Sarah’s Laugh: Doubt, Trust, and the Ambiguity of the Womb
Date: May 01, 2023
Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Sponsor: Online Learning | Public Lectures and Events
Location: Online
Category: Online Learning Public Lectures & Events The Space In Between
Sarah’s Laugh: Doubt, Trust, and the Ambiguity of the Womb
Part of our spring learning series, The Space In-Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought
Monday, May 1, 2023
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Online
With Rabbi Mychal Springer, Manager of Clinical Pastoral Education at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City and Adjunct Professor, JTS
The stories of two biblical women Sarah and Hannah, who struggle with infertility for many years and are then told that they will conceive, are the focus of the Torah readings on Rosh Hashanah. In selecting these stories, the Rabbis have lifted up infertility as being at the heart of Jewish religious experience, echoing in the birth of every new year for generations of Jews. Struggling to conceive or give birth is a liminal experience intimately bound up with our tradition. Wrestling with faith, cultivating trust, and honoring doubt are essential for people who yearn for future generations, both personally and as part of the larger immortality that our people seeks.
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.
Note: The Zoom link for this session will be in the confirmation email that you will receive after you register.
ABOUT THE SERIES
The Space In-Between: Thresholds and Borders in Jewish Life and Thought
We are living in an undefined time: our daily existence is no longer dominated by the pandemic, yet neither have we settled into a new normal. This sense of being in transition—neither here nor there—can feel destabilizing; but is the time in between really temporary, or are we always living in between moments, identities, and phases of life?
In this series, JTS scholars will delve into the idea of liminality—the time or space in between—which we encounter often in Jewish ritual, identity, law, and life. Join us to consider what these many manifestations of “in-between-ness” can teach us about ourselves and about Judaism, and to explore how we might find strength and meaning in an orientation not of “either/or” but of “both/and.”
