In the Wake of the Golden Calf: Is God Punishing Us?

Date: Jul 06, 2020 - Jul 06, 2020

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.

Sponsor: Online Learning

Location: Online

Category: Online Learning


Times of Crisis and Possibility: An Online Series With JTS Faculty and Fellows

In the Wake of the Golden Calf: Is God Punishing Us?

Monday, July 6, 1:00-2:15 p.m. ET

Israel’s fashioning of the Golden Calf—an immediate and direct violation of the first commandment they had just heard directly from God—led God to threaten to destroy all of Israel. Responding to this crisis, Moses protected Israel from God’s temper and renegotiated the terms of the people’s relationship with God. In this session, we will revisit this episode and closely read a number of fascinating interpretations. In particular, we’ll focus on the questions of divine justice and mercy raised in Rashi’s comment that in every generation God will exact a little bit of punishment from Israel for fashioning the Golden Calf.

About the instructor: Dr. Yedida Eisenstat is adjunct assistant professor of Bible at JTS and an affiliated fellow at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion where she researches the role of law in Rashi’s Torah commentary. Prior to serving as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Religion at Colgate University, she taught at Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York University. She holds a doctorate in the history of scriptural interpretation from JTS and was in the first cohort of JTS fellows. 

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