Chabad joins JLI to offer ‘You Be the Judge,’ other classes

Kansas City, MO – The Chabad House Center of Kansas City is becoming one of nearly 200 sites affiliated with the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute by offering its first course this fall.

“You Be the Judge” is open to anyone interested in law and Talmud.
However, lawyers who attend all six sessions (it will be offered on either consecutive Tuesdays or Wednesdays, Nov. 7-Dec. 13) can receive Continuing Legal Education credit in both Kansas and Missouri, according to Rabbi Mendy Wineberg, who will teach the class.

JLI is a program of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and Rabbi Wineberg said it has “promulgated some beautiful courses.” The fall course on law will be followed by a winter session, “The Kabbalah of Character,” and a spring class, “Flashbacks in Jewish History.” For more information about JLI, visit www.myjli.com. To sign up for “You Be the Judge,” call Rabbi Wineberg, (913) 205-9524, or e-mail RabbiMendy@ChabadKC.org.

“Every Chabad does classes,” said Rabbi Wineberg, “but with JLI the idea was to come up with some professionally designed classes to be used all over. It has been expanding slowly for eight years, and now there are 200 affiliates who will all start the week of Nov. 5. So if you have to travel, you can catch a class in Chicago. That’s part of the beauty of it.”

With “You Be the Judge,” Rabbi Wineberg said, “the idea is to look at the differences and similarities between Jewish law and civil law. … It’s interesting to see why the Talmud decides things as it does. We take real, modern Bet Din decisions and real sources in Torah and discuss it, and tell them if they got it right, and why or why not. Some things in Jewish law are counter-intuitive, but we explain why they decided it that way.”

The class will be offered twice each week: from 3-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays in the Bryant Building, home to downtown minyan and attorney Paul Blackman’s office, and again from 7:30-9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Chabad House in Overland Park.

While the class attempts to relate to current issues, including eminent domain and adverse possession, Rabbi Wineberg says “It’s looking at Talmud with a mystical approach,” too. “It’s not just what is does, but why. If you look at the deeper reasons, you’ll see a totally fresh outlook on the way Torah views ownership, people, responsibilities and the like.”