▶️ Virtual 🔀 Hybrid ⏺️ In-Person
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Tikkun Leil Shavuot 🔀

Join us for our community's all-night learning in celebration of the giving of Torah. We'll offer multiple in-person and virtual learning tracks and special learning for children, families, teens, and adults.
This event is free and open to the community!
Time | Session | Slot 1 (Ellman Chapel) This is the Zoom link for all sessions held in Ellman Chapel | Slot 2 (Koplin-Borochoff Library) This is the Zoom link for all sessions held in Koplin-Borochoff Library |
Thursday, May 25 | |||
6:00 p.m. | Evening Minyan Ellman Chapel | ||
8:15 p.m. | Candle Lighting and Welcome Ellman Chapel | ||
8:50 p.m. | Session 1 | Leader: Dr. Peter Saulson We are "Citizens of Two Realms” | Leader: Richard Friedman Everything We Knew Was Wrong |
9:50 p.m. | Transition | ||
10:00 p.m. | Session 2 | Leader: Dennis Gilbride How Abraham Joshua Heschel Understands the Purpose of Prayer This session will discuss Heschel’s view of prayer. We will explore several components of prayer including gratitude, wonder and moving beyond self-centeredness. We will also discuss Heschel’s view on the differences between prayers of praise and petition. | Leader: Rabbi Neil Sandler Reading Torah—Challenging the Mind and Uplifting the Spirit: A Session in Memory of Arnold M. Goodman z"l |
10:50 p.m. | Transition | ||
11:00 p.m. | Session 3 | Leader: Edward Queen Torah and Tikkun: Study and Observance as a Spark for Redemption Most of us know the Hebrew word "tikkun" from the phrase "tikkun olam" (repair the world) and may wonder what does it have to do with Shavuot? Traditionally the word, meaning repair or rectification, described activities undertaken to "fix" some sin or transgression, either individual or collective. They served to repair the world on a cosmic scale and pave the way for the messiah. This session looks at the kabbalistic doctrine of "theurgy", the idea that human actions affect the divine realm, and the essential role that Torah study and observance play in sparking redemption. | Leader: Dr. Linda Lippitt Chasidic Psychology and Demons |
Friday, May 26 | |||
12:00 a.m. | Session 4 | Leader: Steve Chervin Abraham Joshua Heschel and Prophecy: God and Justice Just as the prophets in the Hebrew Bible were consumed by God's demand for justice in the world, so too was AJ Heschel consumed with his own appreciation of the divine imperative to seek justice. In this session, we will examine excerpts from Heschel's masterpiece The Prophets, based on his doctoral dissertation in philosophy completed for the University of Berlin. | Leader: Rabbi Chaim Listfield “Is God a Gator?” |
12:50 a.m. | Transition | ||
1:00 a.m. | Session 5 | Leader: Joe Citron Torah in Relationship to Music, Songs and Artists We will look at the influence of the Torah in song. Also see the diverse applicants of Torah in their works. | Leader: Jordan Forman Got to Get a Get? Got It! |
1:50 a.m. | Transition | ||
2:00 a.m. | Session 6 | Leader: Jay Waronker Synagogues of Sub-Saharan Africa: Architecture, History and Communities | Leader: Rabbi Hillel Norry The Most Remarkable Object in History—The Tablets |
2:50 a.m. | Transition | ||
3:00 a.m. | Session 7 | Leader: Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Homosexuality and the Torah—A Jewish Perspective For millennia, the words of the Bible have been used to exclude, ridicule, and demean homosexuals. The few words in the Torah on this issue are often read and taken at "face value." Is this "face value" reading really what the Torah says or are generations of bias, fear, and social control being read into our understanding of God’s will? A deeper reading can reveal a lot about how the Bible might be understanding sexuality and sexual behavior. | There is no second slot session, only a first slot session in Ellman Chapel. |
3:50 a.m. | Transition | ||
4:00 a.m. | Session 8 | Leader: Rabbi Laurence Rosenthal Israel Through the Eyes of a Poet Explore the artistic expression of love, life, and hope as poets give us deeper meaning into the Promised Land. This session will look at how Israel was expressed through the minds of poets and what their heartfelt expression means to our modern understanding and love of the Jewish State. | There is no second slot session, only a first slot session in Ellman Chapel. |
5:00 a.m. | Transition | ||
5:15 a.m. | Gentle Yoga and Stretching Memorial Garden | ||
5:45 a.m. | Hashkamah Minyan (Early Morning Service) Memorial Garden | ||
8:00 a.m. | Breakfast Paradies Hall | ||
