Adult Education

Rabbi Barsky conducts the following ongoing adult education courses at Beth Abraham.
New participants may join at any time.

Weekly Torah Havurah: Thursdays from noon to 1:00pm.  A weekly verse-by-verse study of the Torah with traditional commentaries of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Ramban and others.  Beginning eight years ago with Bereshit (Genesis), the group is currently in the middle of Bamidbar (Numbers).

Weekly Midrash: Sunday mornings from 9:30am to 10:15am.  The group recently completed the study, in Hebrew and English, of the classic text Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, and is currently reading Avot de Rabbi Natan, a rabbinic midrashic commentary on the Mishna tractate, Pirke Avot.

Israeli Short Stories:  The first and third Thursdays of the month from 4:00pm to 5:30pm.  The group reads and discusses contemporary and classic short fiction from Israel, in English translation.

First Shabbat: 12:30pm to 1:30pm, the first Shabbat of each month.  Following Shabbat services and lunch, this informal group discusses a small section of Talmud chosen for the day, focusing on its relevance for contemporary life.

In addition, Rabbi Barsky holds a variety of lecture series intermittently during the year.  Recently he lectured over four Tuesday evenings on Jewish conceptions of the Messiah from biblical beginnings to the twentieth century.

Susan and David Joffe Scholar-in-Resident Weekend.

Once each year Beth Abraham hosts a well-known scholar for a weekend of learning.  Recent guests include Professor Benjamin Gampel and Professor David Kraemer, both from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.