Course Objectives

• To familiarize the student with the classical bookEmunos VeDayos by Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon
• To understand reasons for confusion about Jewish belief
• To provide several basic principles for clarifying Jewish belief

Course Formats

Rabbi Moshe Zauderer will deliver four pre-recorded audio lectures of approximately 60 minutes duration. The presentation will be based upon reading brief excerpts from a Hebrew translation of Rabbi Sa'adiah's original Arabic composition, explaining them in English, and elaborating upon Rabbi Sa'adiah's words and lessons to be learned from them. There will also be references to other classical sources that will aid in our understanding of Rabbi Sa'adiah's discussions.

Every other week, an MP3 audio file and accompanying PDF source sheet will be posted and remain online for the duration of the course.

Course Schedule

• 4 week duration. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - Wednesday, December 10, 2008. Each Wednesday, new course material will be posted on-line and remain available for the duration of the course.
• Self-Paced Study: All lectures are prerecorded. Therefore, during the course, participants can listen to the lectures at a pace that is comfortable for them.

Interactive Feature

• Personalized Responses: JIS staff will respond individually to each lecture-related submission, via email or by posting an audio response.
• Posted Student Correspondence: Selected teacher-student correspondences will be posted online to be viewed or heard by the entire class. Student confidentiality will be maintained by mentioning only the student’s first name and by omitting identifying facts and comments. Of course, correspondence that is of a personal nature will remain confidential and will not be posted at all.

Confidentiality of student correspondence will be respected