TRUTH & COMPASSION: THE DEEP WATERS OF T’SHUVAH
Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson
Sunday, Sept. 12, 7:30pm, registration required on ZOOM
To register in advance for this Zoom meeting click HERE. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The Book of Jonah is way more than a tale about a whale (or a big fish). God calls out to the prophet, and initially Jonah resisted his sacred mission. God faced Jonah with many truths along his path, and the situations in which he found himself required both compassion and critical analysis. This book of the Tanakh that is read as the haftarah on Yom Kippur afternoon gets us into the deep waters of t’shuvah.
Will we accept more responsibility as partners with God in a world that is full of conflict, complexities and, from human perspectives, truths? Are truth and compassion in conflict? Do we shift true consequences for the sake of compassion? Do we mute compassion for the sake of objective consequences?
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and Professor of Philosophy at the American Jewish University, will explore these profound questions in a careful reading of the Book of Jonah. Rabbi Artson holds the Roslyn and Abner Goldstine Dean’s Chair and is a master interpreter of our sacred canon.
Dr. Artson is particularly interested in theology, ethics, and the integration of science and religion. He mentors Camp Ramah in California in Ojai and Ramah of Northern California in the Bay Area. He is also dean of the Zacharias Frankel College in Potsdam, Germany, ordaining Conservative rabbis for Europe. A frequent contributor for the Times of Israel, the Forward, and a Contributing Writer for the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, he has a public figure Facebook page with over 70,000 likes. Rabbi Artson is the author of 12 books and over 250 articles, most recently Renewing the Process of Creation: A Jewish Integration of Science and Spirit. Married to Elana Artson, they are the proud parents of twins, Jacob and Shira.
There is much to discover in the narratives of our tradition, and Yonah’s story is particularly poignant when it comes to considering the spiritual work required of us during the Days of Awe. During the Yamim Noraim, each of us is called to assess our outlooks and understandings and take account of the sacred work we feel responsible for.
Join us for this year’s T’shuvah Lecture on Sunday, September 12th, 7:30pm, on ZOOM; registration required. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdOuhpjssGNx5ruZLmW3QGF5RyMipmOon