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Teacher’s Guide and Worksheets
One Jew, Two Opinions: Rabbinic Theology through the Lens of Abraham Joshua Heschel 
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A Course on Rabbinic Theology Intended for High School Students, Grades 9-12,Prepared by Ariel Beery
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Note:
These topic summaries are based upon lecture and reading notes from the class on RabbinicTheology taught by Rabbi Gordon Tucker at the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Fall of 2005.
 
About the Course
One Jew, Two Opinions: Rabbinic Theology through the Lens of Abraham Joshua Heschel 
,
is an adaptation for a High School audience of the argument made by AbrahamJoshua Heschel in his book 
Torah min-Shamayim
, and of the issues discussed in the classtaught about the book by Rabbi and Professor Gordon Tucker at the Jewish TheologicalSeminary in the Fall of 2005. The goal of the course is similar to the goal we can assumeHeschel himself set concerning his book: to challenge readers and participants in Jewishlife to reappraise their assumptions pertaining to the foundations of rabbinic Judaism, andto rediscover the dissonance within.The materials included in this packet draw on the sources cited by Heschel as hemade his arguments concerning competing rabbinic worldviews, and at times the sourcesare also drawn from Prof. Tucker’s translation of Heschel, Heavenly Torah (cited later asHT), since Heschel’s argument is often made best in his own words.
Methodology:
The teacher begins the class with a quick review of the topic for the day,distributes the worksheets (included after every lesson overview), and goes over thecontents very briefly. Students are broken into
chevrutot 
, groups of two being best, andgiven ten to fifteen minutes to review the sheets. Each
chevruta
is assigned responsibilityfor presenting one text on the sheet in reference to the questions framing the lesson and inrelation to the other readings on the sheet. Multiple groups may be assigned the sametext. After their group study time is over, the class reconvenes, and groups are asked to present their readings of the texts. The teacher’s role in the ensuing discussion is tocontinually reconnect the discussion to the competing theologies that Heschel identifies,
Prepared for:
Rabbinic Theology as taught by Rabbi Gordon Tucker, by Ariel Beery.
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and the perspectives they bring to bear, with the help of the introduction to each class andthe sources provided.
Order of Syllabus:
Lesson 1: Finding Meaning in the Text – Connecting to God through ExegesisLesson 2: For God or For Human – The Purpose of WorshipLesson 3: God in Search of Man or Man in Search of GodLesson 4: God and Pain – Suffering While BelievingLesson 5: The World to Come – Death and Reunion or Life in the NowLesson 6: I Want to Be Like God – The Power of IntentionLesson 7: Seeing the Unseeable – Experiencing RevelationLesson 8: Wisdom from Beyond – The Torah and CreationLesson 9: Human as Partner in RevelationLesson 10: Censored or Uncensored, Edited or Unedited: Prophecy and ManLesson 11: Law as an End or a Means – Halakha and the Jewish Way
*A Note on Citations:
In order to provide students with as much information possible for follow-up after class, I have attempted to include as much citation information as possible on the sheets. Since there arespace restrictions, however, I was forced to make certain abbreviations which should be simple enough for students to remember. Thus, BT is Babylonian Talmud, HT refers to Gordon Tucker’s translation of TorahMin’Shamayim, entitled in English Heavenly Torah, and so on. Translations have been taken from theSocino edition of the Babylonian Talmud, Jacob Neusner’s translations of Avot and the Psikta d’R’Kahaneand the Mekhilta d’R’Ishmael—with minor modifications as based on my personal understanding of the passages.
Prepared for:
Rabbinic Theology as taught by Rabbi Gordon Tucker, by Ariel Beery.
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