A panel discussion | 

 

One of the main characteristics of the modern era is the appearance of a new and heightened form of subjectivity, accompanied by new sensitivities toward the self, on the one hand, and toward the deity and religion, on the other hand. In both cases renewed formulations are created of the relation between the deity and the deity’s commandments, as a source of external authority, and individuals, their wishes, and desires, as an internal source of authority. These changes have led to a dramatic shift in the relation toward sin and transgression and to the rise of perspectives in which sin has changed from being a threat to being an object of desire.

In this panel discussion, which summarizes the work of a research group that has functioned at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute over the past year, we aim to examine critically the place of sin in Jewish religious thought and in Hebrew literature of the modern era, highlighting not only the enchantment with it but also the feeling of reverence and guilt attached to it, even in modern times.

The event is being held in conjunction with Bar-Ilan University.

Participants

Prof. Hamutal Bar-Yosef, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Dr. Leore Sachs Shmueli, Bar-Ilan University

Prof. Elliot Wolfson, University of California, Santa Barbara (in English)

Chair: Dr. Tafat Hacohen-Bick, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev