Scholar Lectures
Mimi Epstein Memorial Lecture
Daniel C. Matt
How the Zohar Reimagines God
Saturday, February 20, 2010
3:00 p.m.
Join us for the afternoon portion of our 25 Hours of Shabbat program.
Visit http://www.temple-isaiah/25hrsofshabbat for more information about the entire program.
Daniel Matt, one of the world’s foremost authorities on Kabbalah, will discuss the Zohar—a massive mystical commentary on the Torah that has amazed readers ever since it emerged mysteriously in medieval Spain in the 13th century.
Professor Matt will explain how the Zohar conceives and reimagines God. Among the topics he will explore are: Ein Sof (God as Infinity) and Shekhinah (the feminine divine presence). Daniel will also teach passages from his award-winning translation of the Zohar, demonstrating how this mystical work reveals new facets of Torah and new dimensions of divine reality. This event is free and open to the public.
Daniel C. Matt is has published ten books, including the best-selling The Essential Kabbalah (translated into six languages); Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment; Zohar: Annotated and Explained; and God and the Big Bang: Discovering Harmony between Science and Spirituality. He also edited a volume devoted to his father entitled: Walking Humbly with God: The Life and Writings of Rabbi Hershel Jonah Matt. Daniel is currently engaged in an immense project of translating and annotating the Zohar, the masterpiece of Kabbalah. For this work, Daniel has been honored with a National Jewish Book Award and a Koret Jewish Book Award. The Koret award called his translation “a monumental contribution to the history of Jewish thought.” Dr. Matt received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and for twenty years served as professor of Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has also taught at Stanford University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1998-2002 he lived in Jerusalem, working on the first volumes of his Zohar translation.
Earlier this year…
Stanley R. Harris Memorial Lecture
Rabbi Samuel Broude
Listening for the Voice
Sunday, January 24, 2010
4:00 p.m. Reception; 5:00 p.m. Performance
Listening for the Voice is an original monodrama consisting of vignettes from Rabbi Samuel Broude’s experiences in Cheder (six years), Yeshiva (eight years), HUC (four years), singing in Chicago and Los Angeles and struggling with the decision to become a rabbi (does one “choose” to be a rabbi or is one “chosen?). While essentially serious, Listening for the Voice uses humor and songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and English to take us from childhood to adulthood and from Orthodox to Reform (in only thirty-six years!). This event is free and open to the public.
Rabbi Samuel G. Broude is a native Chicagoan. He received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and attended Hebrew Theological College (Chicago Yeshiva), College of Jewish Studies. He served as Cantor at University Synagogue in Los Angeles from 1951 to 1958, and was ordained as Rabbi at Hebrew Union College in 1960. Rabbi Broude served as Associate Rabbi at Fairmount Temple in Cleveland, Ohio for six years, and is Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Sinai, Oakland, where he served his congregation for 23 years. Rabbi Broude also teaches Temple Isaiah’s Encountering Judaism class.
Frances Bobbie Collen Memorial Lecture
Rabbi Eric Weiss, Executive Director, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center
Awe and Everyday Life: Exploring the Spiritual
Sunday, October 18, 2009
4:00-6:00 p.m.
The Bay Area Jewish Healing Center is dedicated to providing Jewish spiritual care to those living with illness, to those caring for the ill, and to the bereaved through direct service, education and training, and information and referral. Established in 1991 as the nation’s first Jewish healing center, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center provides chaplaincy and support services to anyone who wants to see a rabbi, regardless of affiliation or financial resources.
Rabbi Eric Weiss was born and raised in Los Angeles. He holds a BA with honors in Judaic Studies and Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He holds a masters in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College and was ordained in 1989. He is formally trained in Jewish education, clinical chaplaincy and spiritual direction.