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Sep 30, 2012
Sep 10, 2012
Good discussion topic
King David amongst the Philistines, or how to trick your way into power when you don't have authority. Note: men in the bible do this along with women.
Sep 9, 2012
Study of II Samuel is Coming Oct 3
Stay tuned as we pick up our study of King David and all the assorted siblings, soldiers, children, wives and mothers. On October 3rd join us for II Samuel, Chapter 1 & 2. Read David's poignant lament over the deaths of Jonathan and Saul, and learn about his first days as King over Judah.
Jul 15, 2012
Wednesday July 18 Ruth starting with Ch 2
Jul 7, 2012
Study with Penina - Ruth - Wednesday July 11
We will study Ruth in detail in two classes. We will read through the text and consider issues of identity (both loss and change), redemption, affliction by YHWH, the role of women in transforming society, love between women, Naomi as a Jobian figure, the significance of the book of Ruth in the biblical narrative, the place of both Ruth and Boaz in the genealogy of King David.
Jun 17, 2012
Wednesday, June 20 Rebecca
We will study Rebecca and consider to what extent she is (or is not) shown in the text to be much like Abraham.
We did a short study at Shavuot; this will be more intensive. The text for the class can be found here.Jun 3, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 7:30pm, 1 Samuel Chapter 31 and 2 Samuel Chapter 1
-------Marc Chagall The Death of Saul
Join us as we finish the first book of Samuel (it really finishes with 2 Samuel Ch 1).
Cry with us as we say goodbye to Saul whom we have come to know.
As we study David's famous elegy over the slain Saul and Jonathan, question with us, "Who is David?"
"Thy beauty, O Israel,
Upon thy high places is slain.
How the mighty are fallen."
--- 2 Samuel 1:19
“David’s story has a way of shifting out from under us.
It is a story that refuses to be tamed, secured, or neatly ordered.”
--David M. Gunn and Danna Nolan Fewell. Narrative in the Hebrew Bible.
May 12, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 7:30pm, 1 Samuel Chapters 28-29
The Witch of Endor Raising the Spirit of Samuel, 1800, by William Blake
Clipped on 12-May-2012, from Drawing Life by Fred Hatt
Chapter 28 is the story of the ghost-wife, or necromancer, also called the Witch of Endor, who conjures Samuel up from the grave in response to Saul's plea. Some commentators feel this story is the basis for the witches in Macbeth.
"This woman has defied the decree against calling the dead [Lev 20-27; Deut 18:10-11] and is still adept at her trade. This story sets the stage for centuries of Jewish women's spiritual arts that were banished underground but somehow managed to survive...Talking directly to God, the spirit world, the dead and angels bypasses the traditional authority structure. It is a rebellious act. It circumvents the authority of the king, the priests, and the institutional prophets."
"How ironic that an unnamed woman, practicing an illegal craft, becomes advisor to the king!"
-----Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael in The Women's Haftarah Commentary
Wednesday, May 2, 1 Samuel Chapters 26-28
------Elizabeth Cady Stanton The Woman's Bible (1898)
David, as a man who is sincere but hardly a saint, has through the ages provided a powerful model for repentance...He emerges from Samuel as a humble and humbled king, who points the way to the possibilities of genuine change."
------Everett Fox Give us a King
He is also, from the start, quite calculating, and it can scarcely be an accident that until the midpoint of his story every one of his utterances, without exception, is made on a public occasion and arguably is contrived to serve his political interests." He is "constantly prepared to do almost anything in order to survive."
------Robert Alter The David Story
To seek clearly circumscribed definitions in this text is to be frustrated at every turn. What is a king, a priest, a military leader, and what is the difference? That question is the story of Samuel and Saul. What is an assassin, what is a politician, and what is the difference? That is the story of David.
------Regina Schwartz in "Not in Heaven"
Apr 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 1 Samuel Chapter 25 (maybe more)
"Abigail is an extraordinary woman who is ready to take risks in order to save her husband
and household members from David's wrath."
--Shulamit Valler
"Neither Michal nor Abigail seem to have made idols of their husbands;
they did not even consult them as to what they should think, say, or do.
They furnish a good example to wives to use their own judgment and
to keep their own secrets, not make the family altar a constant confessional."
--Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1898)
Wednesday, April 4, 1 Samuel Chapters 23 and 24
1 S 24:16 "Saul said: 'Is this thy voice, my son David?' And Saul lifted up his voice and wept."
"Despite Sha'ul's failures and his subsequent descent into monomaniacal pursuit of David, there is something that leads many readers to view the first king of Israel not as evil, but as tragically marred...Sha'ul is not a misfit but a 'mighty' warrior who has fallen, surely not a cause for rejoicing."
----Everett Fox
Feb 24, 2012
1 Samuel 21 and 22 - March 21 at 7:30pm
Wednesday, February 29, 1 Samuel Chapter 20
Wednesday, March 21: Chapters 21 and 22
King David feigns madness before Achish (1 Sam 21:14-16)
"It is noteworthy that David feigns madness in order to survive, in contrast to Saul, whose genuine madness reflects his loss of control over the kingdom."
---Robert Alter
"It is noteworthy that David feigns madness in order to survive, in contrast to Saul, whose genuine madness reflects his loss of control over the kingdom."
---Robert Alter
Feb 11, 2012
What's Love Got to Do with It? David and His Lovers
Wednesday, February 15, we read 1 Samuel Chapters 18 and 19 in English
The theme for Chapters 18 and 19 is "What's Love Got to Do with It" (thank you Tina Turner!)
Michal helps David to escape from Saul
In Chapter 16:21, we already learned that Saul loved David: "And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly."
In our next study session, we will read that Saul's children loved David.
18:1 "And it came to pass...that the soul [nefesh] of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."
18:20 "And Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David.
Did David love anyone? Does the text place more emphasis on Jonathan's love for David than Michal's, although both of them save David's life? Join our reading and discussion next Wednesday.
Jan 28, 2012
Study with Penina - 1 Samuel 16 and 17 - February 1 at 7:30pm - RSVP
Wednesday, February 1, we read 1 Samuel Chapters 16 and 17 in English
In Chapter 16 we at last meet David, soon to be King, a contradictory and complex characater.
"The Bible certainly does not idealize him, but he is all the more appealing for that. No bit of human hope and despair, bravura and foolishness and bitter melancholy, smoldering hatred and deepest love, is foreign to him."
--James Kugel
As recent interpreters have pointed out, he is a man whose feelings are often hidden from us, a man who is acclaimed and loved by others (including his readers) but of whom it is never said that he loves anyone...David, as a man who is sincere but hardly a saint, has through the ages provided a powerful model for repentance...He emerges from Samuel as a humble and humbled king, who points the way to the possibilities of genuine change."
---Everett Fox
And stay tuned: in Chapter 18, to be read on February 15, we will meet two of the people who love David, Jonathan and Michal.
In Chapter 16 we at last meet David, soon to be King, a contradictory and complex characater.
"The Bible certainly does not idealize him, but he is all the more appealing for that. No bit of human hope and despair, bravura and foolishness and bitter melancholy, smoldering hatred and deepest love, is foreign to him."
--James Kugel
As recent interpreters have pointed out, he is a man whose feelings are often hidden from us, a man who is acclaimed and loved by others (including his readers) but of whom it is never said that he loves anyone...David, as a man who is sincere but hardly a saint, has through the ages provided a powerful model for repentance...He emerges from Samuel as a humble and humbled king, who points the way to the possibilities of genuine change."
---Everett Fox
And stay tuned: in Chapter 18, to be read on February 15, we will meet two of the people who love David, Jonathan and Michal.
Jan 15, 2012
1 Samuel 14:24 - 15:35 : Study with Penina January 18
Wednesday, January 18, we read 1 Samuel Chapters 14:24 -15:35 in English
----P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.
1 Samuel Chapter 15:
22 But Samuel said [to Saul]:
"Does YHWH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obedience to the command of YHWH?
Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,
Compliance than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
Defiance, like the iniquity of teraphim.
Because you rejected the command of YHWH, [YHWH] has rejected you as king."
----P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.
1 Samuel Chapter 15:
22 But Samuel said [to Saul]:
"Does YHWH delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
As much as in obedience to the command of YHWH?
Surely, obedience is better than sacrifice,
Compliance than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
Defiance, like the iniquity of teraphim.
Because you rejected the command of YHWH, [YHWH] has rejected you as king."
Nov 24, 2011
Making a Collage of Learning
Sometimes when we study together our texts from Samuel, I forget what it's like to be a student coming into a class. One of the things I have learned, but have not conveyed to everyone, is how "aha" moments come when we make a collage of our learning. When I studied Hasidism with Natan Margalit, I learned that the Hasids would bring together passages and comments from various sources and interpret them harmoniously, engaging “in a calculated creative misreading or reinterpretation of the entire received and accepted body of previous Jewish traditions." (Art Green in Teachings of the Hasidic Masters in Back to the Sources: Readings in Classic
Jewish Texts, pg. 371.)
Well, I'm not talking now about pulling together the entire body of Jewish learning, but I do want to talk about keeping your ears open for unexpected connections. The Talmud tells us to make our "ear like the hopper and get...a perceptive heart to understand." (bT Hagigah 3b)
Look (listen) for unexpected connections between different learning opportunities and collage them together in your perceptive heart. Here is an example, and what made me think of writing this blog post. I recently attended a weekend retreat sponsored by Nehirim. You might do the same, attend a retreat, go to a Shabbaton, or take classes - the point is to make connections between classes or workshops on seemingly unrelated topics. My friend Zvi Bellin gave a workshop on "Embracing Freedom and Responsibility" in which he introduced a text from Viktor Frankl.
“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back." (Quoted by Goodreads.com -- Viktor E. Frankl, "Logotherapy in a Nutshell", Man's Search for Meaning.)
Wow! I thought. Such a clear description - some days I do see the calendar getting thinner, but I don't live there. However, I know someone whose outlook on life is always glass half empty, who faces life with the sure knowledge that all past sufferings weigh upon this moment, and are a guarantor of nothing but future suffering. No exit, no way out.
Then I went over to another workshop, a discussion of parashat Vayerah (Gen 18:1-22.24), led by Irwin Keller. We focused on the Akeda, the story of Abraham and the almost-sacrifice of Isaac his son. Amidst discussing the thorny issues of whether Abraham passed or failed his test, where Sarah was, and whether Isaac was traumatized for the rest of his (nearly invisible) life, we pondered what it meant, that at the critical moment, when the knife was raised, Abraham looked up and found the ram to sacrifice in place of his son.
What if Abraham had been a pessimist? He might have said to the angel: "I looked up before and nothing happened. You destroyed Sodom despite my best efforts." (Gen 18:16-19:29) Or he might have said: "You forced me to send my first born, Ishmael, out into the wilderness. I loved that boy." (Gen 21:9-23) Indeed, Abraham might have said, "Why should I listen to you now when you just put this knife in my hand?" The point is, Abraham was not a pessimist; he had faith that there was going to be a better path to follow.
So connecting the two texts, Frankl with Vayerah, the teaching of Zvi with the teaching of Irwin, I learned that a pessimist, a dyed in the wool pessimist if you will, never looks up! The pessimist, whether spoken to by an angel of YHVH or by a friend, is incapable of looking up. The pessimist never finds the ram in the thicket, but is constrained to continually (metaphorically we hope) slay the person or thing she loves. And why is this so enlightening? Because there is a pessimist who is near and dear to me, whom I have been unable to help, who will not look up when I try to show her the ram, and who sometimes points the knife in my direction. By having an ear like a hopper (taking in everything), and a perceptive heart (to learn), I was suddenly freed from a huge weight of misery. She can't help who she is. I can listen, I can be sympathetic, but I no longer have to feel burdened with the impossible job of changing her outlook on life.
Thank you Zvi and Irwin for bringing me this teaching.
Well, I'm not talking now about pulling together the entire body of Jewish learning, but I do want to talk about keeping your ears open for unexpected connections. The Talmud tells us to make our "ear like the hopper and get...a perceptive heart to understand." (bT Hagigah 3b)
Look (listen) for unexpected connections between different learning opportunities and collage them together in your perceptive heart. Here is an example, and what made me think of writing this blog post. I recently attended a weekend retreat sponsored by Nehirim. You might do the same, attend a retreat, go to a Shabbaton, or take classes - the point is to make connections between classes or workshops on seemingly unrelated topics. My friend Zvi Bellin gave a workshop on "Embracing Freedom and Responsibility" in which he introduced a text from Viktor Frankl.
“The pessimist resembles a man who observes with fear and sadness that his wall calendar, from which he daily tears a sheet, grows thinner with each passing day. On the other hand, the person who attacks the problems of life actively is like a man who removes each successive leaf from his calendar and files it neatly and carefully away with its predecessors, after first having jotted down a few diary notes on the back." (Quoted by Goodreads.com -- Viktor E. Frankl, "Logotherapy in a Nutshell", Man's Search for Meaning.)
Wow! I thought. Such a clear description - some days I do see the calendar getting thinner, but I don't live there. However, I know someone whose outlook on life is always glass half empty, who faces life with the sure knowledge that all past sufferings weigh upon this moment, and are a guarantor of nothing but future suffering. No exit, no way out.
Then I went over to another workshop, a discussion of parashat Vayerah (Gen 18:1-22.24), led by Irwin Keller. We focused on the Akeda, the story of Abraham and the almost-sacrifice of Isaac his son. Amidst discussing the thorny issues of whether Abraham passed or failed his test, where Sarah was, and whether Isaac was traumatized for the rest of his (nearly invisible) life, we pondered what it meant, that at the critical moment, when the knife was raised, Abraham looked up and found the ram to sacrifice in place of his son.
10And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. 11Then an angel of YHVH called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” 12And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” 13When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. (Gen 22:10-13)
What if Abraham had been a pessimist? He might have said to the angel: "I looked up before and nothing happened. You destroyed Sodom despite my best efforts." (Gen 18:16-19:29) Or he might have said: "You forced me to send my first born, Ishmael, out into the wilderness. I loved that boy." (Gen 21:9-23) Indeed, Abraham might have said, "Why should I listen to you now when you just put this knife in my hand?" The point is, Abraham was not a pessimist; he had faith that there was going to be a better path to follow.
So connecting the two texts, Frankl with Vayerah, the teaching of Zvi with the teaching of Irwin, I learned that a pessimist, a dyed in the wool pessimist if you will, never looks up! The pessimist, whether spoken to by an angel of YHVH or by a friend, is incapable of looking up. The pessimist never finds the ram in the thicket, but is constrained to continually (metaphorically we hope) slay the person or thing she loves. And why is this so enlightening? Because there is a pessimist who is near and dear to me, whom I have been unable to help, who will not look up when I try to show her the ram, and who sometimes points the knife in my direction. By having an ear like a hopper (taking in everything), and a perceptive heart (to learn), I was suddenly freed from a huge weight of misery. She can't help who she is. I can listen, I can be sympathetic, but I no longer have to feel burdened with the impossible job of changing her outlook on life.
Thank you Zvi and Irwin for bringing me this teaching.
Oct 29, 2011
Study with Penina 1 Samuel 7-8, November 2, 7:30pm RSVP
1 Samuel Chapters 7-8
Wednesday, November 2, 7:30pm to 9pm. Eitz Chayim library.
Bring your Tanakh, snacks, wine.
RSVPs appreciated
Books provided if you don't have your own.
Review and study material can be found on Penina's blog
See New York Times article in links: "The Scrolls as a Start, Not an End"
We meet each 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening to study the book of Samuel.See New York Times article in links: "The Scrolls as a Start, Not an End"
Oct 17, 2011
Study with Penina 1 Samuel 5-7 October 19, 7:30pm
1 Samuel Chapters 5-7
Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm to 9pm. Eitz Chayim library.
Bring your tanach, snacks, wine.
RSVPs appreciated
Books provided if you don't have your own.
Review and study material can be found on Penina's blog
Throughout the year we will meet each 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening to study the book of Samuel.
And they placed the Coffer of YHWH on the wagon,
along with the chest and the gold mice and the images of their tumors.
And the cows went-straight on the road, on the road to Bet Shemesh:
on one path they went, going-along (and) lowing,
but they did not turn right or left.
---1 Sam 6:11-12 (Fox translation)
"Against the spareness and swift efficiency of normal Hebrew narrative style, the writer here lavishes synonyms and repetitions in order to highlight the perfect geometry of the miracle: against all conceivable distractions of biology or sheer animal unknowingness, the cows pursue an arrow-straight...trajectory... [T]he milch cows...are going strenuously against nature: their udders full of milk for the calves they have been forced to leave behind."
---Robert Alter, The David Story
Oct 2, 2011
October 5, 2011 Study Session
Study with Penina Announcement
1 Samuel Chapters 3-5
Wednesday, October 5, 7:30pm to 9pm. Eitz Chayim library.
Bring your tanach, snacks, wine.
No prior study or knowledge of text study or Hebrew is required!
Books provided if you don't have your own.
Throughout the year we will meet each 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening to study the book of Samuel.
YHWH said to Shemu'el:
Here, I am about to do a thing in Israel
such that all who hear of it - their two ears will ring!
---1 Sam 3:11 (Fox translation)
I will do such things,--
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.
---King Lear
Leaders fail in Samuel, "and it is in confronting their failures that the reader is empowered to ponder the meaning of responsibility and leadership for our own time. The narratives...unfold in a way that cautions human beings about the exercise of power and takes offenders to task."
---Everett Fox
"Women play a larger role in the books of Samuel than in most of the rest of the Bible... It has, in fact, been suggested that one of the major themes of the stories of David and his family is precisely the unavoidable link between public and private life within a ruling family."
---Jo Ann Hacket
1 Samuel Chapters 3-5
Wednesday, October 5, 7:30pm to 9pm. Eitz Chayim library.
Bring your tanach, snacks, wine.
No prior study or knowledge of text study or Hebrew is required!
Books provided if you don't have your own.
Throughout the year we will meet each 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening to study the book of Samuel.
YHWH said to Shemu'el:
Here, I am about to do a thing in Israel
such that all who hear of it - their two ears will ring!
---1 Sam 3:11 (Fox translation)
I will do such things,--
What they are, yet I know not: but they shall be
The terrors of the earth.
---King Lear
Leaders fail in Samuel, "and it is in confronting their failures that the reader is empowered to ponder the meaning of responsibility and leadership for our own time. The narratives...unfold in a way that cautions human beings about the exercise of power and takes offenders to task."
---Everett Fox
"Women play a larger role in the books of Samuel than in most of the rest of the Bible... It has, in fact, been suggested that one of the major themes of the stories of David and his family is precisely the unavoidable link between public and private life within a ruling family."
---Jo Ann Hacket
Sep 8, 2011
Notes from Class 9/7/11 - Deeper look at Nefesh and "After she/they ate"
Nefesh – Beth related Hannah's bitter nefesh to Creation –
The actual language in Gen 1:7 is that God breathes into the nostrils of the adam the breath of life: nishmat chayyim. This life force that comes from God is not so different from nefesh perhaps, so the idea that Beth expressed, that Hannah’s bitter nefesh comes from feeling she is without God’s lifegiving force is still an informative connection.
1 Samuel 1:9:
וַתָּקָם חַנָּה, אַחֲרֵי אָכְלָה בְשִׁלֹה וְאַחֲרֵי שָׁתֹה
This verse is translated in several ways:
Robert Alter The David Story
And Hannah arose after the eating in Shiloh and after the drinking.
Alter says (The Art of Biblical
Narrative, note on page 83): “I vocalize ‘eating’ differently than does the
Masoretic text, which seems to make Hannah the subject, something
contraindicated by the indication that she is breaking a fast in verse 18.”
Everett Fox Give us a King (no annotation)
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