Eyes That Cannot See, Lips That Cannot Speak: A Tragedy of Rabbinic Rivalry
Why does Torah study turn friends into enemies? What are the three fatal flaws of a rabbi? And how does a great rosh yeshiva end up killing the best student he ever had? Exploring the tragedy of R. Yohanan and R. Kahana though the Midrash and Talmud, Somerset Maugham and José Saramago, Martin Buber and Adin Steinsaltz.
Mirror, Mirror in the Temple: A Tale of Love and Liberation
Why is the Bible so afraid of love? Who were the lovers who saved the Jewish People? And how do the rabbis deconstruct one of the greatest myths of their time? A reading of Midrash Tanhuma Pekudei 9, through Ovid and Maharal, the Brothers Grimm and Jacques Lacan, George Orwell and Erich Fromm.
Like a Moth to a Flame: The Danger of Rabbinic Transgression
What makes rabbis so often fall into scandal? Can women prefer Torah to family life? And why does R. Meir allow a female congregant to spit in his face? A reading of PT Sotah 16:4, through Maimonides and Menachem de Lonzano, Ruth Calderon and Michelle Friedman, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Rabbi X.
“That Day His Soul Rested”: The Mercy Killing of Rebbe
Does the Talmud allow euthanasia? What happens when angels and mortals go head to head? And how does one broken jar cause the death of the great Rebbe? A reading of Ktubot 104a, through the Shulhan Arukh and Sefat Emet, Iggrot Moshe and Tzitz Eliezer, Carol Gilligan and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Abraham Joshua Heschel and Brittany Maynard.
When Rav Met Shmuel: A Chronicle of Rabbinic Hazing
What caused the political feud between the rabbis of Israel and Babylon? How, according to the Talmud, does one contract bowel disease? And why does Shmuel cruelly humiliate the man who would become his lifelong hevruta, the great Amora, Rav? Exploring the grotesque tale of Rav’s immigration to Babylon, through the Talmud and Midrash, the Geonim and Rishonim, Mikhail Bakhtin and Daniel Boyarin, Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Avraham Steinberg.
Unmasking the Women of the Talmud: The Tragedy of Heruta
Why are women divided into saintly and seductive? How does a married couple go for years without intimacy? And why must the wife dress up as a prostitute to show her husband who she really is? The domestic drama of R. Hiyya and his wife, read through Demosthenes and Nahmanides, Sigmund Freud and Oscar Wilde, Immanuel Kant and Martin Buber, Ruth Calderon and Mad Men.
Blind Date, Blind Faith, Blind Love: A Tale of a Mole and a Well
Who are the men of faith? What happens when you agree to marry someone you’ve never seen? And how do a mole and a well come to save a marriage? An exploration of the greatest love story of the Talmud, spanning the Bavli and Yerushalmi, the Brothers Grimm and William Shakespeare, Søren Kierkegaard and Thomas Hardy, Martin Buber and Erich Fromm.
Back to the Future: The Day Moshe Failed His Torah Class
Is Torah a product of divine revelation or human innovation? What happens when the receptivity of Moshe meets the creativity of R. Akiva? And why is Moshe told to “turn back” when going into the future? A postmodern reading of Menakhot 29b, traversing the Talmud and Midrash, Baal HaTanya and R. Nachman, Oscar Wilde and William James, Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin and Emmanuel Levinas.
The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic: The Tale of Yalta the Shrew
Why are shrews always so vicious? How did the ancient world view the male/female body? And what possessed Yalta to smash 400 bottles of her husband’s wine? The comic tale of Yalta, read through the Bible and Talmud, Aeschylus and Aristotle, Arabian Nights and Canterbury Tales, William Shakespeare and William Congreve, Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë.
The Man who Made It Rain: The Rise and Fall of Honi the Circle Drawer
Why do miracle-workers draw circles? When does prayer become witchcraft? And how does the greatest rainmaker of his time come to die of unbearable loneliness? An intertextual journey through the Bible and Midrash, Hippocrates and Josephus, Nahmanides and the Vilna Gaon, Nietzsche and Agnon, Heschel and Buber, trying to make sense of one of the most poignant stories of the Talmud.
“Heavens Give Me Patience”: Rabbi Yishmael, King Lear, and the Divine Tragedy
What’s the difference between the God of the Bible and the God of the Talmud? Who was the last man to see God? And how do we balance love and fear in our relationship with the Divine?
Exploring the omnipotence and vulnerability of God, through the talmudic tale of Rabbi Yishmael and King Lear.
Insidious Mother, Irresistible Murderess: The Righteous Temptress of the Bible
Why does the Bible always effect redemption through sexual transgression? Who are the women who seduce and redeem? And how do they tempt their prey? Exploring the stories of the six righteous temptresses through the Bible and Midrash, Bavli and Yerushalmi, Victor Turner and Simone de Beauvoir, Rabbi Soloveitchik and Game of Thrones.
“In the End of Days There Will Be No Death”: The Rabbi who Fooled the Grim Reaper
Is it fair to quarantine the contagiously ill? How does one identify a leper? And what happens when R. Yehoshua tries to disarm the Angel of Death? A reading of Ktubot 77b, through Michel Foucault and Susan Sontag, Rav Kook and R. Aryeh Levine, Monty Python and R. Sacks, José Saramago and Kaci Hickox.
Like a Dream: Honi the Supersleeper and the Utopian Fantasy
Why does every culture have a story of a hero who sleeps for years and wakes up to a utopian world? How does the Talmud rewrite this legend? And what does this subversion tell us of the rabbinic view of redemption? Exploring the legend of Honi the supersleeper through the Mishna and Talmud, Epimenides and the Seven Sleepers, King Arthur and Frederick Barbarossa, Rip Van Winkle and William Guest.
Dangerous Beauty: The Trial of the Black Widow of Mehoza
Why are so many pious men seduced by the sight of a beautiful woman? How many husbands must a woman lose before it becomes forbidden to marry her? And what causes the newly widowed Homa to be driven out of town? The tragedy of Homa, read through the Bible and Talmud, Homer and Spenser, Keats and Wilde, Simone de Beauvoir and Jessica Rabbit.
