Midrash Before the Rabbis: Stories of Parents and Children

Rabbis have retold the stories of the Torah in radical ways as Midrash. But, as explained by Dr. Naomi Susan Schwartz Jacobs, an internationally recognized teacher and scholar of the Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism, that process began hundreds of years earlier.

The Book of Jubilees, found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, retells a large section of the Torah with numerous and dramatic changes. In this session we will examine how Jubilees retells stories of parents and children. Come and learn Jubilees’ version of how angels have children with human women, how Abraham separates himself from his father and how Abraham almost sacrifices his own son (hint: in Jubilees, the sacrifice is NOT God’s idea).

This class is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. March 7, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Congregation Bonai Shalom.