Jewish Studies Event: Mira Balberg (UCSD) - "Forgetting the Torah and Rabbinic Nostalgia for the Present"


 History     Nov 6 2019 | 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM HG 1010

This event is being hosted by the Jewish Studies Center.

Mira Balberg (UC San Diego)

Forgetting the Torah and Rabbinic Nostalgia for the Present

Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 4:30pm
Humanities Gateway 1010

The idea that the Torah was collectively forgotten in the past, or is destined to be forgotten in the future, is a recurring trope in the rabbinic literature of late antiquity. The talk explores the origins of this idea as well as its development and various uses in rabbinic literature. It proposes that the rabbis' engagement with the notion that the Torah is not eternal, but rather bound to be lost, offers a prism though which we can learn both of  the rabbis' perception of history, and of their changing perceptions of their own role in history.