When French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas asked Jewish mysticism scholar Gershom Scholem for readings that would lend insight into Jewish ethics, Scholem's first choice was the Nefesh ha-Hayyim. A classic of traditional Jewish thought, written by R. Hayyim of Volozhin, founder of an influential early 19th century Lithuanian yeshiva, the text offers a comprehensive educational vision that has intrigued philosophers, rabbinic scholars and Jewish educators for nearly two centuries.

Four students enrolled in Hebrew College's first-ever doctoral seminar are now interpreting this text as well, drawing on the writings of Levinas, R. Joseph Soloveitchik, Norman Lamm, Victor Kestenbaum and John Dewey, among others. Hayyim of Volozhin and His Latter Day Readers: A Legacy of Jewish Educational Thought is jointly taught by Dr. Harvey Shapiro, dean of the Shoolman Graduate School of Jewish Education and associate professor of Jewish education, and Dr. Jacob Meskin, assistant professor of Jewish education, who are analyzing the text through the lenses of educational theory and modern philosophy.

"The brew gets really rich," says Meskin, adding that the seminar aims to get students to place R. Hayyim's tremendously challenging text, with its abundance of rabbinic and kabbalistic references, in conversation across the centuries with thinkers and ideas in many disciplines—Jewish studies, modern philosophy, psychology, Jewish education.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor, assistant rabbi and family educator at Temple Israel in Sharon, comes to the seminar with rabbinical ordination and a master's degree in Jewish education. He was looking for an academic challenge.

"What appealed most to me about the class was its clarity of goal," he says. "It focuses on the intersection between Reb Hayyim and American pragmatism, and that's such a deeply freeing approach to an otherwise restricting discipline of historical study.

"American pragmatism proposes that you can only truly measure theory by its results," he continues. "And as a rabbi with a pulpit, I've found that to be accurate. Until theory is put into practice and made real, it isn't 'true.' This is a radical methodology in an academic doctoral class, an inspiring and postmodern approach to academics."

A prelude to Hebrew College's planned doctoral program, this seminar gives students a glimpse of what's to come. As Shapiro envisions it, the program will engage students in a modern dialogue with traditional Jewish texts to gain insight into contemporary issues in Jewish education.

"It will enable students to conduct conceptual research in Jewish education at a very high level," he says.

For more information about the doctoral seminar or the program, please contact Harvey Shapiro, hshapiro@hebrewcollege.edu, 617-559-8652.

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