Course Tackles Dispute Head-On

Peace and unity are a core Jewish value. However, dispute and argument are as old as the Jewish nation itself. Paradoxically, the disputations that speckle our history have shaped the development of Jewish life as we know it to this today.

A drama-filled, new course from JLI, “Great Debates in Jewish History” offers a glimpse into six pivotal disputes that engulfed the Jewish people at different periods and have a lasting impact today.

Along the journey, participants in the course will stage their own debates on fundamentals in Yiddishkeit such as faith vs. reason, Jewish nationalism, Chassidism, active vs. passive Messianism, and religion in the public arena.

The six-week course, endorsed by leading Jewish historians and professors, will be given simultaneously, this fall, in 374 English-speaking communities across the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, the U.K. and Europe. Several JLI affiliates have partnered with their local Jewish historical society to offer the course, which has received many endorsements from prominent scholars.