Purim: Webinar for Rabbis

HUMANS PLAN, GOD AGREES: WHAT THE BOOK OF ESTHER TELLS US ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF JEWISH LAW

Franz Rosenzweig, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Louis Jacobs (among others) have proposed that halakhah was created by human beings as a response to God and suggested how we might still regard it as sacred and binding. Professor Sommer will argue that this concept is deeply rooted in traditional sources, including the Bible itself.

Join JTS for a free webinar for rabbis designed to inspire you in your preparation of Purim derashot and teaching this year.

This webinar is presented by Dr. Benjamin Sommer.

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Dr. Benjamin Sommer is professor of Bible and ancient Semitic languages at JTS. He served as director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies at Northwestern University. An overarching concern of Dr. Sommer’s scholarship is the relationship between the theology of Torah shebikhtav and Torah shebe’al peh. His most recent book is Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, and he is the editor of the Psalms volumes of the JPS Bible Commentary series.

For more information, please contact Rabbi Tim Bernard, JTS director of digital learning and engagement: (212) 678-8908 or communitylearning@jtsa.edu.