Local Melton teachers create graduate courses

By Deborah Moon Seldner

Two long-time teachers in Portland's Florence Melton Adult Mini-School have developed their own curriculum for continued learning opportunities in the Melton style of learning.
In addition to graduate courses developed by the curriculum writers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Rabbi Ariel Stone and Rabbi Joshua Stampfer each have developed courses for this year's program.
Stone, the spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Tikvah, will teach Jewish Mysticism I and II in the fall and winter quarters.
"It's a really interesting course for me because it's an opportunity to try to chart a course between scholarly experts in mysticism and the 'woo-woo' stuff that degrades mysticism," said Stone. "It's a course that helps people understand what mysticism is. You don't have to have mystical tendencies to enjoy this course—it's more an exploration of Jewish culture."
Stone said she began developing the course as part of her work as a doctoral candidate at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Studies in Chicago. She said that the Melton headquarters is considering buying the curriculum to expand its graduate course offering worldwide.
Stone promised there would be no red threads (? la Madonna's popular version of Kabbalah), but plenty of exploration of the historical and cultural experience of Jewish mysticism. Stone said many associate mysticism solely with Kabbalah, a term first used in the early Middle Ages to refer to the esoteric body of knowledge passed down and received by small quiet groups. However, she said, like all elements of Judaism, mysticism is derived from Torah.
The famous halachic scholar Rabbi Akiva was also a well-known mystic, she said, noting that is unlike today when people are considered either rational or mystical.
"Mysticism is both more esoteric and more familiar than you would have expected," said Stone.
Stampfer, a five-year veteran on the Melton faculty and rabbi emeritus of Congregation Neveh Shalom, has created six courses that he will teach during the upcoming Melton school year.
Each course is based on a different book of the Bible, a subject Stampfer said he has been teaching for the past 45 years. Stampfer said he selected the six books "to communicate the gamut of different types of biblical literature so the students would have insight into that variety."
Stampfer said he chose Isaiah and Jeremiah to reflect the idealism of the prophetic teachings. Job and Ecclesiastes provide a window to the practical wisdom of the Bible, he said. And he said he selected Deuteronomy and Ezra-Nehemiah for their historical significance.
"Deuteronomy is the summation of three books of the Torah—Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers," said Stampfer.
"I wanted to emphasize biblical history, prophetic teachings and wisdom literature of the Bible," he said.
Portland Melton Director Bonni Goldberg said both Stone and Stampfer drew on their knowledge and understanding of Melton's text-based curriculum to develop the courses.
"We are very excited about these new offerings which will round out the already excellent program we have," said Goldberg.
For information on these and other Melton courses, call 503-892-3015 or see Melton class information on page 9.