Adult Bible Stories
TERRIBLE TENACH REDUX, with Jeffrey Rosen
IS THAT what is REALLY in the Bible? The Adult Education Committee is proud to announce a new class for the spring season which will shine a light on four different episodes from the Bible. The first two episodes are somewhat unfamiliar and troubling: the sexual trickery of the Judah and Tamar story from Genesis, and the wrenching sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter from Judges. The other two are instantly familiar from our first Sunday school classes, great art, and popular culture: David and Goliath from 1 Samuel, and Samson from Judges. But when stripped of their popular veneer and actually read in the Bible, these stories we have known from earliest childhood are not what we might recollect and have some darker corners.
This class will follow the format of prior Haftorot and Jewish Ghost Stories. The class involves detailed discussion and textual analysis of the materials described below in English but with occasional reference to the Hebrew. Class members should have a Bible with the passages being studied available for each class. Any translation is acceptable.
The class strives to be completely inclusive. No knowledge of Hebrew or Jewish texts is required. The class invites and encourages intensive discussion, references to comparable or analogous world literature, and continued questioning. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background or level of knowledge. Each class will begin at 4:00 PM on the dates indicated below and will last approximately one hour. Please check the Calendar for late changes.
