Peshat: The Reinvention of Reading During the Twelfth Century Renaissance
Date: Nov 10, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Sponsor: Online Lecture Series
Location: Online
Category: You Say You Want a Revolution: Jewish Encounters with Radical Change
Peshat: The Reinvention of Reading During the Twelfth Century Renaissance
Part of Our Fall 2025 Learning Series, “You Say You Want a Revolution: Jewish Encounters with Radical Change”
Monday, November 10, 2025
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Online
Dr. Robert Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages, JTS
Beginning in the 9th century in the Arabic-speaking Sephardic world and continuing through the 12th century in northern France, Jewish scholars introduced a new approach to reading the Bible. Alongside the traditional Rabbinic midrashim that had guided Jewish understanding for generations, they began writing plain-sense commentaries known as peshat. Reading the Bible was never the same!
In this session, Dr. Robbie Harris will explore why this shift happened, and we will dip our toes in some of these bold new biblical commentaries.
If you have previously registered for another session in this series, your registration admits you to all sessions in the series, and you may attend as many as you’d like.
About the Series
Mondays, October 20–December 15, 2025
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Online
What does revolution look like in Jewish life—spiritual, social, technological, or political? This fall, join JTS scholars for a provocative webinar series exploring transformative moments across Jewish history. From the emergence of monotheism to the Russian Revolution, from handwritten manuscripts to digital frontiers, from summer camps to the Talmud, we’ll consider how Jews have sparked, resisted, and reimagined change. Each session invites reflection on what revolution means—then and now.
