Jewish Ritual Lab: Experiments in Jewish Creativity and Invention
Vanessa Ochs
3 weeks - January 15 · 22 ·29
Wednesdays · 2-3:30pm ET · 11am-12:30pm PT
This mini-course will explore ceremonial objects and creative rituals as a rich meeting point between artistic and Jewish practice. Specifically, these workshops will explore the conditions and creators that have successfully introduced new objects and rituals into contemporary Jewish practice, and will consider what ritual objects tell us about the cultural and spiritual lives of diverse Jewish communities, and the role of artists/creatives in shaping Jewish identity and practice through material culture. Students will also generate and experiment with their own new rituals, which they can apply in their own Jewish lives during and after this course.
SESSION ONE: Curating a Home Mini-Home Ethnographic Museum
SESSION TWO: “The Coconut on the Seder Plate”: Passover as Case Study
SESSION THREE: Jewish Ritual Crafting Workshop
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Listen to Vanessa Ochs on her two Judaism Unbound appearances! JU Podcast Episode 5 - Leviticus and JU Podcast Episode 211 - The Haggadah, A Biography
Sliding Scale
This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $126 (the true cost), $99 or $72.
If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.
Financial Aid
If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this simple form, and we will get right back to you.
**Please register each student separately. Your registrations will appear in your shopping cart and you may pay for multiple students together at checkout**
Vanessa Ochs
3 weeks - January 15 · 22 ·29
Wednesdays · 2-3:30pm ET · 11am-12:30pm PT
This mini-course will explore ceremonial objects and creative rituals as a rich meeting point between artistic and Jewish practice. Specifically, these workshops will explore the conditions and creators that have successfully introduced new objects and rituals into contemporary Jewish practice, and will consider what ritual objects tell us about the cultural and spiritual lives of diverse Jewish communities, and the role of artists/creatives in shaping Jewish identity and practice through material culture. Students will also generate and experiment with their own new rituals, which they can apply in their own Jewish lives during and after this course.
SESSION ONE: Curating a Home Mini-Home Ethnographic Museum
SESSION TWO: “The Coconut on the Seder Plate”: Passover as Case Study
SESSION THREE: Jewish Ritual Crafting Workshop
——————————
Listen to Vanessa Ochs on her two Judaism Unbound appearances! JU Podcast Episode 5 - Leviticus and JU Podcast Episode 211 - The Haggadah, A Biography
Sliding Scale
This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $126 (the true cost), $99 or $72.
If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.
Financial Aid
If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this simple form, and we will get right back to you.
**Please register each student separately. Your registrations will appear in your shopping cart and you may pay for multiple students together at checkout**
Vanessa Ochs
3 weeks - January 15 · 22 ·29
Wednesdays · 2-3:30pm ET · 11am-12:30pm PT
This mini-course will explore ceremonial objects and creative rituals as a rich meeting point between artistic and Jewish practice. Specifically, these workshops will explore the conditions and creators that have successfully introduced new objects and rituals into contemporary Jewish practice, and will consider what ritual objects tell us about the cultural and spiritual lives of diverse Jewish communities, and the role of artists/creatives in shaping Jewish identity and practice through material culture. Students will also generate and experiment with their own new rituals, which they can apply in their own Jewish lives during and after this course.
SESSION ONE: Curating a Home Mini-Home Ethnographic Museum
SESSION TWO: “The Coconut on the Seder Plate”: Passover as Case Study
SESSION THREE: Jewish Ritual Crafting Workshop
——————————
Listen to Vanessa Ochs on her two Judaism Unbound appearances! JU Podcast Episode 5 - Leviticus and JU Podcast Episode 211 - The Haggadah, A Biography
Sliding Scale
This course is available at a sliding scale cost of $126 (the true cost), $99 or $72.
If you can afford the full price, we hope you will choose that option, which allows us to continue to offer lower rates and scholarships to those who otherwise would not be able to access this learning because of financial barriers.
Financial Aid
If you need financial aid beyond the sliding scale, please fill out this simple form, and we will get right back to you.
**Please register each student separately. Your registrations will appear in your shopping cart and you may pay for multiple students together at checkout**
Meet Vanessa!
Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D., is a Rabbi and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies and was the Rabbi Sally Preisand visiting professor at HUC-JIR in '23-'24. Her books include The Passover Haggadah: A Biography, Inventing Jewish Ritual (winner of a 2007 National Jewish Book Award), Sarah Laughed, The Jewish Dream Book (with Elizabeth Ochs), Words on Fire: One Woman’s Journey into the Sacred, and Safe and Sound: Protecting Your Child in an Unpredictable World. For her writing, she was awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has been featured in many podcasts, including Judaism Unbound (the second-ever guest, in Episode 5!). In her research, she investigates new Jewish ritual, Jewish feminism, Jewish Sensibilities, the Passover Haggadah, and Jewish material culture. Her research on new Jewish rituals has expanded to include practices that emerged during the Covid epidemic and responses to October 7th.
