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Honoring Aaron’s Tragic Sacrifice in the Laws of Mourning
Apr 5, 2024 By Shira Billet | Commentary | Shabbat Hahodesh | Shemini
Shemini begins on the eighth and final day of inauguration week. The ceremony narrated in Leviticus 9 culminates in a felicitous and ecstatic moment of response from God to their carefully orchestrated sacrificial rites: “Moses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people. Fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt-offering . . . on the altar. And all the people saw, and shouted and fell on their faces” (Lev. 9:23-24).
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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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How Should a Jewish Philosopher Read the Bible? Hermann Cohen’s Problem with Spinoza
Nov 28, 2022 By Shira Billet | Public Event video | Video Lecture
When the famous German Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen died in 1918, he was described in Jewish periodicals as “the greatest philosopher the Jews have produced since Spinoza.” But in 1915, at a time when Jews had reclaimed the 17th-century philosopher as their own, Hermann Cohen had argued that the herem (ban) on Spinoza had been justified. Cohen’s reasons for banning Spinoza were different from those articulated in the original ban. He agreed with Spinoza far more than we might expect, but he also thought Spinoza’s book on the Bible was misleading and dangerous. Cohen disagreed with central parts of Spinoza’s method of reading the Bible, and for Cohen, the stakes of getting the method right were very high with academic, religious, and political implications.
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