Instructor: Rabbi Shai Cherry, PhD
Throughout the 20th century, courses in modern Jewish thought focused almost exclusively on legal reforms coming out of 19th-century Germany. Let's shift perspectives and look at the emergence of Hasidism and their opponents - the Mitnagdim; the cultural reforms of Modern Orthodoxy; the curriculum of the Mussar movement(a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in the 19th century ); and the synthetic Zionism of Rav Kook.
About the teacher: Rabbi Shai Cherry, PhD holds a doctorate in Jewish Thought and Theology from Brandeis University (2001) and was subsequently ordained as a Conservative Rabbi by the Ziegler School (2009). Cherry wrote the first user-friendly text book on Jewish biblical commentary: Torah Through Time: Understanding Bible Commentary from the Rabbinic Period to Modern Times and is featured lecturer for The Great Course’s “Introduction to Judaism.”