The Conservative Movement seminaries and institutions are partnering to offer eight series of learning in 5782 that will bring you face-to-face with the brightest and most engaging scholars our movement has to offer. 

Scholarstream 5782 features three distinct arcs of learning that stand alone or flow into each other. Cultivating Our Relationships (series 1 & 2), Defining Our Sacred Spaces (series 3, 4, and 5), and Renewing Our Resilience (series 6, 7, and 8) will offer an exploration of who we are, where we are in relation to others, and how we move forward in this complicated world.

Register Here

Notes on Registration

Enter the coupon code ShearithIsraelGA21 on the registration page (lined above) under “Event Fees,” then click “Apply” to participate free of charge. Please note that the coupon code is case sensitive. Registrants will receive the Zoom link for each series in a reminder email sent about a week before the start of each series, and again on the morning of each session. The deadline to register for a given session is 10 AM ET on the morning of the session.

Series 2: ethics

All sessions @ 1pm 

Tuesday, November 2

Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin, “Risking One's Life to Save Another: Required or Forbidden by Jewish Law?” 

If you see someone drowning in a raging river – are you required or forbidden to try to save that person? If a mountain climber sees another climber lying in the snow – how far must he go to save the other climber? Must a doctor endanger her life to save another, or is this forbidden? In this session we shall study the main rabbinic sources regarding these moral dilemmas, which have been debated by rabbis for the past 2,000 years.

Tuesday, November 9

Rabbi Avi Novis Deutsch, “Can a Halakha be Immoral?"

In this session, we will try to define the relationship and the tensions between “halakha” and “ethics” as concepts, and examine how different rabbis dealt with this dilemma. We will also see how this dilemma still plays a major role in many contemporary Jewish debates, both in Israel and the Diaspora.

Tuesday, November 16

Rabbi Dr. Reb Mimi Feigelson, “Moral Dilemmas in the Teachings of the Mei Hashiloah, Reb Mordechai Yosef Lainer of Ishbitza"

What does it mean that halakha is not one and the same for all? Was it ever meant to be? And can we wrap our minds around a situation in which our moral sensibilities are challenged “in God's name”? Challenged in the name of what is presented as “God’s Will”? Join me in debating some of the more controversial teachings of the Ishbitzer Rebbe.

Tuesday, November 23

Rabbi Chaya Rowen Baker, “Leshon Hara" (Gossip and Slander): an age-old ethical challenge

The prohibition of Leshon Hara is one of the most difficult mitzvot to observe. How can we “guard our tongues from evil” in our personal and professional lives? What can we learn from the Biblical stories of Joseph, Miriam and the Spies? Are there ever occasions when it’s permissible to speak Leshon Hara?

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