The holiday of Shavuot connects us to each other and to our ancestors as we commemorate and relive revelation of Torah. This year, GJC is gathering together with P’nai Or, RRC, and Mishkan Shalom for our annual Tikkun Leyl Shavuot (traditionally an all-night Torah study). See below for details about this year’s Tikkun!
Plenary Talk: “Small and Powerful – A Rabbinic Precedent for the Butterfly Effect”
with Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Ph.D.
Small things can make a big difference. The “Butterfly Effect” is a popular concept drawn from chaos theory, highlighting how the flap of a butterfly wing can bring about a hurricane on the other side of the globe. For our ancient rabbis, however, the outsized effect of little things (a crown on a letter; a small but mighty people; tiny acts of resistance) was not a matter of chaos but rather a reflection of how God works in the world. Belief in the power of the small was an article of faith and a source of strength for Jews living in the shadow of the mighty Roman empire. In this study session, we will examine midrashic texts celebrating how tiny things make big change.
Schedule:
- 7:00-7:30 PM: Refreshments & Mingling
- Location: Charry Lobby
- 7:30-7:45 PM: Welcome from GJC, Mishkan Shalom, P’nai Or, & RRC
- Location: Charry Sanctuary
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- 7:45-8:15 PM: Ma’ariv, led by Rabbi Shawn Zevit
- Location: Charry Sanctuary
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- 8:15-9:15PM: Opening Plenary Session
- Small and Powerful: A Rabbinic Precedent for the Butterfly Effect, with Rabbi Mira Wasserman, Ph.D.
- Location: Charry Sanctuary
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- 9:15-9:30 PM: Break for Nosh, Coffee, & Drinks
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- Location: Charry Lobby
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- 9:30-10:30 PM: Mahloket Matters: Constructive dialogue for the sake of heaven with R. Malkah Binah Klein (GJC)
- Location: Magil Chapel
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- Description: Can we find the courage to productively engage with those with whom we disagree? In this interactive session using a curriculum from the Pardes Institute, we will study procedures from the ancient Sanhedrin (rabbinic court) to explore the art of constructive disagreement, followed by a mock-Sanhedrin with a case study set in our era. This session will continue in the 10:45 PM slot.
- 9:30-10:30 PM: “See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh (Ex. 7:1)” with R. Shawn Zevit (Mishkan Shalom)
- Location: Maslow Auditorium
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- Description: An exploration of leadership across the centuries in Jewish tradition, and what it means to be founded in sacred values and actions as we meet the challenges of our times. Study, Bibliodrama and discussion.
- 9:30-10:30 PM: “Justice Never Emerges”: Jewish Responses to Roman Rule with L Charap (GJC)
- Location: Quitman Library
- Description: The rabbis chose to read the prophetic book of Habakkuk on Shavuot, a challenging text that asks stark questions about God’s justice in a world marked by violence and persecution. This study session explores different midrashic and other contemporary Jewish sources responding to the experience of oppression under Roman rule.
- Please note, this study session will not be livestreamed.
- 9:30-10:30 PM: When the Law of the Land is not Our Law with R. Alex Weissman (RRC)
- Location: Silver Kiddush Lounge
- Description: This session will explore if/how we reject the laws of the country we reside in by exploring Jewish legal discourse and narrative with the aim of helping us think about Jewish grounding for resistance.
- Please note, this study session will not be livestreamed.
- 10:45-11:40 PM: Mahloket Matters with R. Malkah Binah (GJC)
- Location: Magil Chapel
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- This is a continuation of the 9:30 PM workshop.
- 10:45-11:45 PM: The Idra Rabba in the Zohar: Assembling in a time of potential disaster with Mitch Marcus (GJC)
- Location: Maslow Auditorium
- Livestream Link: HERE || Passcode: Community
- Description: In this session, we will study the introduction in the Zohar to the Idra Rabba and grapple with what it means to us today. The Idra Rabba (“Great Assembly”) is a section of Zohar about a gathering of mystics, convened by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, as the world entered a potentially disastrous time.
- 10:45-11:45 PM: Of Ovens, Smallpox, and Revelation with R. Josh Gutoff (GJC)
- Location: Quitman Library
- Description: Looking at one of the most famous of all rabbinic stories (The Oven of Achnai) and one of the least-read rabbinic commentaries (the Boaz on the Mishna), we’ll see how, in a world without clarity the well-nurtured imagination can be a liberating force.
- Please note, this study session will not be livestreamed.
All of the following study sessions will not be livestreamed.
- 12:00-12:30 AM: Singing Torah at Midnight with R. Adam Zeff (GJC)
- Location: Magil Chapel
- Description: Come sing!
- 12:45-1:45 AM: “Be Wary of the Authorities” (m. Avot 2:3) with Gwynn Kessler (GJC)
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- Location: Magil Chapel
- Description: Despite the Mishnah’s warning “to be wary of the authorities,” the Babylonian Talmud contains a number of traditions about close interactions between Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi and the Roman Emperor Antoninus. We will examine some of these traditions and consider what they teach about how the rabbis navigated their lives in Roman Antiquity and the Babylonian Diaspora as well as any wisdom they might offer for today.
- 2:00-3:00 AM: Movement at Sinai: Preparing our Bodies and Minds to Receive Torah with Student Rabbi Maria Pulzetti (GJC)
- Location: Magil Chapel
- Description: This movement and text study experience brings some of the motion and drama of the Sinai story into the experience of studying Torah on Tikkun Leyl Shavuot. As part of our spiritual preparation, we can bring our bodies into the text and explore the space between the letters.
- 3:15-4:15 AM: The Limits on Kings with R. Adam Zeff (GJC)
- Location: Magil Chapel
- Description: We’ll study how the ancient rabbis, in Babylonian Talmud Tractate Sanhedrin, grappled with the role of a king. How are kings different from regular folks? How are they subject (or not subject) to the courts and laws of their kingdom? What limits can and should be placed on their power? We’ll look at texts in both the Hebrew/Aramaic and in English translation and think about the parallels for our own time.
Please join us from 4:30-6:00 AM for a Shacharit Service & Sunrise Reading of the Ten Commandments, led by R. Adam Zeff, Student Rabbi Maria Pulzetti, and others!