Pardes was honored to welcome Dr. Ruth Calderon for an insightful evening on Secular Talmud: A Contradiction in Terms? Rabbi Leon Morris posed a number of thought-provoking questions during the evening’s discussion which included:

Can the Halakha have meaning for contemporary Israeli secular Jews? Can the entire vocabulary of Jewish life be reclaimed and reshaped?

Saul Lieberman: “When I pray I talk to God. When I study, God talks to me.” Do you find God in these texts?

What is the purpose or “end” of Torah study ?

What would an Israeli Jewish society marinated in classic Jewish texts look like to you?

* Reflect on the issue of who “owns” Judaism in Israel in light of 30 years of Jewish renewal and reclaiming of the Jewish bookshelf.