Jewish Ideas to Change the World
Religion & Spirituality:Judaism
A virtual, five-part series presented by Professor Eitan P. Fishbane
About the event:
In what would become the legendary kabbalistic hilltop town of Tzfat in the 1500s—the birthplace of such timeless texts as Lekha Dodi and Yedid Nefesh; a location whose larger-than-life figures included such luminaries as Rabbi Yosef Karo, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria (the ARI), and many others— there unfolded one of the most remarkable chapters in the entire history of Judaism, and Jewish mysticism in particular. Through a variety of concerns, ideas, and genres of writing, the mystics of this time and place expressed a pronounced focus on the nature of the human self and spiritual psychology: its essence and character, its fundamental state of relationship to Divinity. In the sessions of this course, we will explore a range of these issues and modes of creativity as they appeared in sixteenth-century Tzfat. We will explore such major topics as Soul, Body, and Reincarnation (Gilgul); The Ethics and Piety of Self-Transformation (Kabbalistic Musar); Mystical Autobiography; Emotion, Feeling, and Mind. Please join us as we dive deeply into this fascinating and inspiring landscape of ideas, feelings, and spirituality!
About the Speaker:
Dr. Eitan Fishbane is a Professor of Jewish Thought at The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he has taught for 17 years. A 2015-2016 JTS Chancellor’s Fellow, Fishbane has served on the JTS Faculty Executive Committee; as a B.A. and M.A. Advisor in Jewish Thought; and on The Rabbinical School Council. He is a former Division Chair for Jewish Mysticism at the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS); current Chair of the Oxford Interfaith Forum on Mysticism; and Book Review Editor for Jewish Mysticism at The Marginalia Review of Books. He is the recipient of grants from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as well as the Charles A. Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). Among Professor Fishbane’s published books are: The Art of Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar (Oxford University Press, 2018); As Light Before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Stanford University Press, 2009); and, most recently, Embers of Pilgrimage (Panui Poetry Series, 2021). He is currently at work on several book projects, among them Shabbat in Ḥasidic Thought: Sacred Time and Mystical Consciousness; Self & Identity in Sixteenth-Century Kabbalah; and The Zohar as Mystical Poetry. In addition to these academic projects, Fishbane is working on a spiritual-theological commentary on the Torah cycle and the Jewish holidays, tentatively entitled, Written on the Heart: Meditations & Readings; and he is completing his second volume of original poetry, entitled, Soul Fragments. Fishbane received his Ph.D. and B.A., summa cum laude, from Brandeis University. Visit him at www.eitanfishbane.com.
AnaLucía Lopezrevodero - Celebrating Jewish-Latinx Dialogue and Community Growth!
Itzchak Evan-Shayish - Ha’Orot: The Universal Lights of Rav Kook - Class 2
Shmuly Yanklowitz - 39 Ways to Repair the World - Koteiv - Class 32
Michelle "Lani" Shiota - Awe: Perspectives from Psychological Science and Jewish Tradition
Mira Wasserman - Strangers in a Strange Text
Itzchak Evan-Shayish - Ha’Orot: The Universal Lights of Rav Kook - Class 1
Elliot Rabin - The Biblical Hero: Portraits in Nobility and Fallibility
Shmuly Yanklowitz - 39 Ways to Repair the World - Mechateich - Class 31
Shmuly Yanklowitz - The Ethics of Speech in the Social Media Age
Yakov Nagen - הרב ד"ר יעקב נגן | ישראל והאנושות הסיפור הגדול -
David Rosen - הרב דוד רוזן | יחסים בין הדתות -מטרות, הישגים ואתגרים
David Rosen - הרב דוד רוזן בעלייה לצדק
David Rosen - דיפלומטיה בין דתית מחצי האי ערב ובתוכו
Shmuly Yanklowitz - 39 Ways to Repair the World - Memacheik - Class 30
Noam Zion- Jewish Debates about Marital Intimacy
Evgenya Shkolnik - The Habitability of Our Nearest Exoplanet Neighbor and What Does It Mean to You
Roger Price - When Science Meets Judaism
Shmuly Yanklowitz - 39 Ways to Repair the World - Mesharteit - Class 29
Joy Ladin - The Soul of a Stranger
39 Ways to Repair the World - Class 28 - M'abaid
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Stories Of Hope With Tzipora Grodko
Inspiration for the Nation with Yaakov Langer
Meaningful People
For Heaven’s Sake
Unpacking Israeli History