Jewish Learning Institute at Chabad Center
2010-2011/5771 Courses
1866 South 120th Street (402) 330-1800 www.myjli.com
Fall 2010 Medicine and Morals: Your Jewish Guide Through Life's Tough Descisions
6 Mondays beginning October 25th-November 29th
Winter 2011 Toward a Meaningful Life: A Soul-searching Journey for Every Jew
6 Mondays beginning February 7th-March 14th
Spring 2011 Oasis in Time: The Gift of Shabbat in a 24/7 World
6 Mondays beginning May 9th-June 13th
Medicine and Morals
Your Jewish Guide Through Life's Tough Descisions
6 Mondays beginning October 25th-November 29th
7:00pm-8:30pm
$79 per student. 10% off for couples registering together. Register at www.myjli.com
• How is Jewishness determined in the case of surrogate motherhood?
• Are you permitted, or perhaps even obliged, to donate a kidney to save the life of a loved one?
• May you pursue a dangerous experimental treatment that has the risk of shortening life?
• Should your children and teens have the autonomy to refuse a potentially lifesaving treatment because of its arduous side effects, even when you disagree with their decision?
Modern medicine creates many new quandaries as it continually pushes the boundaries of what is possible. In Medicine and Morals, learn how Jewish tradition resolves today's great medical issues and how your faith can help you make better medical decisions.
Lesson 1
Choices, Choices: The Ethics of Patient Autonomy
The modern medical age offers hope for many dire medical situations, but does so at a price. As medical intervention increases, quality of life often decreases. This lesson examines Jewish perspectives on pursuing medical care, as well as declining it. Is it ever acceptable, or even preferable, to simply rely on faith, prayer, and one’s own resources? How does Judaism justify medical intervention? And is it an obligation or a choice? May other family members force us to seek treatment that we do not want? Do our personal preferences and values hold any weight? And does the same hold true for children? This lesson examines the ethics of issues involving patient autonomy within the modern health care system.
Lesson 2
Becoming a Parent: The Ethics of Assisted Reproduction
Many couples struggle with infertility. In their efforts to bear a child, they are often cast into the complicated ethical web of the new reproductive technologies, many of which call into question the very definition of parent. In the age of sperm donation, egg donation, and surrogacy, can a child have more than two parents? How is Jewishness determined? How does Judaism look at “designer babies?” Can we pre-select the gender of the child to match parent preferences or to prevent genetic illnesses? How far must one go in the quest for biological children, and what recourse is there for those who are unable to bear children of their own?
Lesson 3
I Have a Secret: The Ethics of Confidentiality
A basic presumption of modern medical practice is that patients have a right for their medical history to be kept confidential unless they explicitly waive those rights (such as in allowing records to be reviewed by an insurance company). What happens, however, when those records contain information that might impact other family members? May a man hosting an incurable communicable disease withhold that information from his wife? Does a woman willing to donate a kidney to a man she presumes to be her father have the right to know that in fact, he is not related to her at all? Do children have the right to know they are carriers of a particular disease, or may the parent keep that information private? This lesson looks at some ways of balancing the harm to the individual whose privacy is invaded against the need to provide family members with vital health information.
Lesson 4
All Kinds of Minds: Mental Difference in Jewish Tradition
The mentally ill have often been viewed in society as possessed by the devil, or otherwise evil. Jewish law, however, has long recognized this as a disease, and acknowledges both the limitations of responsibility that this state imposes, as well as the essential humanity of the mentally ill. Jewish law recognizes that there may well be islands of ability at the same time that limitations exist. It encourages the maximum participation possible of those with mental illnesses, while outlining the role the community must play in protecting their interests. The lesson also considers the integration of individuals who may suffer from mental retardation, and the value of engaging them actively in Jewish life.
Lesson 5
The Gift of Life: The Ethics of Organ Donation
Hundreds of thousands of people find their lives hanging in the balance as they hope for the gift of life in the form of a vital organ such as a heart, lung, or kidney. By receiving an organ, they are literally given a new lease on life. Yet there is a tremendous shortage of available organs. Does Jewish law allow the donation of organs, either from a live donor or one who is recently deceased? Might it go further, actively encouraging or even morally compelling one to donate under certain circumstances? Conversely, if our bodies are not our own, do we even have the authority to give a body part away? This lesson provides a nuanced and compassionate look at the sensitive ethical issues governing organ donation.
Lesson 6
Rolling the Dice: The Ethics of Medical Experimentation
Often, people with rare or incurable illnesses consider untested experimental treatment, gambling that they will be cured. May one participate in an experimental treatment with no guarantee of success that also has the danger of shortening life? Can we define the allowable odds? Does it matter that participating in this experimental treatment will provide important knowledge that will be helpful in curing others? The lesson considers other ethical issues related to experimentation such as the ethics of stem cell research.
Toward a Meaningful Life
A Soul-searching Journey for Every Jew
6 Mondays beginning February 7th-March 14th
7:00pm-8:30pm
$79 per student. 10% off for couples registering together
Are you completely happy with your life? How can you add richness and meaning? An antidote to the monotony and grind of unchanging routines, Toward a Meaningful Life provides newfound energy and exhilaration in taking on challenges. It offers practical strategies for developing a deeper sense of joy and satisfaction to teach and empower you with new life skills based on traditional Torah thought, thereby enabling you to transform the way you view your daily life.
Plot your personal mission statement; reclaim love and intimacy in your marriage; learn values upon which to establish your home and family; and acquire powerful tools to help you deal with pain, loss, and anxiety.
The course—by Rabbi Simon Jacobson, author of the bestselling book, Toward a Meaningful Life—utilizes the relevant approach and easy personal style that made the book so popular. However, it is totally freestanding and no prior familiarity with the book is assumed.
Lesson 1
Discovering Your Personal Mission Statement
No business can function without a mission statement. Neither can you. This lesson will establish the foundation for a meaningful life—revealing and understanding why you are here.
Your birth is G‑d’s statement that you matter. You are indispensable, and your soul was deliberately chosen to descend into your body at a particular time and space in order to fulfill a unique objective. Literally every one of your life experiences is driven by this mission—the hub that connects all the spokes of your activities.
This lesson will show you how to graph the coordinates in your life so that you can discern patterns of meaning that can assist you in identifying your unique purpose.
Toolbox Exercise: Writing Your Personal Mission Statement
Lesson 2
Marriage, Love, and Intimacy
What lies at the foundation of a successful relationship? Physical attraction, emotional connection, and intellectual parity are all important kinds of compatibility. In this lesson, we will also explore the importance of spiritual compatibility: the power of shared vision and shared commitment to building something together that is greater than the sum of its parts. While the first three factors vary and fluctuate in importance over time, only the fourth is unwavering and eternal, and it serves as the foundation of all the other gifts of a successful marriage.
Toolbox Exercise: What is Love?
Lesson 3
Home & Family
The home is the most important institution of society, shaping lives and futures, and yet often, it is taken for granted. A home is not merely a shelter, a place where you can be “yourself.” The home is a microcosm of the mishkan, G‑d’s abode in this earth.
How can you build a healthy home for yourself and for your family? The comfort of home can bring out the best and the worst in us. It is vital not to take one’s family for granted, and to balance love and caring with order and structure. In this lesson, we will examine the components of a warm, nurturing, and sacred environment. Our attitudes, activities, and home furnishings that reflect our Jewish values all contribute to building a home of Torah, avodah, and gemilut chasadim.
Toolbox Exercise: Planning Your Home Makeover
Lesson 4
Work, Charity, and Wealth
Why must we work? The purpose of life is to become a giver, not a taker. We are invited to be a producer, creator, and a partner with G‑d, by transforming the resources we were given into divine energy that illuminates and warms our environment.
As we age, our work changes, but we should never retire. The Jewish attitude is that we always remain producers and givers, though we may reframe the focus of our efforts. At the same time, there are principles of spiritual time management that can keep us from being consumed by work. By distinguishing between ends and means, we can keep from losing sight of our underlying objectives.
We also look closely at money and why it holds so much power. Money is “soul energy,” embodying our time, energy, ingenuity—and is a reflection of our investment in this world. This is why we find it so difficult to give away our money. In effect, it is like giving a way a piece of our life. However, it is precisely this that gives tsedakah its great power, freeing us from the powerful tentacles of materialism which often threaten to hold us hostage in their clutch.
Toolbox Exercise: What’s your real job?
Lesson 5
Pain, Loss, and Anxiety
Only live, healthy, and sensitive people feel pain. Any form of pain, physical or psychological, signifies that something is misaligned. Pain is the first step in the natural process of healing. Pain is all consuming, commanding our attention, demanding we shift our perspective on life. In the process, it helps us define our priorities and our commitments, by testing our strength and resilience. Thus, pain often pushes us to access deeper resources. Pain need not be denied. It is a natural and important part of life.
In this lesson, we will look at meaningful ways of coping with pain. We can draw on our trust in G‑d, on positive thinking, and on our capacity to find joy. We’ll learn to find a balance of grief and building so we can translate pain into action and tears into growth. Finally, we’ll discuss ways of supporting others in their pain, providing hope as well as a listening ear.
Toolbox Exercise: Rx for pain
Lesson 6
Religion and Faith
Why is it that so many of us struggle with the role of G‑d within our lives? Perhaps it is because we are working with the wrong definition. The Barditchever Rebbe once said, “The G‑d that you don’t believe in, I don’t believe in either.” We’ll begin by reframing G‑d, identifying the conventional images we have of G‑d from school, home, and comic books, and then challenging our premises and probing beyond the platitudes.
Why is it important to try to “know G‑d?” Because how we see G‑d dictates how we will relate to Him. If our view of Him is immature, then our relationship with G‑d is driven by guilt, nostalgia, family upbringing, and social programming. It is a mechanical relationship governed by rote. But as we develop a more mature and introspective understanding of G‑d, our relationship becomes richer and more personal, relevant, dynamic and passionate.
The primary modes of interacting with G‑d are through love and awe, and it is critical to keep these in balance. We will also discover that faith and reason are not antithetical. Faith is not the absence of reason. It is an independent faculty which complements and enhances reason. Reason leads us to a door; faith takes us through that door.
Toolbox Exercise: What does G‑d mean to you?
Oasis in Time
The Gift of Shabbat in a 24/7 World
6 Mondays beginning May 9th-June 13th
7:00pm-8:30pm
$79 per student. 10% off for couples registering together
Time is all you have - and so much of what it is wasted. To a hectic age of persistent pressures to work, travel, and communicate at ever faster speeds comes a magical oasis in time, a day of rest, 24 hours unplugged from technology.
Tap into Shabbat's restorative values as you explore the rhythms of work and rest, of being and becoming. Find out how you can become a better spouse, and nurture loving relationships. Learn to appreciate the process, not just the goal, and discover a healthy balance of pleasure in your life. A journey through ritual, meaning, and personal application, this course is a must for anyone seeking relief from anxiety and ambitious to overcome the pressures of a fast paced world and live life to the fullest.
Got questions about these courses? Email [email protected] or call 330-1800 and ask for Shevi.