All sessions of the Scholar in Residence weekend will be in-person and streamed.
Friday, January 14: Shabbat Service 7:30pm “Girl Sets Her Goal to Be First Woman Rabbi”: 50 Years of Women in the Rabbinate This year marks the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Rabbi Sally Priesand, the first woman ordained by a rabbinical seminary. We will explore the significance of an event that changed the course of Jewish history around the world.
Saturday, January 15 ► Coffee, Continental Breakfast available
Torah Study 9:15am Parashat B’shalach and the Legacy of Miriam the Prophet
Shabbat Morning Service 11:00am
► Lunch/Snack Available
Session 1 12:30pm “Give us a holding among our kin”: The Inception and Reception of The Torah: A Women's Commentary In the book of Numbers, the five daughters of Zelophehad boldly assert their right to inherit their deceased father’s land since they have no brothers. This story provides a fitting symbol for The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. Associate Editor, Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, will tell how the book came about and show why a women’s Torah commentary matters today more than ever.
► Snack Available
Session 2 1:45pm “What can we do to create light together?”: Interfaith Insights from American Values, Religious Voices The “American Values, Religious Voices: 100 Days, 100 Letters” campaign sent a letter a day to the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress for the first 100 days of the Trump administration in 2017 and the Biden administration in 2021. The letters were written by a multifaith group of scholars who connected core American values to our different religious traditions. We will sample several letters and reflect on the project as a much needed model of interfaith partnership and civil dialogue around shared values.
Please note: A continental breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be available between sessions. Masks are required when not eating/drinking and during all services and sessions.
All sessions of the Scholar in Residence weekend will be in-person and streamed.
Dr. Andrea Weiss is the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR/New York.
Dr. Weiss was ordained at HUC-JIR and received her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. She served as Associate Editor of The Torah: A Women's Commentary (URJ Press, 2008), which won the Jewish Book Council's 2008 Everett Family Foundation Jewish Book of the Year Award. She also created a highly innovative response to the emerging political landscape known as American Values Religious Voices: 100 Days, 100 Letters, which was published by the University of Cincinnati Press.
Dr. Weiss’s leadership within HUC-JIR has helped reshape curriculum for the rabbinical program across the campuses and built a deeper sense of community at the New York campus. She developed the Worship Working Group in 2003 and has continued to oversee this group of students and faculty who work together to reflect on and improve worship there. She has played a leadership role in major initiatives such as the Spirituality Initiative of the New York School, the Mandel Initiative in Building Capacity for Visionary Leadership, and the annual New York Kallah.
