Jewish Life Digital Edition March 2015 | Page 93

New courses coming soon 8-part series “Dream and deed are not as different as many think. All the deeds of men are dreams at first, and become dreams in the end.” 6-part series – Theodore Herzl “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai, and entrusted it to Y’hoshu’a who bequeathed it to the Sages…” – Pirkei Avot 1:1 The resurrection of the Hebrew language, the kibbutz galuyot (return of the exiles), the founding of the modern State of Israel, and her survival and thriving against all odds – barely 100 years ago, a group of leaders foresaw all this with a prescience that must surely verge on the prophetic. Moses Hess, Dr. Leo Pinsker, Dr. Theodore Herzl, Dr. Max Nordau, Israel Zangwill, Ze’ev Jabotinksy, Rabbi Kook and A.D. Gordon became influential voices for Zionism between 1863 and 1923. Their words did not remain papery echoes, but they sparked an avalanche of commitment and passion in Jews, from the fervently secular to the religiously dedicated, culminating in what we see today. Join the Academy as we examine these visionaries, writers and dreamers, learning of their lives, their thoughts and deeds, as they worked to achieve their most cherished common vision – a vibrant, soulful, modern State of Israel. Judaism has produced some of the world’s most iconic leaders, who have steered the Jewish people between the pits and terrors of a brutal world, whilst nurturing and guiding a commitment to morality, humanity, hope and G-d. Perhaps the greatest achievement was the transmission, the m’sorah, culminating in the creation of the Talmud which remains the bedrock of Jewish thought and practice till this day. This was the work of a team, extending across geographies, time-zones and generations. Maybe greater than the writing down of the Talmud was the creation of the team itself – the Sages! Who were these pillars of our heritage? What were their thoughts and rulings? What was their historical and geo-political setting? Join The Academy in a 6-part voyage of discovery, unravelling the strands of history, personality, phi