Joe Septimus
Telephone: 212 877 0690
Email: show
Joe Septimus is President of Septimus Consulting, Inc., a management consulting firm. He teaches Torah at the Melton Mini Schools, JLearn, The Central Synagogue, FEGS and the Manhattan JCC Tikkun. Joe has a Masters from NYU Business School & a Bachelors in Philosophy, studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel & Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, is an executive board member of Darkhei Noam, a progressive Halachick community in NYC, Treasurer of the Beth Din of America, & Wexner Heritage Fellowship alum.
Mechitzah Minyan Led by Men and Women
Modeled after Kehillat Shira Chadasha in Jerusalem and Darkhei Noam in Manhattan, this service aims to provide opportunities for women to participate within a traditional service with a mechitzah (divider). Both men and women will lead parts of the service, read from the Torah, and get called up for aliyot. (Separate gender seating)
CSI Limmud
Cain Confesses: But Why Did It Happen?
Identity and Responsibility,
Text and Thought
We will closely read and examine the biblical text to identify the evidence presented and what is missing. We will explore existing midrashim (commentaries) and their underlying theological assumptions and challenge preconceived (midrashic) notions as to why God chose “Abel and his offering” and rejected Cain. We will construct a text-based understanding that poses for us difficult, yet universal, psychological and existential lessons from this biblical episode.
Re-Examinimng Tzelem Elohim: Gender in God's Image
Identity and Responsibility,
Text and Thought
We tout the biblical notion that we are created in God’s image. But besides promoting an expectation of dignity, what does it really mean? By closely reading Bereishit (Genesis) and various midrashim (commentaries), we will construct a possible definition of tzelem and d’mus Elohim (loosely defined as ‘God’s image’) that incorporates the complexity of the male–female dynamic and how those characteristics can impact our responsibility, functionality, and reflexively, our understanding of God’s dynamic.
