Joel Hoffman
SESSION 1
Four Exiles and Four Spiritual Revolutions A whirlwind tour of 3,000 years of Judaism, focusing on three spiritual revolutions and the exiles that led to each, then the most recent revolution: modern Judaism. How are we, today, like the prophets and like the authors of the Talmud? How is 21st century New Zealand like the Golden Age of Spain? And what will we build for future generations?
SESSION 2
Three Thousand Years of Jewish Continuity as Seen Through Three Thousand Years of Hebrew The saga of Hebrew mirrors the continuity of the Jewish people. Three thousand years ago, an early experiment in writing changed the world. Then different dialects graced the Bible and our liturgy. After centuries of disuse, a fourth dialect arose in modern Israel. Learn how Hebrew began and how it has changed — and stayed the same — over the millennia.
SESSION 3
Will the Real Bible Please Stand Up? What does the Bible really say about violence? About marriage? About men and women? The Bible has been reinterpreted and misinterpreted almost from the day it was written, so most people reading the Bible now have very little sense of the original text. We'll peel back 2,000 years of revisionism and take alook at the Bible as it originally was.