T’shuvah Lecture with Prof. A.J. Berkovitz, Ph.D.
The sound of Psalms fills the High Holy Days season. Why? What about this ancient collection of poetry compels believers to return to it each year?
This year’s T’shuvah Lecture will focus on the historical and affective dimensions of the book of Psalms. We will explore where the psalms come from, what they have meant to Jews in the past, how they were used, and why their words remain ever relevant and inspiring today.
Prof. A.J. Berkovitz is a scholar of Jewish Antiquity at Hebrew Union College. His research explores Jewish texts, traditions and history from the formation of the Hebrew Bible until the rise of Islam. He received his Ph.D. in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity from Princeton University and a B.A. and M.A. in Jewish Studies/Bible from Yeshiva University. His forthcoming book, A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity, explores the history of Psalm reception in late ancient Judaism through the lenses of materiality, exegesis, liturgy, piety, and magic. He is also the co-editor of Rethinking ‘Authority’ in Late Antiquity: Authorship, Law, and Transmission in Jewish and Christian Tradition and the author of over 30 scholarly articles and popular essays. He was a Starr Fellow at Harvard and a Wexner Graduate Fellow.