By Zoe Shir
Thirty-two individuals have come together from all different states, schools, religious backgrounds, majors, and passions. Yet in such a short amount of time, this community turned into family. This atmosphere allows open expression of thought, comfort to ask questions, and the true desire to learn. One of the many unique and amazing opportunities the Nachshon Project gives its fellows is the chance to learn in a Beit Midrash setting. Many of the fellows have never had this type of experience and it has given them extreme growth in such a short amount of time. While there are four sessions being offered there is one particular that students have the chance to learn about Modern Jewish Thought with Zvi Hirschfield.
Zvi Hirschfield is one of the profound faculty members at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Learning. His experience through his graduate work in Modern Jewish Thought at Harvard University has allowed fellows to gain access to excerpts of fascinating texts that dive into different Jewish theologians. Cohort members are given ample time to read and deliberate amongst one another facilitating conversations and a wide spread of new ideas. Once the group discussion begins, fellows can’t stop. The questions pour out, the debates rise, and each person who walks out feels like they just can’t wait to come back the next week. The course has brought in Mordechai Kaplan, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Art Green, and so many other influential leaders in the Jewish world. Fellows are able to question one another in a respectful way that creates such meaningful conversations. Zvi constructs a classroom environment that makes each and every fellow feel like whatever previous knowledge they had whether large or small, they can still be successful within this course. It is really such a special and meaningful experience.
