Renana Ravitsky Pilzer
Renana Ravitzky-Pilzer is scholar and research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She directs Jewish Studies at the Institute's girls high school, the Midrashiya, and was the co-director of Melamdim, the school for training educators for North American community and Israeli high schools. Renana has taught at Limmud UK and Limmud NY as well as at Elul.
Jacob's Ladder and Plato’s Cave
- Friday 10:30 PM–11:45 PM Emerald Bay 1
One of the classic tensions of intellectual life is the tension between increasing one's personal knowledge and one's communal moral duty to those in the community who have not reached such levels. Thus Maimonides interprets the story of Jacob's dream in which there is a ladder whose feet are on the earth but whose head is in the heavens. Should the intellectual who has reached the heavens be required also to descend the ladder? What are the gains and losses of the intellectual and of the community? This session is based on texts in Hebrew (with translations); discussion will be in both Hebrew and English.
Can Prayer Heal?
- Saturday 2:00 PM–3:15 PM Newport Beach 1
When the sages consider the issue of visiting the sick, the ideal visitor is not the one who brings flowers, smiles and leaves, but rather the one who understands that he has other roles as well: healing, assistance, psychological support, and prayer. Do we believe in the power of prayer to change reality? To heal? To improve a situation? New research shows a surprising effectiveness of praying and healing. What power do the sages believe prayer has? What are the implications of this faith for the practice of visiting the sick -- including the hours that one visits, where one sits, the motivation to visit, and even the content of the prayer itself, that the sick person dies or lives?
The Romantic Triangle: The Scholar, His Wife and the Torah
- Sunday 11:30 AM–12:45 PM Balboa Bay 1
The tension between family and career is an ancient tension, and the Talmud allows us a glance in the deeply personal and fascinating stories of ambivalence of the sages. What should a student who is torn between desire and duty give preference to: the desire for learning in the Beit Midrash or the duty to be at home with their family? Is it preferable to chose between self-fulfillment at work or in family life? Or is it preferable to choose both and thus not fulfill either? Is any model, if agreed upon between a husband and wife, appropriate and moral? How do we combine and integrate our different desires?
Fact and Fantasy in Jewish Education
- Monday 10:00 AM–11:15 AM Newport Beach 1
Yohanan Ben Zakkai had two students: Eliezer Ben Horkanus, who was called “a plastered well that does not lose a drop,” and Elazar Ben Arach, who was “an overflowing fountain.” In this session, we will read midrashim (commentaries) about these two characters and their different approaches to Torah teaching and learning. Ultimately, we will see where each one ended up with the path that he followed.