Jody Hirsh: Bible, Midrash, Art: The Richness of Bible Narratives (Virtual on Zoom)

Jody Hirsh: Bible, Midrash, Art: The Richness of Bible Narratives (Virtual on Zoom)

3 sessions

Apparently uncomfortable with various portions of the Torah, the rabbis provide interpretations that tend to neutralize the troubling aspects of those texts.  In this class, we will engage in close readings of texts from the Torah and corresponding Talmudic passages.

Mathematicians, theologians, and even children ponder the inspiring and surprising nature of the infinite. Dr. Lesser will explore—in a lively, interactive way—how math concepts can help illuminate some big ideas in Judaism, including the value of life, the value of commandments, and the coexistence of God's transcendence and immanence. While parts of this realm can get technical, have no fear: our session will maintain a liberal arts, general adult audiences sensibility to keep it accessible to a broad diversity of backgrounds in mathematics and in Judaism.

In Partnership with Congregation Beth El, Berkeley

In partnership with Sha'ar Zahav

The Land-as-Woman is one of the most deeply rooted metaphorical systems in Jewish as well as Western and Middle-Eastern cultures, used to support the discourses of colonialism and nationalism throughout history. It has its origins in the Hebrew Bible. In modern Hebrew poetry modernist women poets critique a tradition that views women always as metaphors, never as literal subjects, developing a new erotics of the address to the land that calls into question patriarchal models of conquest and subjugation.

In partnership with Temple Isaiah, Temple Sinai and Congregation Beth El

Qohelet (or Kohellet, Ecclesiastes) is one of the strangest and most revolutionary books of the Hebrew Bible. We will explore its poetry and philosophy in the context of biblical and ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature.

FREE program presented by our partners, the Jewish Community Library