Source: Project Zug
Project Zug is an innovative initiative employing the ancient Jewish method of “hevruta” with modern technology of distance learning (like Skype), to bring together the two largest Jewish communities of today, Israel and the United States. Our hope is that learning in pairs will reduce the geographical and cultural distance and strengthen the bond between our two cultures. When we are in direct relationship with another person, his or her story becomes part of our own and we relate, reflect, and hold our own narrative in a new way.
Each Zug/pair will schedule their online video conversation at a time convenient to their schedules for thirty-to-forty minutes a week, using Skype or Google hangout (both are free). Each week the Zug will receive a simple one-page document with 2-3 guiding questions as the basis for the joint learning experience. Twelve meeting sessions are planned for this semester's Zug project.
At the beginning and end of each month there will a ten-minute framing video from the facilitator. There will also be online forums to share what you are learning and engage with others.
Project Timeline
January 18, 2013 - Registration for the pilot closes
January 29, 2013 - Hevruta assignments made
February 17, 2013 – Launch Project Zug!
March 24 - April 7, 2013 - Pesach break
Shavuot, May 2013 - Program concludes
The courses offered for Hevruta learning:
On the Connection between Women, Men and Water in Rabbinic Literature
Place, Space, Structure and Architecture in Ancient and Contemporary Jewish Expression
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Roots of Activism
Mindfulness and Judaism
I Can't Believe It: What God, Prophecy, and Free Will Meant in the Past - and What They Can Mean To Us
For more information and registration visit the Zug Project website.