10:00 AM – 12:00PM  Dr. Daniel Rynhold
Is it Wrong to be Ethical?  Ethics, Halakhah, and Philosophy of Law

It’s clear on the one hand that Judaism requires ethical behavior of us. But does it require such behavior because it is ethical? Or is it required for legal reasons that have little to do with ethics? Might it even be religiously wrong for us to behave ethically on the basis of ethical reasoning? In this session we will explore the nexus between Judaism and ethics and some of the very different attitudes towards the relationship between them.

1:00 PM – 2:25 PM  Sarah Zager
Water Wears Away Stone How Halakhah Shapes Us as Ethical Agents

In this shiur we’ll explore how living within a halakhic framework can shape who we are as ethical agents. Can practicing halakhah make us more thoughtful, more caring, or more committed moral actors? What parts of our  practices help or hinder this kind of ethical work? What do our communities need to look like for halakhah to not only guide our ethical conduct but also shape us as people? To address these questions, we’ll consider philosophical approaches to the meaning of the mitzvot of tefflin and mezuzah drawn from sources ranging from the Rambam to contemporary Jewish feminist thought.

2:35 PM – 4:00 PM Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier
Ve-Asita ha-Yashar ve-HaTov   Halakha and Ethics in the Talmud and Today

What position does the category of ethics inhabit in Judaism? Is it part of Halacha? Does it exist somehow outside Halacha? Can it be rejected? We will analyze this question from several vantage points, focusing both on several Talmudic passages and on several contemporary approaches to the topic, most extensively that of Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein.