The Library & The Tools

Hadar

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

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The Library & The Tools  ·  2 minute read

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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.