Advanced Learning Institute

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Mondays - 9:30 am PT | 12:30 am ET
June 30 | July 7, 14, 21 and 28 | August 4, 11, 18 and 25

Over the past two centuries, the Jewish people have undergone unprecedented change—politically, socially, and spiritually. This 8-week course explores how Jews have confronted the challenges and opportunities of modernity and how leading thinkers have responded with innovation, resistance, reinterpretation, and renewal.

Class 1: When Do Jews Enter Modernity?
We begin with the political emancipation of Jews in 18th–19th century Europe and the collapse of traditional communal autonomy. What does it mean to be a Jew in a modern state? How did new civic identities challenge inherited religious frameworks?

Class 2: The Haskalah and Moses Mendelssohn
An introduction to the Jewish Enlightenment and its most iconic figure, Mendelssohn. We’ll explore his vision of Judaism as a rational, ethical religion and his efforts to integrate Jewish life with European intellectual culture.

Class 3: Hasidism and the Baal Shem Tov
A radically different response to modern estrangement: mysticism, joy, and spiritual intimacy. This class examines Hasidism's emergence and how it democratized religious experience while resisting elite rabbinic control.

Class 4: Abraham Geiger and Reform Judaism
Geiger sought to modernize Judaism from within by emphasizing ethics over ritual and reinterpreting Jewish history. We’ll discuss the rise of Reform Judaism and its early aspirations and controversies.

Class 5: Zecharia Frankel and Samson Raphael Hirsch: Defending Halakhic Tradition
Two contrasting but parallel responses to Reform. Frankel’s “positive-historical” approach shaped Conservative Judaism, while Hirsch’s Neo-Orthodoxy proposed a synthesis of tradition and modern culture.

Class 6: Zionism and Anti-Zionism in Jewish Thought
We trace the emergence of political, cultural, and religious Zionism—and the Jewish critiques that opposed it. Thinkers range from Theodor Herzl to Ahad Ha’am to Rav Kook, alongside the Bund, Satmar, and early Reform positions.

Class 7: Jewish Existentialism: Buber, Rosenzweig, and Soloveitchik
This class explores how 20th-century Jewish thinkers grappled with alienation, autonomy, and religious meaning. Their work brings Jewish tradition into conversation with existential philosophy and modern spiritual crises.

Class 8: What This Means for Us Today
In our concluding session, we ask how modern Jewish thought shapes contemporary Jewish identity, ethics, and communal life. How do we inherit and reinterpret the past in a pluralistic, often fractured present?