Ruach HaYam Teaching at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA – September 27, 2018. (Scroll to end for logistics)

Banner: “The Punishment of Korah and the Stoning of Moses and Aaron” by Sandro Botticelli, 1481-82. Fresco in Sistine Chapel. (Wikimedia Commons)

Penina Weinberg leads this study of Parashat Korah, Numbers 16.1-18.32. (note, we usually meet on 3rd Thursdays; this is 4th due to Yom Kippur)
Korah dares to question the authority of Moses, whom Korah claims is raising himself above the congregation of YHWH. Does Korah have a point, or is he a rebel with a wish for personal power? Korah says that everyone in the community is holy. Sounds right, yet the text tells us that “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with all their households, all Korah’s people and all their possessions. They went down alive into Sheol, with all that belonged to them; the earth closed over them and they vanished from the midst of the congregation.” (Num 16: 32-33)
Who can be a prophet? Who is holy? When do we question authority? How do we understand a divine being who can threaten to annihilate the entire community? What do we do with what Abraham Joshua Heschel calls “harsh passages”?

Penina Weinberg is an independent Hebrew bible scholar whose study and teaching focus on the intersection of power, politics and gender in the Hebrew Bible. She has run workshops for Nehirim and Keshet and has been teaching Hebrew bible for 10 years. She has written in Tikkun and HBI blog, and is the leader and founder of Ruach HaYam.

** Logistics**
Study starts promptly at 7:15 pm. We open the doors at 6:45 for schmoozing. Feel free to bring your own veggie snack for the early part. A parking consideration is in effect for the three blocks around EC during all regularly scheduled events. It is a good idea to put a note in the windshield that you are attending an event at EC.
Accessibility information: all gender/accessible bathrooms, entry ramp.

Ruach HaYam study sessions provide a queer Jewish look at text, but are welcoming to any learning or faith background, to all bodies, and friendly to beginners.