Wednesdays, 7:30 -- 9 pm (2/3, 2/16, 2/24, 3/3)
Cost: $5 per class
Location: Yeshivat Hadar, 190 Amsterdam Ave (at 69th St)
Can't make it person? Watch live at UStream here
Session 1 source sheets
Session 2 source sheets
Listen to Session 3
Few texts in the history of Judaism have been as evocative, elusive, and controversial as Genesis 22, the story of the Akedah. Why does God ask Abraham to sacrifice his son, and why does Abraham agree? What are the consequences of this fateful event for Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah-- and for us as readers and students of this text? We'll begin with a close literary and theological exploration of the Biblical text itself, consider the interpretations of Hazal, and then create a multi-faceted conversation among an array of modern Jewish (and Christian) thinkers as they-- and we-- struggle to make sense of this text and its role in Jewish theology and spirituality. Our investigation will include such thinkers as Soren Kierkegaard, Abraham Isaac Kook, Joseph Soloveitchik, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Martin Buber, Phyllis Trible, Uriel Simon, Jon Levenson, and others.