Yeshiva Calendar ’21-’22

CALENDAR OVERVIEW

FALL

October – December 2021 (Currently in Progress!)

October 17th	Sun	New SVARA-nik Orientation (7:00-9:00 PM ET)
October 18th	Mon	Fall Zman Begins
November 3rd	Wed	Pedagogy Chaburah Begins (Weekly)
November 25-26th	Thurs-Fri	Yeshiva Closed
December 9th	Thu	End of Fall Zman
December 24th	Fri	Yeshiva Closed through Jan 3rd

Fall Offerings & Course Descriptions

SPRING

February – April 2022

February 13th	Sun	New SVARA-nik Orientation (7:00-9:00 PM ET)
February 14th	Mon	Spring Zman Begins
April 7th	Thu	End of Spring Zman
April 15th	Fri	Yeshiva Closed through April 25th

Spring Offerings & Course Descriptions

LEARNING BY MONTH

There are many opportunities throughout the year to get some Talmud served up the old fashioned way—hardcore, queer, and radically inclusive—with SVARA! Below you’ll find information about daily/weekly drop-in learning, as well as our lineup of upcoming multi-week classes. Check out what’s comin’ up at your fave queer yeshiva, and we can’t wait to welcome to you to the SVARA bet midrash! Not sure where to start? Here’s how to get started on your Queer Talmud journey!

All of the learning spaces below follow SVARA’s accessibility protocols, and aspire to our community norms.

October-December

Our Fall Zman (season) of multi-week classes will take place from October-December. Click here for our full lineup of multi-week offerings this fall to support you on your journey to becoming a player.

MISHNAH COLLECTIVE

Daily (except Saturday) at 1:30 PM ET | 12:30 PM CT | 10:30 AM PT for 30 minutes | JOIN HERE!

We meet daily to ground in this uncertain time in our practice of learning & studying in community, digging into a chunk of mishnah (y’all remember, Torah 2.0!) from Masechet Avot (also known as Pirkei Avot) each day with SVARA Faculty & your Queer Talmud comrades. This is a drop-in space, and all are welcome; join us once, every day, or anything in between! If you’re curious about learning at SVARA, this is a great place to start! We can’t wait to learn with you! Access note: SVARA’s Daily Drop-in Mishnah Collective is live-captioned. No prior Hebrew experience or learning necessary to participate! 

THE ORAL TALMUD [online, live-streamed]

Weekly on Thursdays at 12:00 PM ET | 11:00 AM CT | 9:00 AM PT | WATCH HERE

Each week in The Oral Talmud, Benay Lappe & Dan Libenson offer an introduction to Talmud through a traditionally radical lens. In each session, Benay & Dan explore key stories and other material from the Talmud that was left there by the early Rabbis as a how-to manual for re-imagining Judaism after the previous version “crashes.” Alternating weeks feature conversations with scholars and thinkers on Talmud to understand the Talmud more deeply from the perspective of contemporary academic study and creative re-interpretation. There’s no registration required! Join each week, drop in whenever you can, or watch recordings of previous sessions here.

RABBINICAL SCHOOL Q&A SESSION

Sunday, December 5 | 6:30-8:00 PM ET | 5:30-7:00 PM CT | 3:30-5:00 PM PT | REGISTER HERE

Curious about pursuing rabbinic ordination? Hear from fellow SVARA-niks who have become clergy about their experience in rabbinical school. Learn what ordination has helped them do in the world, their experience as queer folks, and what they wish they’d known when they started!

*NOTE: This panel is for queer SVARA-niks interested in attending rabbinical school or another Jewish ordination program.

FALL TALMUD & ALEF-BET COURSES

Enrollment is closed for Fall 2021 Semester Learning. Take a look below at our Spring Semester Learning info! | Interested in what’s on deck this fall? See what we’re learning this fall

January-April

TASTE OF SVARA WITH RABBI BENAY LAPPE

Sunday, Jan. 23 | ENROLL NOW
Crash Talk: 12:00-2:00 PM ET | 11:00-1:00 PM CT | 9:00-11:00 AM PT
Bet Midrash: 3:00-5:00 PM ET | 2:00-4:00 PM CT | 12:00-2:00 PM PT

Taught by Rabbi Benay Lappe

How can learning ancient Jewish texts help us create a more liberated world? In the CRASH talk, we’ll explore the radical and queer history of the Talmud, Judaism’s foundational text, and discuss how it can help us understand and navigate moments of disruptive change in society and our own lives.

After a break, we’ll dive right into a text and put the theory into practice. Whether you’ve never learned Talmud before or you’re an advanced learner, SVARA’s bet midrash (learning community) is for you! All you need is the ability to decode your alef-bet (i.e. sound out your Hebrew letters), and you’ll be learning Talmud in the original Hebrew/Aramaic within your first hour. We guarantee it!

This course is “pay-what-you-can,” with a suggested sliding scale of $36-$180. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

SPRING SEMESTER LEARNING

Spring Zman runs from Feb. 13-Apr. 7. | LEARN MORE HERE ABOUT WHAT WE’RE COOKING UP FOR THIS SEASON