We had the good fortune to learn this past Shabbat with a wonderful scholar, Rabbi David Golinkin, professor of Talmud at the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem.
His theme was Jerusalem and Israel, and the conflicting perspectives that we all bring to the land and city that holds so many hopes and expectations. He began on Friday night with a series of examples of how Jerusalem is viewed as the most spiritual and holy city, but is also a secular, earthbound city where people live, and carry on the most mundane business.
On Shabbat morning, he began with some disturbing examples of how removed Israelis are from Judaism, but filled us with hope and inspiration as he described the strides that the Schechter Institute is making to fill a void in Jewish and “yiddishkeit” exposure to kids in public schools (80% of the students in Israel) and also to adults and immigrant populations from and in the former Soviet Union.
After a tasty kiddush, Rabbi Golinkin led us in study of a section of the Talmud relating to making Aliyah (moving from the diaspora to Israel, or to Jerusalem).
And, finally, at the close of Shabbat, between the Mincha and Maariv services, our own Rabbi Howard Gorin invited our guest to kick of our study of Tractate Taanit, which was fascinating!
