Tools & Resources

Hadar

The Hadar Institute—intensive Traditional Egalitarian learning, particularly strong on Talmud and liturgy.

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Tools & Resources  ·  2 minute read

Summary

Hadar (hadar.org) is the Hadar Institute, an open and egalitarian center of Jewish learning, founded in 2006 by Rabbis Elie Kaunfer, , and Shai Held. Hadar runs intensive programs, summer , and online learning. The is : fully , fully egalitarian (men and women lead and learn equally), and intellectually rigorous. The website hosts an enormous library of , liturgical commentary, and contemporary halachic discussion. Highly recommended for a New Jew drawn to halachic seriousness without the gender separations of practice.

What Hadar Offers

Online —daily live and recorded Talmud, halacha, and classes.

Project —paired learning by phone or video, matched by Hadar staff.

Summer Yeshiva and Year Program—intensive in-person learning in Manhattan.

Rising Song Institute—the egalitarian music and liturgy initiative.

Hadar Press—books by Rabbi Shai Held (The Heart of is foundational) and other Hadar faculty.

Hashkafa

Hadar is Traditional Egalitarian: it accepts the binding force of Halacha while affirming full egalitarian participation (women count in the , lead prayers, read Torah, etc.). The halachic argument for this position has been developed primarily by Rabbi Ethan Tucker (Hadar's ) in a series of . Hadar is not part of the Conservative movement but is closer to Conservative than to Orthodox in practice; many Hadar faculty hold Conservative .

For Whom

A New Jew who is drawn to serious halachic learning and committed to egalitarian practice. A learner who wants Talmud taught at a yeshiva level with women on the . Anyone in the orbit of Conservative or post-denominational Jewish life.

Where Denominations Diverge

Traditional Egalitarian / post-denominational. Hadar faculty mostly hold Conservative semikha; the institution is independent.

Sources

Beyond Conservative and Reform: The Rise of the Unaffiliated Synagogue—Tablet.

At 10, egalitarian yeshiva wants to expand learning among Jews in the pews—JTA.

Hadar's new plan has it minting rabbis, opening synagogues and sending teens to Israel. Is it a denomination now?—JTA.

Minyan of Ten—Aish.

hadar.org

Rabbi Ethan Tucker's halachic teshuvot.

Further Reading

Shai Held, The Heart of Torah (2 vols).

Elie Kaunfer, Empowered Judaism.

Related Reading
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