The Ongoing Process: Fashioning New Tablets - The 92nd Street Y, New York

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The Shattered Tablets: Jewish Spiritual Struggles with Modernity

The Ongoing Process: Fashioning New Tablets

Feb 14, 1984


Gerson D. Cohen, Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, speaks about ongoing confrontations with modernity, both individual and collective. This lecture is the final part of a series exploring religious confrontation with modernity. This series was organized by 92NY in collaboration with the Radius Institute. Cohen reflects on the idea of the “process” of interpreting Jewish law. He references the nineteenth-century scholar Isaac Hirsch Weiss, who wrote an extensive history of the early “exegesis,” or interpretation, of scripture. Cohen argues that, even in the contemporary world, “if we are to understand how the Torah was understood,” it is important to first understand the “rules and principles of the process.” Following the lecture John Ruskay, director of education at 92NY, and Rabbi Steve Shaw, founder of the Radius Institute, moderate a conversation with Cohen, including questions from the audience.

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