Torah & Tech: Complicated Technological Systems

What happens when it is no longer obvious how a technology works? To what degree are rabbis responsible to fully understand the technological systems with which they are grappling? The source sheet for this class can be found here: http://goo.gl/UK0ZXN

This is a short invitation to this series of classes, taught by David Zvi Kalman at Penn Hillel. It explains the rationale behind the class and the hopes that have gone into its creation.

This class was co-taught by David Zvi Kalman and Rabbi Jonathan Shulman on April 24, 2014. davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/how_to_dvar_torah_sources.pdf

This class lays out several ways in which it is possible to have a relationship with God based in feelings of anger and investigates why one would wish to do such a thing in the first place. Delivered on April 9, 2014. http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/03_God_through_Anger_sources.pdf

A survey of two major ways in which Jewish sources have related to God as being a person. This class was originally delivered on Mar. 3, 2014. http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/02_God_is_a_Person_sources.pdf

This class was originally delivered on Feb. 24, 2014. The topic was notions of God in Judaism where God is understood as having some kind of special relationship with the Jewish people. Source sheet: http://davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/01_God_is_Jewish_sources.pdf

This is a short statement explaning the structure of the class.

This class is part of the second version of the series. It uses rabbinic responses to new technologies (e.g. electricity,lab-grown meat, Jews in space) as a peculiar subset of Halakhah which helps illuminate how rabbis negotiate between halakhic sources and their realities. It was delivered by David Zvi Kalman at Penn on Dec. 3, 2013. Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_and_New_Technologies.pdf

This class is an attempt to provide new ways of thinking about God that do not clash with the way of thinking about God that we have so far put forward in this series. It was delivered by David Zvi Kalman at Penn on April 24, 2013. Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_10_Halakhan_and_Theology.pdf

This class is an attempt to reconcile issues of social justice with traditional modes of halakhic interpretations. The class was given on April 10, 2013, at Penn by David Zvi Kalman. Source sheet: davidzvi.com/onhalakhah/On_Halakhah_9_Is_Social_Justice_Halakhah_a_Farce.pdf