By Rabbi David Fohrman / A Multi-Week Series Beginning Sunday, May 18th
We often don’t give that much thought to the Book of Esther. We pay attention to it for a week or two before Purim, mostly in connection with questions not much more profound than which one of its characters we’d like to dress up as this year. But just beneath the surface, lies a story within a story with profound implications for the way each of us lives our life and manages our relationships with those who count.
In this series, we will take a hard, pragmatic look at the tale that is told in the Book of Esther – asking ourselves how the story could have ended differently, and what it means to us that it in fact, does not end in these ways. Along the way, we will trace themes and threads that will take us back to the Books of Genesis, Numbers, Judges, and Samuel – and will find, quite astoundingly, that the Book of Esther represents a kind of culmination of all them. Join us for what promises to be a very exciting journey.
If you like, you can listen to the lectures free of charge, each week, from your computer (just click on the "Listen Now" button, below). To listen to previous weeks in the series, or to download the lectures so that you "own" them, you will need to become a subscriber (click here to find out how to subscribe). Subscribers can also download full lecture outlines, accompanying powerpoint presentations, and source notes.
Subscribers get access to all upcoming classes and companion materials (powerpoints, lecture outlines, source notes), and will also get permanent access to all previous classes in our current series. Click here to find out how to subscribe, or here to find out more about how the classes work.
You can listen to each week's lecture free of charge. To do so, just click on the link above. To download the lecture or any of the other companion materials, though, you'll need to subscribe.
Subscribers get companion materials, too. These include weekly slide shows, full lecture outlines, and source notes in English and Hebrew.
Don't worry about falling behind. As a subscriber, you'll have access to classes forever (once they are posted), and you can listen whenever you like. You can also download lectures and burn them on CDs, so you can listen in the car or around the house.
Accessible, but thought provoking. Classes are accessible to beginners (You don't have to know Hebrew), but intriguing even to advanced students.
As Interactive As You Want to Be. If you like, you can interact with students all over the world on our discussion boards.
For more information about how the classes work, click here.
To purchase tapes or CDs of Rabbi Fohrman's lectures on a wide variety of topics, please visit www.jewishexplorations.com.
The Morning After: A Megillah RetrospectiveTo listen to previous weeks in the series, or to download the lectures so that you "own" them, you will need to become a subscriber (click here to find out how to subscribe). Subscribers can also download full lecture outlines, accompanying powerpoint presentations, and source notes.
By Rabbi David Fohrman / A Multi-Week Series Beginning Sunday, May 18th
We often don’t give that much thought to the Book of Esther. We pay attention to it for a week or two before Purim, mostly in connection with questions not much more profound than which one of its characters we’d like to dress up as this year. But just beneath the surface, lies a story within a story with profound implications for the way each of us lives our life and manages our relationships with those who count.
In this series, we will take a hard, pragmatic look at the tale that is told in the Book of Esther – asking ourselves how the story could have ended differently, and what it means to us that it in fact, does not end in these ways. Along the way, we will trace themes and threads that will take us back to the Books of Genesis, Numbers, Judges, and Samuel – and will find, quite astoundingly, that the Book of Esther represents a kind of culmination of all them. Join us for what promises to be a very exciting journey.
If you like, you can listen to the lectures free of charge, each week, from your computer (just click on the "Listen Now" button, below).
Subscribers get access to all upcoming classes and companion materials (powerpoints, lecture outlines, source notes), and will also get permanent access to all previous classes in our current series. Click here to find out how to subscribe, or here to find out more about how the classes work.
You can listen to each week's lecture free of charge. To do so, just click on the link above. To download the lecture or any of the other companion materials, though, you'll need to subscribe.
Subscribers get companion materials, too. These include weekly slide shows, full lecture outlines, and source notes in English and Hebrew.
Don't worry about falling behind. As a subscriber, you'll have access to classes forever (once they are posted), and you can listen whenever you like. You can also download lectures and burn them on CDs, so you can listen in the car or around the house.
Accessible, but thought provoking. Classes are accessible to beginners (You don't have to know Hebrew), but intriguing even to advanced students.
As Interactive As You Want to Be. If you like, you can interact with students all over the world on our discussion boards.
A blood-red Nile. A flaming bush on a desert mountaintop. A sea that splits in a moment of triumph. Since childhood, the highlights of the Exodus saga have been emblazoned in our mind's-eye. Yet the story of the Jews' enslavement in Egypt and their subsequent exodus is vastly richer and deeper than the story we learned as children.
In this series of lectures from our archives, Rabbi Fohrman addresses several intriguing questions, among them: Did God really need to engage Pharaoh in protracted bargaining sessions over who could leave Egypt? Why, both morally and tactically, would God work to "harden" Pharaoh's heart once the Egyptian king finally consented to allow the Jews to go? And how do we understand God's sudden insistence on the use of particular names for Himself - YHVH and "I Will Be That Which I Will Be" - within the context of the Exodus?
In pursuing answers to these questions, Rabbi Fohrman embarks upon a textual journey, seeking out subtle thematic patterns that lie hidden in the narrative and animate its deeper meaning. Then, with the help of Midrashic commentary, he pieces the story back together, revealing a hidden side to the Exodus - a "story behind the story" of surpassing beauty, power, and spiritual import.
We're pleased to present you with an array of fascinating online classes with our resident scholar, Rabbi David Fohrman. Rabbi Fohrman has lectured extensively in Biblical Themes for the Johns Hopkins University, and we're sure you'll find these online offerings irresistible.
A new series runs every season -- summer, fall, winter and spring. You can listen each week for free by clicking here. Or you can become a subscriber.
By becoming a subscriber, you'll automatically get access to all upcoming classes -- plus, discounted access to our extensive archive. You'll be able to download lectures and companion materials (lecture outlines; powerpoints, etc.) -- and you'll also get a free copy of Rabbi Fohrman's new e-book on Cain and Abel, as well as a bunch more goodies. Find out more details by clicking here.
[Any questions about subscriptions or how the classes work? Visit our information page, or contact Aaron Sichel, our online classes director, at aaron@jewishtextstudy.org.]
Who We Are
The Hoffberger Foundation for Torah Studies, Inc., was founded in December, 1999, as a private non-profit 501(c)(3) operating foundation whose purpose is to teach and inspire Jews, through an intensive and in-depth study of the Torah and other Hebrew texts, to take Judaism seriously as a system of thinking and living that can profoundly enrich their lives.
