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Search Results for: Challenge of accepting the other

The Challenge of Accepting the ‘Other’: Jewish Attitudes Toward Converts

One of the best ways to understand the identity of a community or people is to consider what happens when someone who is originally an “other”—a “foreigner”—approaches to become a member of the community. How does the community respond? Does the community permit the “foreigner” to become one of its own? What residual attitudes are expressed toward one who began as “other” and part of the community? In the case of Jews and Judaism, all of these questions pertain to the case of the convert. In this session, we will examine how the convert has been viewed and treated in Judaism, from antiquity and through the ages. By doing so, we will gain a more nuanced understanding of who “we” are.

The Other in Jewish Text and Tradition

We live in a time of such polarization—political, racial, economic, religious—that the gaps between us sometimes feel insurmountable. But this is not a new condition for Jews, either within or outside of the Jewish community. JTS scholars guide us on an intellectual journey through Jewish history and text to understand how these gaps have been understood and, at times, bridged.

When Is Humility Not a Virtue?

Moses’s actions are puzzling and confront us with two related questions: On the one hand, why did Moses need to place the veil on his face? And on the other, why did Moses remove the veil when going before God and when relaying God’s words to the people—only to replace it as described above? Biblical commentators offer some fascinating insights.

Can We Be Empowered by Patriarchal Texts?

I have long been bothered by the story of Dinah in Genesis 34. This narrative, often referred to as the “Rape of Dinah,” is difficult to read, not only because sexual violence against a young woman is employed as a plot device, but also because I’m not sure why the story is included in the Torah in the first place. My concern with the story is more acute when I read it within our liturgical calendar as just another episode in the Jacob cycle (Gen. 25–35).

From Slavery to Freedom

Texts Freedom Through Torah (David Hoffman): Highlighting the connection to Shavuot and freedom through the giving of the Torah A Noble Freedom (Tim Bernard): Freedom is something to aspire to We were Slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt (Matthew Berkowitz, with Image): An image from the Lovell Haggadah shows the connection between slavery and freedom Pesah: […]

Spring Learning Series

Join JTS faculty and scholars to explore the “other” in Jewish text and tradition.