Jewish Learning Fellowship
The Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF) is an 8-week experiential, conversational seminar for students looking to deepen their understanding of Judaism on their own terms.
We are proud to say that we make no claims about the “right” way to practice or not to practice Judaism. Our job is to help you explore the tradition in a safe space and find your own place, on your terms, in Judaism’s Great Conversation. Dinner is provided each week, and you will also earn a $300 stipend upon completion of the course. No previous Jewish learning experience necessary!
The application for JLF for Spring 2023 is HERE.
For information about JLF, contact Raffi.
We are proud to say that we make no claims about the “right” way to practice or not to practice Judaism. Our job is to help you explore the tradition in a safe space and find your own place, on your terms, in Judaism’s Great Conversation. Dinner is provided each week, and you will also earn a $300 stipend upon completion of the course. No previous Jewish learning experience necessary!
The application for JLF for Spring 2023 is HERE.
For information about JLF, contact Raffi.
JLF participant stipends are made possible by a generous grant from Hillel International.
Sponsorship of our JLF internship has been generously provided by Joel Lapin
in memory of his beloved parents Aaron and Anne Lapin of Worcester, Mass.
Sponsorship of our JLF internship has been generously provided by Joel Lapin
in memory of his beloved parents Aaron and Anne Lapin of Worcester, Mass.
The Program
JLF is a 8 week seminar taught by Jewish Educators at Hillel. We’ll break bread together each week. We’re also going to invite you to coffee, spend a Shabbat together, and help you feel connected to next steps and alumni offerings after JLF ends. Fellows can earn a $300 stipend at the end of the program.
Shabbat Experiences
Fellows will spend one Friday evening together during JLF, either on campus or in the home of one of their JLF educators. This is a chance to share time with one another outside of our seminar, break bread together, and experience Shabbat...whether it's our first time or our fiftieth.
Shabbat Experiences
Fellows will spend one Friday evening together during JLF, either on campus or in the home of one of their JLF educators. This is a chance to share time with one another outside of our seminar, break bread together, and experience Shabbat...whether it's our first time or our fiftieth.
Syllabus: Life's Big Questions
Week 1: Why Learn? On the Power and Practice of Learning
Is it important to make time for learning? Are there differences between academic learning, Jewish learning and life learning? How do we see ourselves as learners and what do we need to get the most out of our respective learning environments? What motivated you to be a part of this fellowship, where one of the only prerequisites is a desire to learn Jewish sources, learn about yourself, and your peers?
Week 2: How Big is Your Story?
In what way does personal history become collective history? Can history “make a claim” on us? What is your story?
Week 3: Community of Memory vs. Lifestyle Enclave?
Why do we create community? And why Jewish community? Why and how do we choose to be a part of it? What is the difference between a community, a group of friends and a social network? What makes a community a community?
Week 4: The Sabbath: A Practice for Rest
How might we interact with the idea of a Sabbath as college students? Is Shabbat, as a time of rest, inherently counter-cultural? Or could it support us holistically in our modern lifestyles and pursuits? How can the essence of Shabbat help us create a “rest practice” in our modern lives?
Week 5: Friendship, Honesty, and Betrayal
What are the challenges and opportunities of a deep friendship? What are necessary qualities in a good friend and what qualities do you want to emulate as a good friend? What are the disqualifying qualities in a good friend? What role does honesty play in friendship?
Week 6: Passover as Story: What is My Identity?
How do stories help us form, explore, and express identity? What are the various facets of identity that are represented in the Haggadah? What is the significance of having one shared text that holds many perspectives?
Week 7: How Do We Disagree?
How do we disagree and engage in conflict? Can conflict be productive? What is the role of healthy vs. unhealthy disagreement and how do we engage in it rather than withdraw from it? Can disagreement serve as a critical part of uncovering truth?
Week 8: The Art of Collaboration
Is collaboration important? What are the ingredients of a good partnership or collaboration, and how do we cultivate it? Does entering into authentic collaboration have the potential to change us, and how do fully offer our talents and “get out of our own way” when collaborating? Is the end product/result better when we collaborate or work alone?
Week 9: On Intimacy
What is the status of our current relationship to sexual relationships and intimacy? As college
students, what prevents us from allowing ourselves intimacy and vulnerability with another person? By learning the traditional wisdom of our Jewish sources, might we be inspired to approach our romantic relationships with a new lens that fuses our contemporary lives with traditional wisdom around intimate relationships?
Week 10: Continuing to Learn while Living the Questions
How can we encounter big questions, serious internal ambiguity, or wrestle with fundamental ideas and concepts, and still continue to learn and grow? How can we live out our lives with new questions, even if we don’t yet have the answers we desire? What is the value in uncertainty? How do we go about sitting or struggling with not knowing?
Week 11: Infrequently Asked Questions & Saying Goodbye
What are the questions you’ve never had a chance to ask? How do we say goodbye to one another in a way that honors the time we have spent together?
Is it important to make time for learning? Are there differences between academic learning, Jewish learning and life learning? How do we see ourselves as learners and what do we need to get the most out of our respective learning environments? What motivated you to be a part of this fellowship, where one of the only prerequisites is a desire to learn Jewish sources, learn about yourself, and your peers?
Week 2: How Big is Your Story?
In what way does personal history become collective history? Can history “make a claim” on us? What is your story?
Week 3: Community of Memory vs. Lifestyle Enclave?
Why do we create community? And why Jewish community? Why and how do we choose to be a part of it? What is the difference between a community, a group of friends and a social network? What makes a community a community?
Week 4: The Sabbath: A Practice for Rest
How might we interact with the idea of a Sabbath as college students? Is Shabbat, as a time of rest, inherently counter-cultural? Or could it support us holistically in our modern lifestyles and pursuits? How can the essence of Shabbat help us create a “rest practice” in our modern lives?
Week 5: Friendship, Honesty, and Betrayal
What are the challenges and opportunities of a deep friendship? What are necessary qualities in a good friend and what qualities do you want to emulate as a good friend? What are the disqualifying qualities in a good friend? What role does honesty play in friendship?
Week 6: Passover as Story: What is My Identity?
How do stories help us form, explore, and express identity? What are the various facets of identity that are represented in the Haggadah? What is the significance of having one shared text that holds many perspectives?
Week 7: How Do We Disagree?
How do we disagree and engage in conflict? Can conflict be productive? What is the role of healthy vs. unhealthy disagreement and how do we engage in it rather than withdraw from it? Can disagreement serve as a critical part of uncovering truth?
Week 8: The Art of Collaboration
Is collaboration important? What are the ingredients of a good partnership or collaboration, and how do we cultivate it? Does entering into authentic collaboration have the potential to change us, and how do fully offer our talents and “get out of our own way” when collaborating? Is the end product/result better when we collaborate or work alone?
Week 9: On Intimacy
What is the status of our current relationship to sexual relationships and intimacy? As college
students, what prevents us from allowing ourselves intimacy and vulnerability with another person? By learning the traditional wisdom of our Jewish sources, might we be inspired to approach our romantic relationships with a new lens that fuses our contemporary lives with traditional wisdom around intimate relationships?
Week 10: Continuing to Learn while Living the Questions
How can we encounter big questions, serious internal ambiguity, or wrestle with fundamental ideas and concepts, and still continue to learn and grow? How can we live out our lives with new questions, even if we don’t yet have the answers we desire? What is the value in uncertainty? How do we go about sitting or struggling with not knowing?
Week 11: Infrequently Asked Questions & Saying Goodbye
What are the questions you’ve never had a chance to ask? How do we say goodbye to one another in a way that honors the time we have spent together?
Syllabus: Sex, Love, and Romance
Week 1: What’s sex got to do with it?
Is it Jewish to talk about sex? Does the past have room for me now, and does Judaism understand the topics I grapple with, like gender, sexual agency, and stereotypes? Does Judaism have boundaries or flexibility when it comes to sex? How will Judaism be at the table when I am making decisions about sex and intimacy?
Week 2: Does “the one” exist?
Do soulmates exist? What are cultural expectations around this idea, and what do we feel they should they be? How might I change the way I approach “temporary” relationships given traditional views on how we “merit” a future partner?
Week 3: Love at first sight? Unpacking Hookup Culture
How might our expectations going into our relationships shape, limit, or foreshadow the relationship going forward? How might these expectations be limiting or empowering? When we build relationships quickly with unstated or unknown expectations, where do we find ourselves as a result?
Week 4: On Sacred Partnership
What does it mean to “complement” another human being in true partnership? Can difference exist without hierarchy? How can we come to value differences and asymmetrical roles in our intimate relationships?
Week 5: Frequency & Pleasure
In terms of sex, what am I responsible for giving my partner? How do you balance your needs and desires up against your partner’s needs and desires? Does Judaism have anything to say about how much sex is too much sex? Not enough?
Week 6: Can Modesty Be a Modern Virtue?
In this self-promoting, “you-do-you culture,” how could modesty impact our lives in a positive way?What do Jewish texts have to teach us about modest behavior in a modern context? As we cultivate a relevantJewish ethic of sexuality, what can we redeem from this traditional concept?
Week 7: Together but Separate: The Effect of Space on Intimacy
What role can ritual separation play in intimacy? How do you express affection for someone when you can’t express it physically? What might long-practiced Jewish customs surrounding separation and reconnection teach us about intimacy, touch, and communication?
Week 8: Long Distance Relationships
What am I responsible for giving my partner? How do you balance your needs and desires up against your partner’s needs and desires when you are not in the same location?
Week 9: On Queerness in Jewish Tradition
How are non-heterosexual relationships understood in the Jewish tradition? What are some of the ways Judaism has responded to this human reality? How can we respond as modern thinkers to these ancient texts and ideas?
Week 10: Creating Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships
What are some common denominators present in most unhealthy relationships? Are all unhealthy relationships irreparable and grounds for a breakup, or are some unhealthy relationships salvageable?How do we build healthy relationships from the start, based wisely on our preferences and needs?
Bonus Sessions:
* What is intimacy?
Are sex and intimacy the same thing? What are the possible costs of being intimate with another person? What boundaries need to be in place in order for us to feel fully ourselves? What do we need to feel safe with another person? How could we define our responsibilities in intimate relationships? (If using, a great session to follow“What’s Sex Got to Do with it?”)
* The Role of Gender Expectations on Long Term Relationships
Within a long term partnership, what are the internal and external struggles we face when the gender roles prescribed for us don't fit in reality? How do we renegotiate roles within our home whether society supports it or not?
Is it Jewish to talk about sex? Does the past have room for me now, and does Judaism understand the topics I grapple with, like gender, sexual agency, and stereotypes? Does Judaism have boundaries or flexibility when it comes to sex? How will Judaism be at the table when I am making decisions about sex and intimacy?
Week 2: Does “the one” exist?
Do soulmates exist? What are cultural expectations around this idea, and what do we feel they should they be? How might I change the way I approach “temporary” relationships given traditional views on how we “merit” a future partner?
Week 3: Love at first sight? Unpacking Hookup Culture
How might our expectations going into our relationships shape, limit, or foreshadow the relationship going forward? How might these expectations be limiting or empowering? When we build relationships quickly with unstated or unknown expectations, where do we find ourselves as a result?
Week 4: On Sacred Partnership
What does it mean to “complement” another human being in true partnership? Can difference exist without hierarchy? How can we come to value differences and asymmetrical roles in our intimate relationships?
Week 5: Frequency & Pleasure
In terms of sex, what am I responsible for giving my partner? How do you balance your needs and desires up against your partner’s needs and desires? Does Judaism have anything to say about how much sex is too much sex? Not enough?
Week 6: Can Modesty Be a Modern Virtue?
In this self-promoting, “you-do-you culture,” how could modesty impact our lives in a positive way?What do Jewish texts have to teach us about modest behavior in a modern context? As we cultivate a relevantJewish ethic of sexuality, what can we redeem from this traditional concept?
Week 7: Together but Separate: The Effect of Space on Intimacy
What role can ritual separation play in intimacy? How do you express affection for someone when you can’t express it physically? What might long-practiced Jewish customs surrounding separation and reconnection teach us about intimacy, touch, and communication?
Week 8: Long Distance Relationships
What am I responsible for giving my partner? How do you balance your needs and desires up against your partner’s needs and desires when you are not in the same location?
Week 9: On Queerness in Jewish Tradition
How are non-heterosexual relationships understood in the Jewish tradition? What are some of the ways Judaism has responded to this human reality? How can we respond as modern thinkers to these ancient texts and ideas?
Week 10: Creating Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships
What are some common denominators present in most unhealthy relationships? Are all unhealthy relationships irreparable and grounds for a breakup, or are some unhealthy relationships salvageable?How do we build healthy relationships from the start, based wisely on our preferences and needs?
Bonus Sessions:
* What is intimacy?
Are sex and intimacy the same thing? What are the possible costs of being intimate with another person? What boundaries need to be in place in order for us to feel fully ourselves? What do we need to feel safe with another person? How could we define our responsibilities in intimate relationships? (If using, a great session to follow“What’s Sex Got to Do with it?”)
* The Role of Gender Expectations on Long Term Relationships
Within a long term partnership, what are the internal and external struggles we face when the gender roles prescribed for us don't fit in reality? How do we renegotiate roles within our home whether society supports it or not?
Frequently Asked Questions
How is JLF different from other programs?
JLF is run by Hillel International’s Office of Innovation, in partnership with local campuses and communities. Our educators bring to bear a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, experiences, and philosophies. Some of them are rabbis. You can get a stipend for participating in JLF, if you like. We are also a pluralistic, non-denominational project. We do not believe there is “one right way to be Jewish.” We also have a cooler looking logo.
What do I have to do to earn the stipend?
It’s only about the money for you, huh? To receive the stipend you must attend all eight sessions on time and attentively.
Who is eligible to apply for the fellowship?
Since most JLF seminars meet at a local campus Hillel, eligible applicants are currently enrolled as undergraduate students at that university or one of its affiliates. While JLF is a program rooted in Jewish study and in Jewish community, we do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Do I need a certain Jewish background to participate?
No, no background is necessary. JLF is open to students from a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, expressions, and experiences!
But I'm so busy.
JLF meets once a week, for 8-10 weeks, for an hour and a half. Additionally, to make it worth your while, you should know that Fellows earn a stipend at the end of the semester.
Do I have to wear a black hat or grow a beard to participate?
Um, no. We usually wear jeans, but you do you.
JLF is run by Hillel International’s Office of Innovation, in partnership with local campuses and communities. Our educators bring to bear a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, experiences, and philosophies. Some of them are rabbis. You can get a stipend for participating in JLF, if you like. We are also a pluralistic, non-denominational project. We do not believe there is “one right way to be Jewish.” We also have a cooler looking logo.
What do I have to do to earn the stipend?
It’s only about the money for you, huh? To receive the stipend you must attend all eight sessions on time and attentively.
Who is eligible to apply for the fellowship?
Since most JLF seminars meet at a local campus Hillel, eligible applicants are currently enrolled as undergraduate students at that university or one of its affiliates. While JLF is a program rooted in Jewish study and in Jewish community, we do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
Do I need a certain Jewish background to participate?
No, no background is necessary. JLF is open to students from a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, expressions, and experiences!
But I'm so busy.
JLF meets once a week, for 8-10 weeks, for an hour and a half. Additionally, to make it worth your while, you should know that Fellows earn a stipend at the end of the semester.
Do I have to wear a black hat or grow a beard to participate?
Um, no. We usually wear jeans, but you do you.
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