Out of respect for our speaker, we will not be livestreaming the lectures. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you can join us in person for the communal learning

In the Sanctuary at 11:15 am, during Services: Like a Dream: Honi the Supersleeper and the Utopian Fantasy
Why does every culture – from ancient myth to medieval folktale to modern science fiction – 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 Mishnah and Talmud, Epimenides and the Seven Sleepers, King Arthur and Frederick Barbarossa, Rip Van Winkle and William Guest.

In the Chapel at 12:30 pm: 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 Rabbi Akiva? And why is Moshe told to “turn back” when going into the future? A postmodernist 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.