Prayer as a Challenge – a Webinar
Source: MOFET JTEC
MOFET JTEC - Jewish Teacher Education Community of The MOFET Institute is proud to present an online webinar in English without charge to the global Jewish education community with Dr. Shmuel Wygoda on "Prayer as a Challenge" on Wednesday April 14, 2010 - 7:00-8:30P.M. - Israel time (GT + 2:00).
What is prayer and what does it mean to pray? Should we expect the mere expression of words to have a metaphysical impact?
These are but a few of the questions people have asked in the past and continue to ask today. In order to address these questions from a traditional Jewish perspective, we shall study in brief the Talmudic passage in which the three daily prayers (morning, afternoon and evening) are related to the three forefathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). We shall aim to read this short text both literally and hermeneutically, that is, attempting to decipher its meaning beyond the words or in between the lines.
Dr. Shmuel Wygoda, former Dean of the Yaakov Herzog College at Har Etzion Yeshiva between 1995 and 2006, currently serves as Chair of the Department of Jewish Philosophy at the Herzog College and lecturer in Philosophy at Bar Ilan University. In addition, he has been Academic Director of the New Horizons for Educators program at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem for the last six years.
Dr. Wygoda has been involved in various areas of Jewish Education. He taught in France for three years, and upon graduating from the Jerusalem Fellows program, was appointed Educational Director of the Montreal Hebrew Academy. He serves as an educational consultant in Europe and in the USA. Along with his educational endeavors. Dr. Wygoda's academic work focuses on the fields of Philosophy and Jewish Philosophy.
What exactly is an online encounter?
The online encounter environment (webinar) enables presentations, sites, programs and video movies to be presented in parallel to an interactive discussion with the audience by means of vocal and written communication and the use of signs for expressing emotion. Each participant has his own communication channel and can request and receive permission to speak and voice his opinions. The big advantage of online encounters lies in the fact that there is no need to go to the place where the event is being held since it is possible to participate in the activities at home. Most of the online encounters take place at times that are convenient for the participants.