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Link to Past Events

April 2021

The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization Series for the Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning Program at Case Western Reserve University event on April 28 will focus on The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization Volume 1, Ancient Israel, from Its Beginnings through 332 BCE, edited by Jeffrey H. Tigay and Adele Berlin, and will feature a lecture by Alison Joseph, Author, Biblical Scholar, and Senior Editor of The Posen Library of Jewish Civilization and Culture and will be moderated by Deborah Dash Moore, Editor-in-Chief of the Posen Library; Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Professor of Judaic Studies, University of Michigan and Gila Silverman, Director of Jewish Lifelong Learning, Siegal Lifelong Learning, Case Western Reserve University.

For two thousand years, Jews and Christians have been reading the Hebrew Bible. Are there new ways to read it in the 21st century? To uncover what’s new in this ancient document, join Alison Joseph, in conversation with Deborah Dash Moore, as they discuss what can be learned about the Torah laws when you set them alongside non-biblical legal documents of the period? How does reading Miriam’s song next to Deborah’s song change how we understand these pieces of poetry? What can artifacts of this period show us about daily life in ancient Israel—its religious practices, household tasks, architecture, and art? Explore how we can read the Bible today in relation to the development of Judaism from ancient times to the present.

Alison Joseph brings her academic expertise in Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism to The Posen Library. She earned her Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and her M.A. in Jewish Studies from Emory University. Her first book Portrait of the Kings: The Davidic Prototype in Deuteronomistic Poetics received the 2016 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise.

Deborah Dash Moore is the Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. An American Jewish historian, her work focuses on urban Jews. She is the editor in chief of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization. She also served as co-editor of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 10: Late Twentieth Century, 1973-2005.

Gila Silverman is Director of Jewish Lifelong Learning, Siegal Lifelong Learning. An educator, researcher and writer, she holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Vassar College, and a master’s in public health and a PhD in sociocultural and medical anthropology, both from the University of Arizona. Most recently, Silverman has been a visiting scholar with the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies.