Tikvah Fellow
Academic Year 2010-2011
Rabbi Tully Harcsztark
Tully Harcsztark is Founding Principal of SAR High School in Riverdale, New York. He is co-founder and spiritual leader of Davar, a unique learning community in Teaneck, New Jersey. He also served as Rabbi of Congregation Keter Torah in Teaneck. He received his ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University and earned an M.A. in Jewish History from Bernard Revel Graduate School.
His work is centered on bridging theory and practice in the development of institutions committed to combining advanced study of classical Jewish texts with the study of general philosophy and culture. His research focuses on the study of Talmud and Jewish Thought against the backdrop of hermeneutics and cultural studies. In academic year 2010-11, Rabbi Harcsztark will be dividing his time between the Tikvah Fellowship and his responsibilities as Principal of SAR High School in Riverdale, NY.
Research
Talmud Torah as Social Criticism: Developing Interdisciplinary Torah Study for Contemporary Adult Learning in the U.S.
The study of Torah has, for centuries, been a sacred intellectual exercise that has shaped the rhythm and the content of Jewish lives and communities. For most of those centuries, engaging Jewish texts was an internal affair. Members of a closed community studied texts with great devotion. The methods of interpretation were defined by the standard practice and culture of the insular community. Those texts served as formative texts for the members of those communities, giving meaning to the lives of those who studied and even to those who supported those who studied. Over the past two hundred years, a new way of looking at Jewish texts has been steadily growing. Jewish scholarship has advanced in a manner that has broadened and refashioned the way that we make meaning of Jewish texts. Historical awareness and an interdisciplinary orientation have exposed forgotten texts and perspectives and have dramatically opened interpretive possibilities. But while these two orientations have sometimes crossed paths, they have not been in dialogue with each other. Currently, they represent two distinct ways of thinking about and interacting with Jewish texts.
While new ventures in integrated and interdisciplinary adult learning have developed in Israel, that is much less so in the United States. My research will focus on two areas: education and the practice of Torah study. I will explore education, politics and cultural change as reflected in the work of 'critical pedagogy' theorists, focusing on the work of Antonio Gramsci, Paulo Freire and others. I will also explore classical and contemporary approaches to Torah study. I will bring these issues to bear on each other in order to advance a concept and an institution that would promote daily integrated Torah study focused on the large questions of the human condition.
