Shirim Shel Yom (The Daily Psalms)
Overview
The psalms attached liturgically to each day of the week are often mumbled over quickly, without much attention to their meaning. In this series, we'll engage in careful literary-theological readings of these psalms. We will also look at how various midrashim interpret the psalms, and bring new meaning to this part of our daily prayers. Key themes we'll explore include the idea that God creates the world by subduing the chaotic forces that threaten life; the notion that a concern for justice is what makes a god "qualified" to be one; and the question of what kind of character those who seek to live in God's presence must have.
This course meets twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, between October 17 and November 7.
Faculty Bio
Rabbi Shai Held is President and Dean at Hadar. He is completing work on his next book, Judaism is About Love (forthcoming). His most recent book, The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published in 2017.