Category Archives: Samuel

THE SOUL OF DAVID (December 17 2015)

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Ruach HaYam workshop at Congregation Eitz Chayim

Join Ruach HaYam for an interactive text study of the soul of David. Study will be led by Penina Weinberg on December 17, 2015 at Congregation Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge, MA. Join us at 6:45 pm for shmooze. Bring veggie snacks if you wish. Study will begin promptly at 7:15pm.    Parking is allowed within a three block radius on event nights.

According to the Book of Samuel, “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” (1 Sam 18:1). Our study will ask the question, who did David love and what was the nature of that love? We will study David’s speech upon the death of Jonathan (2 Samuel Chapter 2) along side David’s speech upon the death of his first son by Bathsheba (2 Samuel Chapter 12). We will consider the love which Michal expressed for David (1 Samuel Chapter 18) and, time permitting, the relationship between David and Bathsheba.
 Study is geared for learners at all levels. You will be guided through a careful look at many Hebrew words but neither a knowledge of Hebrew nor prior text study experience is required.

Penina Weinberg has been teaching Hebrew Bible for over 10 years and is determined for people to claim and own the text for themselves. She holds a Masters Degree in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College. 

II Sam Ch 17 – Wed April 3 – 7:30pm to 9:00pm

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All are welcome, whether regular attendees or first time visitors: prior text study experience is not necessary.

Absalom has his father King David on the run, across the Jordan River.  Why is King David running?  Who are the unsung heroic women who help King David’s spies warn him to move away from danger?  Why are so many of David’s sons and nephews fighting amongst themselves? Come to class on Wednesday to find the answers to these questions, and to ask many questions for which there will be no answers!

Study with Penina: 1st and 3rd Wednesday evenings
Now in our 4th year on the Early Prophets
Eitz Chayim, 136 Magazine Street, Cambridge

  • Study is in English, interfaith and gender sensitive.
  • Bring your Tanakh (Bible) if you have one; books are provided as needed.
  • Feel free to bring snacks or a bottle of wine.

I  look forward to learning with you!

Study of II Samuel is Coming Oct 3

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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.

“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.”
-Gunn and Fewell: Narrative in the Hebrew Bible.

Wednesday, April 18, 1 Samuel Chapter 25 (maybe more)

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“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

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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

What’s Love Got to Do with It? David and His Lovers

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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.

    Study with Penina – 1 Samuel 16 and 17 – February 1 at 7:30pm – RSVP

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    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.

    1 Samuel 14:24 – 15:35 : Study with Penina January 18

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    Wednesday, January 18, we read 1 Samuel Chapters 14:24 -15:35 in English

      “The old story of the battle of Michmash Pass and the cursing of Jonathan leaves us in a condition of gloomy uncertainty about Saul.  We do not yet know what is to become of him, but we look ahead to the events to come with little hope for him left.”
          —-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.”

      Study with Penina 1 Samuel 7-8, November 2, 7:30pm RSVP

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      Study with Penina Announcement

                             


      1 Samuel Chapters 7-8
      Wednesday, November 2, 7:30pm to 9pm.  Eitz Chayim library. 
      Bring your Tanakh, snacks, wine.
      RSVPs appreciated
       
      No prior study or knowledge of text study or Hebrew is required! 
      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.