In congregations around the world, every fall, Jewish communities read the early chapters of the Book of Genesis, the first of the five books of Moses. One of these early stories is the story of Noah and the Ark. Many of us grew up on this story, played with miniature models of the ark, arranged the tiny paired animals and played make believe with the toy figures of the family of Noah. This fall, in a three-part education series, we will mine this story for what it has to say about climate crisis. We will ask the audacious question, “Are the lessons we learned from the Noah story actually helpful in this day and age?”
Session Two: Identifying some hidden sub-texts in the story of Noah
You can attend this session even if you did not attend Session One.
We are now going to study some contemporary perspectives on Noah. The resource for this session is a one hour video (half lecture, half questions and response) by
Rabbi Julia Watts Belser who is an Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Georgetown University. She is a Rabbi and a scholar who teaches theology and religion and works on disability and other justice issues. We will examine some of the sub-texts in the story of Noah. We will look for messages that we absorbed as younger people when we first encountered the story of Noah’s Ark that might or might not be helpful in this day and age.
What are some of Belser’s views on the Noah story?
If you were in dialogue with her what question or response would you want to lift up?
Assignment:
"Reading Noah’s Ark in the Age of Climate Change" Julia Watts Belser https://www.mtso.edu/theologicalcommons/archive-resources/reading-noahs-ark-in-the-age-of-climate-change/
Sessions 3 will be on December 17 at the same time.
This program is free, although a donation of $18 is suggested for guests who are not LHI members to attend these programs.
Information for this and all online events will automatically be sent to LHI members, who do not need to register.
LHI guests are welcome, and can request the Zoom information by registering here at least one day in advance, or contact us at info@leyvhair.org or 215-629-1995.
