Shabbat Morning Torah Study: A Year with Martin Buber

Torah Study, featuring spirited discussion of the weekly portion, is a highlight of my week. I enjoy the company and conversation and I always learn something new. It never fails.

If you have been coming, even from time-to-time, you know that you don’t need to know Hebrew to participate and get something valuable out of it. Just bring your curiosity. You also know that I have a “go-to” resource for getting deeper into the meaning and teaching of the weekly portion. This past year, we generally relied on the URJ Plaut Torah commentary, the standard for our Reform movement, and I will be continuing to include the commentary every now and again.

This coming year, starting Shabbat morning, July 5, we will begin working with my most recent book, A Year with Martin Buber: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion, which includes reflections on the weekly portion, the teachings of our Rabbis, a perspective from that great Jewish thinker, Martin Buber, and retelling of a personal experience. You need not buy the book to participate, though copies are available for purchase through the Temple office, with a portion of sales benefiting our Teen programming. It is also available in print and electronically through your favorite bookseller.

Jewish thinker Martin Buber (1878 to 1965) is best known for his spirituality classic, I and Thou. He wrote more than two dozen additional books and was a widely respected advocate for Jewish causes and Israel. Born and educated in Europe, he lived in Germany until 1938 when he fled the Nazis for Jerusalem, where he taught at Hebrew University until shortly before his death. His Jewish activism brought him into circles including Theodor Herzl, David Ben Gurion, Albert Einstein, Carl Rogers, Dag Hammarskjold, and more, and our Torah Study conversations will make reference.

Please plan to join us when you can. We begin each Shabbat morning with a brief service at 8:50 followed by study of the portion and discussion.

I hope to see you now and again at Torah Study