| Summer 2009: Week One |
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Greetings,
So much has happened in just the first week at Genesis! From courses to field trips, making "Connections" and having a meaningful Shabbat, the participants have already begun to explore, connect, and experience all that Genesis and Brandeis has to offer.
If you would like to see our daily schedule, we have added a link on our website that will allow you to view the daily schedules. Click here to see today's schedule.
As always, please feel free to be in touch with us (781.736.8416 or email) if you have any questions or want to learn more about what is happening this summer.
Bradley Solmsen
Director
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| Genesis Video and Photos |
Every week we will be creating a video for you to get a glimpse into the participants' experiences at Genesis. Check out this week's video to see what participant's are looking forward to as the summer continues.
You can also visit our smugmug site and check out photos from Genesis. We will be updating the site on a daily basis, so be sure to keep looking. The password is "brandeis".
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| Courses |
Innovation and Revolution
This course is examining innovations of past and present, and their revolutionary consequences. We began this week by creating a timeline, starting 500,000+ years ago when early humans learned how to control fire, up through the writing down of the Oral Law, the printing press, the advent of Reform Judaism and more. We're building towards the present day, looking at the internet, social media, biotech and renewable energy to apply the cause/effect relationship of the past to these present day innovations. Throughout our course, we're working on launching new Wikipedia pages for both BIMA and Genesis, and learning about the process of collaboration on a small and large scale and the no-hierarchical systems developed to maintain quality in this decentralized project.
Journalism, Judaism and Ethics
Which of these news stories ought to be on the front page of the New York Times: the turmoil in Honduras, a news report of the welfare system, or Federer's historic Wimbledon triumph? In week one of the journalism course, 17 talented young journalists took on the mission of re-organizing the Times' layout, exploring the delicate balance between the journalist's obligation to inform and educate the readers, and the pragmatic needs that come with the trade to display stories that sell. The course's first 'wo/man on the street' interviewing assignment in Coolidge Corner in Brookline uncovered some challenges of today's media as public distrust and indifference, but at the same time confirmed that the media and the news we consume help shape the way we see the world.
Judaism and Justice
Our orienting question,how might Jewish views of justice relate to other views of justice in modern society, points us toward ways to pursue justice in our lives. In the first week, participants began to compare Jewish law and American law by looking at the respective laws around speech. Some questions that they explored include how free is our speech under the first amendment, especially in a school setting? How might Jewish ethics of speech play a role in our thinking about freedom of speech? Next week, we will begin exploring cases on religion and society, to understand the social and cultural dimensions of justice.
World Religions
In this course, participants have the opportunity to explore and challenge the ways religious traditions of the world draw boundaries to define individuals, their relationships and communities, and the divine. Participants began by asking the questions what is religion? and what is spirituality?, and took a closer look at Hinduism. Throughout this course, participants will be visiting a variety of spiritual centers in the Boston area, beginning this past week with a trip to the New England Hindu Temple in Ashland, MA. This coming week, participants will begin their study of Buddhism and will take a trip to Mayyim Hayyim Community Mikveh and Education Center in Newton, MA.
Public Speaking
New this year, Genesis alumni were invited back to take a Brandeis course for credit. Our nine Genesis alumni who have returned are taking The Art of Oral Communication, an introductory course on the basic concepts and techniques of "professional" speaking: making presentations to groups of people in impromptu, extemporaneous, and manuscript styles. Students develop a process for organizing information, preparing mentally, relaxation and combatting nervousness, and for helping themselves accept and work to overcome speaking challenges.
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| Making Connections |
"Connections" sessions are a forum for participants to make and explore connections between the various elements of their experiences at Genesis. Together with their peers and the community educators, participants have the opportunity to shape their own learning experience and engage deeply on a variety of issues relevant to their lives. Each educator has chosen a particular theme to discuss with the participants; each week, participants choose a new Connections group and topic to explore . Below are descriptions of three of the five Connections sessions being offered by our educators. Stayed turned next week for descriptions of the last two.
From community educator Daniel Crane:
"In our Connections session about Decisions, we explore influences on our lives, moral obligations, and the ways we make decisions. Participants engage with their relation to mitzvah, struggle with moral dilemmas, and examine their personal commitments through film, art, and discussion."
From community educator Ariel Belson:
"The topic of our last Connections session was 'reflection through prayer.' Each participant concluded by decorating a mirror which they felt appropriately reflected what they would each like to see when they look in their individual mirrors. The Genesis participants approached the Connections session with an impressive sense of openness and honesty. They really brought their whole selves to the discussions and activities, through their sharing, listening, and inquisitive questioning."
From community educator Sara Smith:
"In 'Reading Between the Lines,' participants explored the diversity of Jewish canonical texts and built relationships to the text by acting as commentators. Just as classical biblical commentators ask relevant textual questions and endeavor to find an answer, so have the participants in this session asked important questions of the text and have searched for answers, both through group discussion and personal exploration. In these sessions, we've also discussed the central role of Torah to the Jewish community as a text that unites us and binds us together, regardless of our personal relationship to it. We've learned about each others' experiences with Torah and have worked through and with our textual diversity to find texts that we find personally meaningful as sources of inspiration in our own lives."
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| Community Service |
From Genesis intern Eli Terris:
Sunday morning at Genesis is dedicated to serving the community, as we feel it is important to try and be in touch with and help the greater Waltham community. Yesterday, the entire Genesis community scattered to five different sites around Waltham for their first day of community service.
Two groups set off to work at local farms, one called Waltham Fields Community Farms, located only minutes from the Brandeis campus, and one called Gaining Ground, in Concord, Massachusetts. There, participants will help by harvesting the vegetables in season to be donated to local food banks that serve people in need. Although very hot, and sweaty, participants at Gaining Ground were pleasantly surprised as they filled their stomachs with the peas that they harvested. The third community service group went to WCI, an organization that helps to promote independence for the developmentally disabled with a particular focus on artwork. Horizons for Homeless Children, the fourth organization that participants visited, strives to better the lives of homeless children in the area.
Our group will be spending our community service mornings at the Leland Home, a non-profit senior living residence and nursing care center in Waltham. On their first day at the site, participants spent time getting to know the residents, taking turns walking from resident to resident and listening to their stories. Some participants made such strong connections with the residents that they were even invited back for one of the residents 90th birthday party coming up the following week! Each time we return to the Leland Home, we hope to build stronger relationships with the residents and hear more and more of their stories. The residents loved seeing new and youthful faces, and were clearly affected by the positive energy that filled the room. Likewise, the participants were deeply affected by the stories and experiences that the residents shared with them, evident by the fact that they continued to talk about them all day long. We are really looking forward to another positive experience at the Leland Home next week. |
| Shabbat |
From late Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, the Genesis community took a break from their normal weekly routine to create an exciting, inspiring and unique Shabbat. Our intentions this Shabbat were to embrace the diversity of our community, honoring individuals' personal commitments and traditions and inviting them to learn about and engage in other people's perspectives.
Shabbat started with a creative approach to transitioning from the week to this special time. During two hour-long blocks of time that we called Likrat Shabbat (seeking Shabbat), staff members and participants engaged in a variety of activities intended to help them recall the week before and move into a more restful time. For example, participants could choose to attend an egalitarian prayer service, a traditional mechitzah service, a reflective writing activity, and a visual arts activity. Participants were encouraged to attend an activity that would be comfortable and familiar to them and one activity that may be new and unfamiliar.
These activities set a great tone for Shabbat, as we went on to have energetic communal meals, time for relaxing, exercising and getting to know people, and structured time for deepening relationships. This Shabbat was a highlight of a great week, and we are already looking forward to our next.
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Genesis at Brandeis University | 415 South Street MS 065 | Waltham | MA | 02454
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