JTS High Holiday Webinars 2022

Join JTS in preparing for this 5783 High Holiday season with two meaningful and enriching sessions. 

Passion and Violence:
The Sacrifice of Isaac as a Philosophical Story

Jul 18, 2022 By Miriam Feldmann Kaye | Public Event video | Video Lecture

The Sacrifice of Isaac is a paradigmatic episode in Jewish philosophy, ethics, and interpretation. But new ideas in modern and postmodern philosophy call us to re-read this narrative, and change the ways we have often read the story. We will re-tell this story according to an “old-new” method, amalgamating historical and emblematic ways of viewing the story, but also bringing new ideas to the fore, especially around the ideas of passion and holiness in Jewish thought. Dr. Miriam Feldman Kaye proposes important suggestions for reading the Sacrifice of Isaac in our contemporary world.

How Jewish Storytelling Shapes the Religious Imagination

Jul 11, 2022 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

When we tell the story of coming out of Egypt, it is not a story of then and there; it is a story of here and now. We ourselves came out of Egypt. The eternal immediacy of the telling invites us to understand our lives inside the timelessness of Jewish experience. We will explore the drama of living in this story enriched by narrative theory that helps us understand the redemptive role that sacred stories can play in our lives.

Stories and Storytelling

Join JTS scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.

Watering the Soul in Times of Faith and Doubt

May 16, 2022 By Mychal Springer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

together—is central to a life of faith and often plunges people into doubt. We will make space for the “watering of the soul,” both metaphorically and through exploration of the connection between resurrection and water—in the form of rain and dew. 

Because You Hear the Prayers of Your People Israel in Mercy

Apr 25, 2022 By Rachel Rosenthal | Public Event video | Video Lecture

We often think of God’s choice to respond to our prayers as an act of mercy, but the rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud believed that God was powerless to ignore certain prayers. We look at five models of people whose prayers God answers and consider how they act as messengers on behalf of their communities.

Does Faith Matter? The Ancient Jewish Debate About Faith and Mitzvot

May 9, 2022 By David C. Kraemer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

One often hears it said that “Judaism cares what one does, not what one believes.” But this is a distortion, an oversimplification. When one looks at sources from the period of the birth of Rabbinic Judaism (including early “Christian” writings), one finds that there was an active debate about this matter. In this session, we will begin by considering the arguments of those ancient Jews—Paul and James—who raised the important question of faith vs. mitzvot. We will then examine echoes of the same debate in early rabbinic sources.

The Gender of God in Ancient Israel

May 2, 2022 By Benjamin D. Sommer | Public Event video | Video Lecture

How did the biblical authors, and other Israelites, view the gender of God? Did they perceive God to be male? Did any of them perceive God as female? To answer this question, we examine both several biblical texts as well as archaeological evidence.