Scribal Arts, Pardes Dr. Julie Goldstein’s teaching experience includes NYU, Ma’ayanot High School, JLIC at UCLA, and nearly two decades of Jewish communal and adult education lectures. Dr. Goldstein received an MA in Jewish philosophy at YU and a joint PhD in medieval history and Judaic Studies at NYU. In 2013-14, she was a Golda Meir postdoctoral fellow at The Hebrew University and a research fellow at The Global Research Institute at Tel Aviv University.