Shavuot, the Festival of Torah at Oak Park Temple (with Temple Har Zion)
Lecture and service also on Zoom
The Zoom link can be found in your email or on this logged in members only page...

Deadline to RSVP for dinner is Friday June 7, 11:00 am
 

Overview:
5:30pm - Children’s program (pre-K to 5th)
6:00pm - Lasagna dinner (RSVP required)
6:30pm - Ice cream oneg
7:15pm - Lecture with Professor Simeon Chavel
8:30pm - Service with Rabbi Kirzane, Cantor Valdman, and Cantor Figa
9:00pm - Cheesecake oneg
9:30pm - Torah Study with Professor Simeon Chavel

Note: Everyone is welcome to come to SOME or ALL of these events.

Shavuot is the festival of celebrating Torah and includes the traditions of dairy food and late-night study. Our featured scholar this year is Simeon Chavel, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Professor Chavel was a teacher and mentor of Rabbi Kirzane, who recently earned an MA in Religious Studies from the UC Divinity School, and has graciously accepted this invitation to teach.

Lecture—Biblical criticism: What does law have to do with it?

This lecture will outline three different histories found in the Torah. Each history posits a different mission for Israel, a different experience with God at the mountain, a different idea about what God's law is for, and a different set of specific laws. How do these disparate histories interact with each other and impact our own understanding of law in the Torah?

Torah Study—The Scroll of Ruth as Biblical Midrash

In this class we will examine three completely different legal topics in the Torah: levirate marriage, land redemption, and land inheritance. Then we will see how the Book of Ruth, the traditional text for Shavuot, interprets them and integrates them into a single complex legal topic, without ever saying so and only for the purpose of building the plot. What is the role of law in storytelling, and how does storytelling come to affect our understanding of law?

Simeon Chavel is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He researches the history, literature, and religion of ancient Israel and Judah. He writes and teaches on a wide range of topics, from prophecy, poetry, and ancient law to race and disability. He received his PhD in Biblical Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.