Beth El Moses and Frances Cohen Center for Adult Jewish Education presents
A special evening of learning with
Professor Avivah Zornberg
“And I Did Not Know: The Secret of Prayer”
Monday, May 10, 8:00 - 9:30 p.m.
Gorn Chapel, Beth El Congregation
 Avivah Zornberg: Even her initials hint that there is nothing beyond the scope of her incredible scholarship. If you’ve ever heard her teach, you know what it is to be spellbound. The tapestry she weaves seems improbable at best. It’s Keats one moment, Jung the next, then a half-dozen Talmudic legends, amplified in a commentary by the hassidic rebbe known as the Mey Shiloach followed immediately by Rashi followed by Kafka followed by yet another hassidic source, the Gur Aryeh. Or Shakespeare. Or Protestant theologian Paul Tillich. The final result of the tapestry is a picture that presents nuances in conversation with possibilities that you never before realized existed. To hear it being woven in front of you is an amazing experience. Beth El Congregation is delighted to invite the community for a special session with this world-famous scholar. Her topic will serve as Beth El’s final event of the Rabbi Jacob Agus Academy under this year’s theme, Finding God.
Here’s Dr. Zornberg’s description of our topic for the evening:
Jacob wakes from his dream with a conviction of ignorance. This encounter with God and with himself initiates him into a new way understanding his role. Exile brings him into his 'dark night of the soul:' two dark nights - the dream of the ladder and his unwitting marriage to Leah - complicate and transfigure his world. We will call on midrashic and hassidic sources, as well as psychoanalytic perspectives, to illuminate our exploration.
Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, one of today’s most original and compelling interpreters of biblical and rabbinic traditions, draws on modern insights from literature, psychology, and philosophy. Author of “Genesis: The Beginning of Desire,” for which she won the National Jewish Book Award, and “The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus,” and a new title, “The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious,” Zornberg teaches Torah to adults in institutions of higher learning throughout Jerusalem. She received a doctorate in English literature from Cambridge University.
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Rabbi David Greenspoon, Director of Congregational Programming. He can be reached via e-mail at david@bethelbalto.com, or at 410-484-0411.
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