Fall 2022 Learning Series: Dangerous Ideas: Censorship Through a Jewish Lens
Mondays, October 24–December 19, 2022
1:00–2:30 p.m. ET
Throughout Jewish history, certain texts and ideas have been deemed too dangerous to circulate—whether by outsiders who banned Jewish writings, or Jewish leaders who suppressed ideas considered heretical or beyond the pale. In this series, JTS scholars will examine efforts to control knowledge from ancient to contemporary times, exploring the ways in which censorship both reflects and shapes broader ideological struggles. They will discuss the varying motivations for controlling or revising narratives, and consider whether and under what circumstances it might make sense to suppress certain ideas. These discussions will illuminate past struggles and help us understand the battles over censorship and free expression playing out today.
Sessions and Faculty
October 24
Written in Stone? Writing and Rewriting the Bible
With Dr. Benjamin Sommer, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages
October 31
(Not So) Hidden Anti-Gospels: Suppressed Talmudic and Medieval Polemics against Jesus
With Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, PhD, Rabbi Judah Nadich Associate Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics
November 7
Persecuting Ideas: The Case of Maimonides
With Dr. Alan Mittleman, Aaron Rabinowitz and Simon H. Rifkind Professor of Jewish Philosophy
November 14
The Danger of Spreading the Word: Book Censorship in 16th-Century Venice
With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics
November 21
Intra-Jewish Censorship: The Case of Spinoza
With Dr. Jonathan Ray, Samuel Eig Professor of Jewish Studies, Georgetown University, and JTS alumnus
November 28
How Should a Jewish Philosopher Read the Bible? Hermann Cohen’s Reinvocation of the Ban on Spinoza
With Dr. Shira Billet, Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics
December 5
Censoring the Holocaust: How Books Shape our View of a Painful Past
With Dr. Edna Friedberg, JTS Fellow and historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
December 12
The Hollywood Blacklist and the Whitewashing of American Culture
With Ellie Gettinger, Director of Digital Learning, JTS
December 19
Where Do We Draw the Line? The Importance of Highlighting Multiple Perspectives in Jewish Education
With Dr. Meredith Katz, Clinical Assistant Professor of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education
Note: Each Monday series has a new Zoom link. Please register for Dangerous Ideas: Censorship through a Jewish Lens in order to receive the Zoom link for this series.
