Jewish Public Reading Group in Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Sun 9 Jan, 9:30-11:30 am. 126 High Street, Boston, 02110. Executive Director, 617-457-8500, info@cjp.org. Combined Jewish Philanthropies - [events]

JP (Jewish Public) Reading Group in Philosophy and Jewish Thought with Dr. Avi Bernstein Leslie Belay Cost: $40.00 Registration not required. When: January 09, 2011 | 09:30 AM to 11:30 AM Where: Boston, MA 02130 Special Features: We will gather in participants' homes to discuss philosophy and Jewish thought. While our minds will wander across the vast arena that this designation suggests, our year long program will also have a distinct theme. This year it will focus on the ancient quarrel between the poets and the philosophers, a quarrel which runs deep as a vein in Western civilization--from Plato to Richard Rorty, and the debate continues.

It should also be said, this ancient quarrel, as far as contemporary Jews are concerned, is no mere academic affair. For many of us, the joyous and enlightening study of artful texts -- of biblical narrative and poetry, of rabbinic Aggadah, and of modern Hebrew letters -- deserves primary credit for our on-going Jewish connection.

If this applies to you, then consider this: leading lights of the last generation, Mordecai Kaplan and Martin Buber, thought our ability to take poetry's side in her ancient quarrel with philosophy to be among the most important intellectual challenges of our times.

Each month, participants will wander through a substantial amount of reading, and gravitate to the topics which interest them. This means that while we will always have a common text, we will not always read exactly the same material. We fully expect that participants will be drawn by different narratives within this very large collection, and that we will all benefit from the diversity of reading experience and interests.

Schedule of Readings and Meetings:

Sept (no meeting): selections from Plato's Republic and Aristotle Poetics

Oct 10: Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, with a Philosophical Introduction by Rick Anthony Furtak

Nov 14: Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim

Jan 9: Emil Fackenheim, Encounters between Judaism and Modern Philosophy

Mar 13: Martin Buber, Elijah a Mystery Play;intro by Maurice Freedman. Also relevant sections of the biblical prophets

May 8: Kafka and Etgar Keret

June 12: Screening of A Serious Man, Coen Brothers