| Weekday | Date | Time | Place | Topic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | November 25 | 8:00 PM | Brooks 7055 E. Bayaud St. |
Why I Expect to See My Christian Friends in the World to Come |
| Friday | November 26 | 9:00 AM | DAT Minyan 6825 E. Alameda Ave. |
The Chosen People: Chosen From — or For — Whom? |
| 7:15 PM Layl Shabbat | Alters 311 S. Magnolia St. |
Chanukkah’s Message: Kindling the Light of Creativity at an Oneg Shabbat | ||
| Shabbat | November 27 | Derashah after davening | DAT Minyan |
Ya‘akov Sought to Dwell in Tranquility’: What’s Wrong with Tranquility? |
| 3:10 PM | DAT Minyan |
SHAWL series Panel Discussion with Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Women and Talmud Torah | ||
| Seudah Shelishit | DAT Minyan |
Peretz, Mashiach, and All of Us: Waxing Like the Moon | ||
| Motza’ei Shabbat 7:30 PM | Polaners 51 S. Dahlia St. |
Who Needs (Classic Jewish) Philosophy? | ||
| Sunday | November 28 | 8:00 AM After shacharit | EDOS 198 S. Holly St. |
Worlds Not in Collision: The Nonconflict of Torah and Science – Part 1: Toward a Philosophy of Science |
| 9:00 AM | EDOS |
Worlds Not in Collision: The Nonconflict of Torah and Science – Part 2: Toward a Philosophy of Torah | ||
| 8:00 PM> | Aish Denver |
Tikkun Olam: Seeking Spirituality in the Workplace |
A graduate of Yeshivat Hakotel (yeshivah and rabbinical kolel programs), Chaim Eisen also studied science and general philosophy at Columbia University. Along with his traditional yeshivah background, he holds a degree in biophysics from Columbia, having graduated summa cum laude with membership on the Dean’s List and in the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He has been teaching, editing, and publishing Judaica professionally for twenty-eight years.
For over twenty years, he taught Talmud and Midrash, Biblical commentary, and especially Jewish thought and Jewish philosophy at various post-secondary yeshivoth in Israel — most recently, at Yeshivat Hakotel, in both its Foreign Students and Israeli Hesder programs. There, he initiated and directed the Advanced Seminar in Jewish Thought, a program for students with the acumen and commitment to pursue an extra course of study, besides the traditional yeshivah curriculum. He also taught weekly Hebrew and English classes in Jewish thought to older, more advanced students and a daily class in Aggadic passages of the Gemara for the oldest, most advanced foreign students. In addition, he effectively discharged the role of spiritual guide (mashgiach ruchani), devoting many hours weekly to personal counseling and conversations with students on a broad spectrum of issues and questions.
He lectures extensively in these fields — particularly, Jewish thought and philosophy and education — throughout Israel and the US and has served as a scholar-in-residence and guest lecturer in many communities and at Orthodox Union (OU) Torah Conventions. Apart from his teaching as a freelance lecturer, he is a senior lecturer at the Seymour J. Abrams OU Jerusalem World Center (formerly, the OU-NCSY Israel Center), where he has taught for twenty-seven years. Over the years, his lecture series there have completed study of Pirkei Avoth on multiple occasions, as well as the philosophical classics Sefer HaKuzari and Moreh HaNevuchim. His current classes there also include series in early Biblical commentaries, Talmudic Aggadah, classic Jewish thought, and Jewish philosophy. He has also delivered numerous special talks on the holidays and the weekly Torah portions.
In addition, he served as a Torah lecturer in the IDF Rabbinate Torah Lecture Corps (reserves), for over sixteen years. Although retired from the IDF Rabbinate, he continues to serve on a voluntary basis as a Torah lecturer in the IDF. Besides teaching, he was founding editor of the OU journal Jewish Thought: A Journal of Torah Scholarship and has written and edited numerous essays in these fields. A frequent contributor to the OU magazine Jewish Action, his publications there include Is Yeshivah Education Accomplishing What It Should? (JA, 62, No. 2 [5762], 44-50; JA, 63, No. 1 [5763], 14-21; JA, 63, No. 3 [5763], 5-6 [letters]) and an essay in Symposium: ‘You Have Chosen Us from amongst the Nations’ (JA, 65, No. 1 [5765], 18-25). In addition, he volunteers as a board member of Operation Dignity, a relief organization on behalf of the former residents of Gush Katif.
He first came to Israel thirty-two years ago as a student, and essentially — apart from his final year at Columbia — he has remained, leaving only for his occasional lecture tours abroad. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife of twenty-six years, Raye (née Rakeffet), and their three sons (and, so far, one daughter-in-law and one grandson). All their sons have served in active combat duty as fighters in Nahal Haredi, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion of the elite Kfir Brigade of the IDF, within the framework of the Hesder program.