Scholar
in Residence
Scholar in Residence
Naomi Graetz
Author of
S/He Created Them: Feminist Retellings of Biblical Stories, Unlocking the Garden: A Feminist Jewish Look at the Bible, Midrash, and God and Silence is Deadly: Judaism Confronts Wifebeating
Friday and Saturday,
November 3-4, 2006
Sinai Synagogue
1102 E. LaSalle Ave.
South Bend, Indiana 46617
574-234-8584
Naomi Graetz writes feminist midrash, retellings of biblical stories, to bring contemporary meaning and relevance to the Bible. Her tales look at the intimate lives and thoughts of the characters that populate the Bible, addressing the typical feminine concerns of motherhood, barrenness, and the aging process, as well as tensions between relatives such as Isaac and Ishmael, Rachel and Leah. From the confusion of Adam and Eve to the loneliness of Deborah the Judge, her biblical characters come to life as complex people.
Join us for three lectures by Naomi Graetz:
A Midrashic Lens on Biblical Women – Friday evening
Services begin at 7:30, lecture at 8:00. Please join us for refreshments after the lecture.
The Selling of Sarah (Parashat Lech Lecha) – Saturday morning
Services begin at 9:30, sermon at 11:00. Please join us for lunch after services.
Women and Religion in Israel –Saturday evening, 7:30 pm
Naomi Graetz teaches critical reading skills at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, in the English Department. Originally from New York City, she has been living in Israel since 1967 and in the Negev since 1974. Ms. Graetz has written many articles about women and metaphor in the Bible and Midrash, and uses these topics in her teaching. She describes herself as a feminist Jew who is grounded both in Jewish tradition and feminist thought who has to grapple with problems of modernity while seeing the value of tradition. Naomi Graetz is the nineteenth annual Scholar-in-Residence for the Midwest Region of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in Chicago.
