Seeing the Unseeable: Images of the Divine in Kabbalistic Texts

Seeing the Unseeable: Images of the Divine in Kabbalistic Texts

Mar 25, 2024

Download Sources With Dr. Eitan Fishbane, Professor of Jewish Thought, JTSand Dr. Marcus Mordecai Schwartz, Ripps Schnitzer Librarian for Special Collections; Assistant Professor, Talmud and Rabbinics, JTS This session will preview the JTS Library’s exhibit opening on March 26, co-curated by Dr. Schwartz, and a new JTS podcast on Jewish mysticism featuring Dr. Fishbane. ABOUT […]

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Between the Lines: Between Two Worlds

Between the Lines: Between Two Worlds

Mar 20, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Facing the harrowing task of rebuilding a life in the wake of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors, community and religious leaders, and Allied soldiers viewed marriage between Jewish women and military personnel as a way to move forward after unspeakable loss. Proponents believed that these unions were more than just a ticket out of war-torn Europe: they would help the Jewish people repopulate after the attempted annihilation of European Jewry. Historian Robin Judd, whose grandmother survived the Holocaust and married an American soldier after liberation, introduces us to the Jewish women who lived through genocide and went on to wed American, Canadian, and British military personnel after the war.

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Mordecai the Jew and Esther the Greek: The Changing Politics of the Book of Esther in Antiquity and Our Times

Mordecai the Jew and Esther the Greek: The Changing Politics of the Book of Esther in Antiquity and Our Times

Mar 18, 2024 By Aaron Koller | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Purim

The Book of Esther is a diaspora book. None of the action takes place in the Land of Israel, and the Temple is never mentioned. One of the most famous—and significant—features of the Hebrew Book of Esther is the absence of any mention of God. But these features that make Diaspora Jews feel comfortable were profoundly disturbing to some of the book’s earliest readers—so disturbing that they actually changed it.

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Between the Lines: Perfect Enemy

Between the Lines: Perfect Enemy

Mar 13, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

In a covert laboratory under the streets of Tel Aviv, Akiva Cohen, an Israeli scientist, clones Hitler from old samples of his DNA. Akiva wants to change the world for the good; but he is betrayed by those who want to use this new Hitler for unimaginable terror. Akiva is plunged into a desperate struggle to stay alive and salvage his dream, leading to a trail of murders across the country, collaboration with Hamas terrorists, and the uncovering of a devastating conspiracy at the highest levels of Israeli society. Perfect Enemy is an exciting, suspenseful thriller that poses uncomfortable questions about trauma and revenge, the desire for peace, religious extremism, and the schisms of the Middle East.

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A Queen in the Tomb of the Kings: An Ancient Monument and its Modern Legacy

A Queen in the Tomb of the Kings: An Ancient Monument and its Modern Legacy

Mar 4, 2024 By Sarit Kattan Gribetz | Public Event video | Video Lecture

According to the first-century Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, Queen Helena of Adiabene traveled from her kingdom in northern Mesopotamia to Jerusalem to worship the Jewish God in the temple. She ended up staying in the city, building a palace in the south and a monumental family tomb to the north. This queen was not forgotten: she appears in early Christian writings and rabbinic literature, she stars in medieval Jewish-Christian polemics, and there is a street named after her in contemporary Jerusalem.

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Between the Lines: Postwar Stories

Between the Lines: Postwar Stories

Feb 27, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Dr. Rachel Gordan joins us to discuss her book Postwar Stories: How Books Made Judaism American. The period immediately following World War II was an era of dramatic transformation for Jews in America. At the start of the 1940s, President Roosevelt had to all but promise that if Americans entered the war, it would not be to save the Jews. But by the end of the decade, antisemitism was in decline and Jews were moving toward general acceptance in American society. Drawing on several archives, magazine articles, and nearly forgotten bestsellers, Postwar Stories examines how Jewish middlebrow literature helped to shape post-Holocaust American Jewish identity. 

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Jewish History and Education through the Lens of JTS’s Rare Manuscripts

Jewish History and Education through the Lens of JTS’s Rare Manuscripts

Feb 26, 2024 By Yitz Landes | Public Event video | Video Lecture

With Dr. Yitz Landes, Assistant Professor of Rabbinic Literatures and Cultures, JTS

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Between the Lines: Absurdity and Meaning in Contemporary Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Between the Lines: Absurdity and Meaning in Contemporary Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Feb 13, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Part of Between the Lines: Author Conversations from The Library of JTS In his recent book, Absurdity and Meaning in Contemporary Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Dr. Alan L. Mittleman, Aaron Rabinowitz and Simon H. Rifkind Emeritus Professor of Jewish Philosophy at JTS, addresses the question of the meaning of life in a philosophical spirit, which […]

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Between the Lines: Polish Jewish Culture Beyond the Capital

Between the Lines: Polish Jewish Culture Beyond the Capital

Feb 5, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Polish Jewish Culture Beyond the Capital: Centering the Periphery is a path-breaking exploration of the diversity and vitality of urban Jewish identity and culture in Polish lands from the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War (1899–1939). In this multidisciplinary essay collection, a cohort of international scholars provides an integrated history of the arts and humanities in Poland by illuminating the complex roles Jews in urban centers other than Warsaw played in the creation of Polish and Polish Jewish culture.

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Where Are We Now?  Rethinking Exile, Diaspora and Home in Israel and America

Where Are We Now?  Rethinking Exile, Diaspora and Home in Israel and America

Jan 29, 2024 By Arnold M. Eisen | Public Event video | Video Lecture

For many Jews in Israel and America, the war with Hamas has provoked a reconsideration of long-held assumptions about Israel, the Diaspora, and the relationship between the two. This lecture considers whether America can be a true home for Jews or whether is it another instance of exile, albeit different in some respects from all others—and it aska these same questions regarding Israel. We examine a variety of responses to these questions by Americans and Israelis, Zionists and non-Zionists, that sharpen debate and challenge convictions that we hold dear. 

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Between the Lines: Soloveitchik’s Children

Between the Lines: Soloveitchik’s Children

Jan 22, 2024 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Professor Arnold Eisen, chancellor emeritus and professor of Jewish Thought at JTS and author Daniel Ross Goodman discuss Soloveitchik’s Children, a book that delves into how three of Soloveitchik’s most influential disciples in Jewish thought and philosophy—Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, Rabbi David Hartman, and Jonathan Sacks—learned from and adapted his teachings in their own ways, while advancing his philosophical and theological legacy.

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Timely Insights, Timeless Wisdom 

Timely Insights, Timeless Wisdom 

Jan 22, 2024 By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Join JTS’s renowned faculty to learn about their current work and greatest passions. Drawing on their expertise, scholars will offer inspiring learning and expose us to new ideas and insights that help us connect the Jewish past with the Jewish future. Topics will include: 

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“Zion in the Diaspora”: How Jews Imagined They Lived in Zion Wherever They Actually Lived

“Zion in the Diaspora”: How Jews Imagined They Lived in Zion Wherever They Actually Lived

Jan 22, 2024 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Jews through the ages have hoped that one day the Messiah would come, leading them back to Zion. But in the meantime, they lived all over the world, making homes in one diaspora or another. And remarkably, they often spoke of their diaspora homes as “Zion,” a place of redemption long before actual redemption. In this session, we will examine multiple such teachings and traditions including teachings of the great Maharal of Prague (16th century), early Hasidic masters (18th century), and others. We will consider what it means for Jews to imagine themselves in their eternal homes while living abroad

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Between Moscow, Kyiv, and Jerusalem: How The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza Have Changed Russian and Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Israel and Jews

Between Moscow, Kyiv, and Jerusalem: How The Wars in Ukraine and Gaza Have Changed Russian and Ukrainian Attitudes Toward Israel and Jews

Jan 15, 2024 By David Fishman | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Dr. David Fishman, expert on Ukrainian Jewry, discusses the complex connections between the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and how Russian and Ukrainian attitudes toward Israel and Jews have evolved as a result—both for better and for worse.

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Between the Lines: Professor Schiff’s Guilt

Between the Lines: Professor Schiff’s Guilt

Dec 12, 2023 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Israeli author Agur Schiff discusses his novel Professor Schiff’s Guilt. In this gripping story, an Israeli professor travels to a fictitious West African nation to trace a slave-trading ancestor, only to be imprisoned under a new law barring successive generations from profiting off the proceeds of slavery. But before leaving Tel Aviv, the protagonist falls in love with Lucile, a mysterious African migrant worker who cleans his house. This satire of contemporary attitudes toward racism and colonialism examines economic inequality and the global refugee crisis, as well as the memory of transatlantic chattel slavery and the Holocaust. 

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Civic Friendship in Times of Crisis and War: Jewish Thought, Political Theory, and the Story of Hanukkah

Civic Friendship in Times of Crisis and War: Jewish Thought, Political Theory, and the Story of Hanukkah

Dec 11, 2023 By Shira Billet | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Ancient philosophers described a political ideal of “civic friendship,” the idea that fellow citizens in a political community ought to pursue a certain kind of bond of friendship, in order to create flourishing societies steeped in a robust social fabric. Dr. Shira Billet explores the central role of notions of civic friendship in traditional Jewish sources. In light of current events in Israel, we will turn our attention to Jewish texts that relate to civic friendship in wartime and in times of crisis, with special connections drawn to the holiday of Hannukah.

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Paradigms of Friendship: What Philosophers and Rabbis Can Teach Us

Paradigms of Friendship: What Philosophers and Rabbis Can Teach Us

Dec 4, 2023 By Eliezer B. Diamond | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The Greek philosophers asserted that there are four types of friendship. This model, which was adopted by Maimonides, considered shared joint engagement in intellectual matters the highest form of friendship. Missing from this paradigm is the importance of certain character traits in creating and sustaining friendships. We consider the “four friendships” model and then take a mussar oriented approach to suggest alternative paradigms. 

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Friendship During Crisis: Learning from the Book of Job  

Friendship During Crisis: Learning from the Book of Job  

Nov 27, 2023 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

Job’s friends come to Job in the midst of his unspeakable losses and try to comfort him. We will learn from the Book of Job and explore the challenges of being a good friend when someone is suffering.

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Between the Lines: Shadows We Carry

Between the Lines: Shadows We Carry

Nov 21, 2023 By Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary | Public Event video

Part of Between the Lines: Author Conversations from The Library of JTS Meryl Ain discusses her new award-winning novel, Shadows We Carry. In this sequel to the award-winning post-Holocaust novel The Takeaway Men, the Lubinski twins struggle with their roles as women and coming to terms with their family’s Holocaust legacy at the same time […]

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Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? A Talmudic Teaching

Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors? A Talmudic Teaching

Nov 20, 2023 By Aaron Koller | Public Event video | Video Lecture

What do we owe our neighbors? How much are we obligated to contribute to our cities, our neighborhoods, our streets, and how much can we just take of ourselves and let everyone else take care of themselves? These are modern questions, but they are ancient Jewish questions, too. The Talmud speaks in a different language than we do, so it probes these issues through law and narrative. We read a short passage from the Talmud about what it means to be a good neighbor, and unpack it to see how these questions are broached and what insight the text has to share. 

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