Jewish Debates about Marital Intimacy

ABOUT THE EVENT: This class will explore the two-millenium Jewish debate on marital intimacy, from espionage in the Talmudic bedroom to the contentious ultra-Orthodox division of today.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Noam Zion is a Research Fellow of the Kogod Research Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute since 1978. He studied philosophy and holds degrees from Columbia University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He studied bible and rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Hartman Beit Midrash.

In the past, he led the Tichon program for North American Jewish educators and he teaches in Hartman Institute rabbinic programs: the Be’eri program for Israeli high school teachers and Hillel courses for the Hartman Institute’s iEngage program.

In addition, he also works with the Muslim Leadership Institute, the Hevruta gap year program for Israeli and American Jews, and the Angelica Ecumenical Studies program in collaboration with the Vatican University Angelicum in Rome.

He has developed study guides on bible, holidays and rabbinic ethics. In the past, he participated on the research team for the iEngage project. He published an extensive study guide on ethics in war that was completed during the campaign in Gaza.

His publications and worldwide lectures have focused on “homemade Judaism” – empowering families to create their own pluralistic Judaism during home holidays, including Pesach, Hanukkah, and Shabbat. His most popular publications include:

• A Different Night: The Family Participation Haggadah
• A Different Light: The Big Book of Hanukkah
• A Day Apart: Shabbat at Home
• Halaila Hazeh
•  A Night to Remember  (haggadah published together with his son, Mishael Zion)

His most recent academic research, published in 2013, was a trilogy on the intellectual history of philanthropy entitled Jewish Giving in Comparative Perspectives. The trilogy includes:

• From Each According to One’s Ability: Duties to Poor People from the Bible to the Welfare State and Tikkun Olam
• To Each According to One’s Social Needs: The Dignity of the Needy from Talmudic Tzedakah to Human Rights
• For the Love of God: Comparative Religious Motivations for Giving

Using that research, he has been conducting seminars on Jewish, Christian, and Greek models of giving for fundraisers, educators, and donors in North America.

Noam’s next publication will be a seven-part series on The Spouse and the Other Woman: Talmudic Marital Dramas.

LM

Marital Intimacy VBM one shot class on Sex Ed