AOP Public Courses

The ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP) opens a selected number of courses every semester to the general public. Here's a great opportunity to study with our faculty and alongside students on the ordination path.

You may register now with a $100 deposit (per course). We will confirm your enrollment about two weeks before the course starts. As AOP students have priority of enrollment, it may turn out that a course is oversubscribed and no space is available - in which case the deposit will be fully refunded.

Spring 2021 courses start in early February and end in late May. Each course has 13 weekly meetings and is conducted LIVE with online distance-learning technology (required: highspeed internet, webcam, and microphone).

Course Fee:
  • $566.50 for Public Auditor - no credit ($550 + 3% T'rumah Financial Aid Fund fee)
  • $1,030 for Public Student - credit-earning ($1,000 + 3% T'rumah Financial Aid Fund fee)

Course Descriptions - Spring 2021

Jewish Thought and Theology
“Introduction to Jewish Renewal and Reb Zalman's Thought” - Registration CLOSED
Instructor: Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan
Mondays 7 to 9 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 1
Required for Rabbinic Pastor, Cantorial, and Hashpa'ah Programs. Foundational for Rabbinic Program.
Crucial to a full understanding of Jewish Renewal is knowledge of the history and development of the movement, its structures, its leaders and their thought, including the principles and development of Paradigm Shift, Integral Halachah, and Davvenology. Students will be introduced to the rabbis and teachers who embraced Reb Zalman's thought and invitation to renew Judaism with their own unique gifts.
 
History
“History of Hasidism”
Instructor: Rabbi Shulamit Thiede
Tuesdays 5 to 7 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 2
*Please NOTE this is a graduate-level course that requires active engagement with academic materials.
The history of Hasidism is filled with salient questions: Who (and what) birthed Hasidism, and how much does it owe to previous Jewish experience and thought? How did the Mitnagdim help shape those they opposed (and vice versa)? This course will ask what innovations in ritual, practice, and beliefs can be attributed to Hasidism, what roles (if any) women played in its history, and how institutions and communities of uncompromising separatism could emerge from its roots. We will ask how Hasidism reinvented itself after the Holocaust in forms so myriad that they included Jewish Renewal among them.
 
Hebrew Language
“Biblical Hebrew 102”- Registration CLOSED
Second part of a two-semester course.
Limited spots are available for students to join in Spring. Please contact the instructor, Rabbi Fern Feldman (ffeldman@aleph-ordination.org), to obtain permission before registering - however, space is not guaranteed.
*Please NOTE that, for this language course, the only enrollment option is Public Student ($1,030 course fee).
Instructor: Rabbi Fern Feldman
Wednesdays 1:30 to 3:30 pm (eastern)
Starting on February 3
Required for Cantorial Program. Content required for Rabbinic Pastor Program. Foundational for Rabbinic Program.
Areas covered: nouns, study recognition and translation of the seven binyanim and weak (irregular verbs) verbs, and other topics. The course employs texts from Genesis, parashiot ha-shavuah, and siddur. The goals of these courses are a solid grounding in translation and interpretation of classical Hebrew texts.

To find out more about the instructors, click HERE to visit the AOP Faculty page. 

To register, please click HERE for our Public Courses Policy and Registration Form.

NOTE: Please read the policy page carefully before filling out the registration form and paying the deposit.

If you have any questions, please contact Ming at the AOP office: 215-247-9700 x210.

If you need to CANCEL your registration, please do so in writing by emailing Ming (ming@aleph.org).