Experiencing Tanach

Service Description

The Tanach records the lives of our heroic men and women to model for us holy behavior and inspire us in our relationship with Hashem. The stories guide us as we confront individual and national challenges and successes – whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. The stories are timeless and, therefore, always relevant, guiding us through both centuries of joy living in Eretz Yisrael and through periods of Exile, marked by desperation and confusion. We work at a serious disadvantage when we encounter these stories because we already know the end of each story all too well; the narratives have for us a character of inevitability and immutability, and this deprives us of the ability to understand the real emotions – fear, hope, courage, self-sacrifice – our extraordinary but still all-so-human ancestors experienced and harnessed as they faced the challenges – of Biblical proportions – of their lives, with no foreknowledge of the end of the story, whether for good or bad. We do our heroes and heroines a disservice when we forget that they were living these events in real time. All too often, we relate to them as 2-dimensional characters trapped in the boundaries of a story on a page, but our ancestors actually lived through these historic moments. In order for us to truly integrate the lessons available to us, we must step into their lives – understand their motivations and relate to their situations. Consider the struggle of Sarah who desperately waited for a child to continue the Torah legacy of Avraham’s house, only to watch as her maidservant stepped into the role; or of Rus who, after suddenly losing her husband, abandoned a life of regality and prosperity for a life of poverty within a foreign nation. Consider the Jewish people who, during the Purim story, faced the decree - in this world and in the heavenly realm - of complete annihilation; and Mordechai, the last hope for the Jewish people during this difficult time, appeared to be the cause of the looming destruction! This course will draw on the Meforshim, the writings of Chazal, and the Mussar seforim that give us deeper insight into the greatness and nuanced lives of our heroic ancestors. Elisheva Friedman is an instructor of Jewish Studies at Touro College and Founder and Executive Director of Livnos. Recordings will be available for this class. This course will be 10 sessions - Oct 30, Nov 13, 20, 27, Dec 4, 11, 18, 25, Jan 1, 8

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