The Adult Education Committee of Temple Concord and Temple Israel will hold a program and light brunch on Sunday, March 22, from 10 am-noon, at Temple Israel, 4737 Deerfield Pl., Vestal. Rabbi Talia Laster will speak on “Law and Reason,” focusing on the role of rationality in mitzvah observance.
“The Torah tells us, ‘do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk’ and this has translated to extensive practices among traditionally practicing Jews – from separate sinks to abstaining from chicken parmesan,” said program organizers. “What do we do with mitzvot that do not seem to make rational sense? What autonomy should we have to figure out our own reasons for mitzvot? How do we know what is God’s will and whether to submit to it? These are some of the questions that Laster will address in light of sources from Jewish philosophy, Talmud and halachah in order to explore the specific question of meat and dairy, as well as the larger question of the role of rationality in mitzvah observance.”
Laster serves as the campus rabbi at the Grinspoon Hillel Center for Jewish Life at Cornell. She received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, in Newton, MA, and has studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and the Hadar Institute, among others. She lives in Vestal with her spouse, Rabbi Micah Friedman.
The entire community is welcome to attend the program. There is a suggested donation of between $5-20 per person. For more information and to RSVP, contact Temple Israel at 607-723-7461 or e-mail office@templeisraelvestal.org, or Temple Concord at 607-723-7355 by Monday, March 16, so enough refreshments can be prepared. The TC/TI Adult Ed. Committee gratefully acknowledges a gift from The Community Foundation for South Central New York - The David and Virginia Eisenberg Fund, which helped to underwrite this program.