Gila Fine is the editor-in-chief of Maggid Books (Koren Publishers Jerusalem). She’s also a teacher of talmudic narrative, and has taught at the Hebrew University, Tel-Aviv University, and the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies. Gila is the former editor of the quarterly journal Azure: Ideas for the Jewish Nation, and the ghostwriter behind several well-known books.
Session 1: Back to the Future: The Day Moshe Failed His TorahClass
Is Torah a product of divine revelation or human innovation? What happens when the humility of Moshe meets the boldness of R. Akiva? And why must Moshe “turn back” when going into the future? A postmodern reading of Menakhot 29b, traversing the Talmud and Midrash, R. Nachman and Baal HaTanya, Wilde and James, Barthes and Foucault, Benjamin and Levinas
Session 2: The Rise and Fall of Honi the Circle Drawer
Why do miracle-workers draw circles? When does prayer become witchcraft? And how does the greatest rainmaker of his time come to die of unbearable loneliness? An intertextual journey through the Bible and Midrash, Hippocrates and Josephus, Nahmanides and the Vilna Gaon, Nietzsche and Agnon, Buber and Heschel, trying to decipher one of the most poignant stories of the Talmud