CONGREGATION SHA'AR ZAHAV

 Torah without Gloves:  Digging Deep and Getting Dirty

with Rabbi Dev Noily

Eight sessions beginning Monday, October 4th, with a preparatory session September 27th)6:45 – 8:00 p.m.      Series:  $64 members, $80 non-members Register: regina@shaarzahav.org

This class is about digging into Torah with our own hands, down and dirty, peeking behind the veil of translations.  So much of Torah is revealed (or concealed) in the language of Biblical Hebrew itself.  From the sweepingly conceptual (Biblical Hebrew reckons time in a radically different way) to the seemingly trivial (a tiny dot may be the only remnant of a disappeared letter, unlocking the root, and meaning, of a word) Biblical Hebrew is a portal to a particular intimacy with Torah.

 This is a class not in Biblical Hebrew, but about Biblical Hebrew.  You’ll learn how the language works, without having to learn the language.  We’ll learn to recognize patterns, clues and cues that can get us in close to the text itself.  We’ll study multiple English translations of a biblical text in order to lay bare the ambiguities in the Hebrew.  And we’ll begin to explore how these very ambiguities are both the playground and breeding ground for the brilliantly creative and deeply spiritual enterprise of rabbinic midrash, including Zohar.  

 If you know the Hebrew alef-bet, come to the first session on October 4^th.  If you don’t know the alef-bet, come to the preparatory session on September 27^th.