A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg
Please note event times are listed in MT.
EVENT CO-SPONSORED BY: Congregation Ner Tamid, Own Your Judaism, Temple Beth Sholom & Temple Har Shalom
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Judaism envisions a messianic future in which our world is transformed into a paradise for humanity and all forms of life, overcoming poverty, hunger, oppression, inequality, war, and sickness. This vision rests on a covenant — a brit, or partnership, between God and humanity to repair and renew both nature and society.
This class explores three eras in the evolution of that covenant. In Biblical Judaism, God plays a dominant and visible role. In Rabbinic Judaism, God recedes from the foreground, calling humans to assume greater responsibility. In our present era, God is hidden yet fully present, working through human beings and the laws of nature. The future depends on our choices: humanity has the power both to advance redemption and to endanger the world. What is the role of God in this new era, and what responsibilities does this place on us? We will explore the Jewish people's calling to serve as a model and partner in the ongoing work of world repair and redemption.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
In the words of Professor Steven T Katz, chair of the Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies at Boston University, “No Jewish thinker has had a greater impact on the American Jewish community in the last two decades than Rabbi Yitz Greenberg.”
Rabbi Dr. Irving Greenberg (known affectionately as “Rav Yitz”) is perhaps our time’s leading Jewish scholar and theologian. An author of many influential books on Jewish thought, ethics, and philosophy, Rav Yitz is the Past President of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and Past President of Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. Before these positions, he served as Rabbi of the Riverdale Jewish Center, was an Associate Professor of History at Yeshiva University, and was the founder, chairman, and Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies of City College of the City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and received ordination from Yeshiva Beis Yosef.
Rabbi Greenberg is a singular leader of contemporary American Judaism, having shown leadership on many vital Jewish communal initiatives from the 1960s to the present. He served as Chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and has written extensively on the complexity of post-Holocaust theology as well as Jewish pluralism about the theology of Jewish-Christian relations and beyond.