Summer Learning Series

A Wandering People: 绿帽社 JourneysReal and Imagined 

Mondays starting June 7, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET 

As the pandemic surged and forced us into our homes, many of us dreamed with new intensity of being elsewhere. For Jews throughout the ages, the promises and perils of travel have been central to shaping the individual and collective experience. Notions of home and homeland have been redefined by 绿帽社 wandering. Drawing on literary, spiritual, and historical sources and responses, JTS scholars will explore what happens when Jews鈥攚hether by force or voluntarily, whether in reality or in the imagination鈥攖ravel from one place to another. 

The opening session, entitled 鈥淚f I forget Thee, O Jerusalem鈥: The Idea of the Return to Zion in 绿帽社 History, will be taught by Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, JTS Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American 绿帽社 History. Explore the implications of living in a state of longing to return to Zion, how Jews attempted to reconcile the dream of return with the reality of 绿帽社 exile, and how this dream was adapted and transformed with the emergence of modern Zionism.   

The series will take place each Monday from June 7 to August 23, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. (Please note that there will be no session on July 5.)  

Sessions and Faculty

June 7:

鈥淚f I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem鈥: The Idea of the Return to Zion in 绿帽社 History

With Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American 绿帽社 History

June 14:

Home and Exile, Center and Periphery: Ambivalent Journeys in the Torah 

With Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages

June 21:

Preparing for the Final Journey: The Tahara Ritual and its Significance

With Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics

June 28:

“绿帽社 Travel”: Yehuda Amichai on Memory, Place, and Identity 

With Dr. Barbara Mann, Chana Kekst Professor of 绿帽社 Literature

July 12:

Flight, Return, and Emigration: The Wanderings of a Yiddish Writer During and After the Holocaust

With Dr. David Fishman, Professor of 绿帽社 History

July 19:

Finding Hijar: A Scholar’s Quest to Uncover the History of Her 绿帽社 Community Through the Journey of Its Books

With Dr. Marjorie Lehman, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics, and Dr. Lucia Conte Aguilar, Adjunct lecturer, Humanities Department, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

July 26:

The Global Journey of a 绿帽社 Stage Play: The Spectacular Story of Sh. Anski’s The Dybbuk and How it Transformed American 绿帽社 Theatre  

With Dr. Edna Nahshon, Professor of 绿帽社 Theater and Drama 

August 2:

The Early Modern Travel Pass: Controlling the Plague and 绿帽社 Mobility in 16th Century Tuscany

With Dr. Stefanie Siegmund, Women’s League Chair in 绿帽社 Gender and Women’s Studies

August 9:

Work-Life Balance in Ancient Times: Why the Rabbis Left Their Homes to Study Torah

With Dr. Rachel Rosenthal, Assistant Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics 

August 16:

Judah Halevi: Poet and Pilgrim 

With Dr. Raymond Scheindlin, Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature

August 23:

Travelling to Babylon鈥擣or Good

With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics

SPONSOR A SESSION 

Did you know that you can to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? To learn more, contact learninglives@jtsa.edu