New Courses at Center for Jewish Learning through Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning

Jewish Federation of St. Louis’ new Center for Jewish Learning is excited to offer courses through the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. The Melton School Core Curriculum is a comprehensive, sequential series of text-based lessons, comprised of four courses.  Each course focuses on at least one major area of Jewish learning, and forms a thread in a carefully woven fabric which integrates Jewish history, religion, ritual, language, ethics, philosophy, literature, theology and contemporary Jewish life.

1631. Melton Mini-School Core
      Curriculum –Year One
      Instructor: Community Rabbis and Educators
      Day and time: Tuesdays, 9:30-11:45am, 11/1
      Number of classes: 25
      Tuition: $500 + $50 book fee.

• Purposes of Jewish Living Asks – Why do Jews believe as they do? What are the big questions of life and how do Jewish thinkers answer these questions? This course explores ancient and modern responses to many of the major issues of Jewish thought and theology.
• Rhythms of Jewish Living Asks – What’s the point of living Jewishly? What ideas, beliefs, and practices are involved? This course examines a wide variety of Jewish sources to discover the deeper meanings underlying Jewish holidays, lifecycle observances and Jewish practice.

1632. Melton Mini-School Core
      Curriculum – Year Two
      Instructor: Community Rabbis and Educators
      Day and time: Wednesdays, 7:00-9:15 pm, beginning 10/26
      Number of classes: 25
      Tuition: $500 + $50 book fee.

• Ethics of Jewish Living – How do Jewish teachings shed light on contemporary issues such as the environment, inter-personal relationships, end-of-life decisions and stem-cell research? This course explores the wisdom of ancient and  modern rabbis, scholars and thinkers, offering multiple Jewish approaches to conducting our lives in the communal and private spheres.
• Crossroads of Jewish History – This course merges the concepts of history and memory in order to better understand how each has shaped Judaism today. With an emphasis on reclaiming the richness of Jewish history, the chronological exploration investigates significant crossroads where Jews took major decisions that shaped our shared identity and destiny.

Hosted by Central Reform Congregation and Bais Abraham Congregation. Registration is done directly through the Melton School at Events.org/MeltonStLouis. A minimum of 15 participants

are required to hold this course.

For additional information and/or questions on any of the courses listed above, contact Cyndee Levy, Director of the Center for Jewish Learning at CLevy@JFedSTL.org, 314-442-3754.