Dec

3 2020

The Mitzvah Within: Living as the Image of God, with Chaim Eliezer Davis

7:00PM - 8:00PM  

Three part series: December 3, 10, and 17, 2020, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86745338852
Zoom password: The password is the same as usual for Beth Jacob events.
If you don’t have it, please email Shira at shira@bethjaccobsynagogue.ca.

This series seeks to explore the Torah’s statement that human beings are created “in the image of God,” and to learn how to elevate the sparks of divinity within through the teachings of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522-1570, Sefat), and Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro of Piaceszno (1889-1943).

Session 1: 16th Cent. Kabbalistic and Chasidic Ethical Writings (Musar מוסר): A Brief History

Session 2: Moshe Cordovero and Kabbalistic Conduct
Primary Texts:
The Beginning of Wisdom (Reishit Hochmah ראשית חכמה),
The Palm Tree of Devorah (Tomer Devorah תומר דבורה)

Session 3: Character Traits (Middot מדות) and their development, Positive and Negative, from the teachings of the Piaceszno Rebbe.
Primary Text:
The Student’s Obligation (Chovat HaTalmidim חובת התלמידים)
Conscious Community (Bnei Machshavah Tovah בני מחשבה טובה)

Bio:
Chaim Eliezer Davis is a senior student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. A North Carolina native, Chaim Eliezer began his journey to the rabbinate at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a year at The Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It was in Jerusalem that he was first introduced to Hasidic thought, learning Tanya and the teachings of the Piascezno rebbe with Yiscah Smith. Chaim Eliezer is currently writing his master’s thesis on ethics in early Hasidic commentaries on Parashat Bereishit.