Every year at the seder we celebrate our liberation from Egypt. Surprisingly, however, the seder contains very little information about what our enslavement in Egypt was like or how we managed to survive our time there. Join us as we study rabbinic texts about what the Jewish people endured in Egypt and the strategies they used to survive and even flourish under Egyptian rule. Along the way we'll ask ourselves: what are the tools that enable human beings to endure oppression? What do human beings need, in times of trauma, to create meaning and even joy? What does it look like to insist on one's own humanity in a world that seeks to deny it--and what might this teach us about what it means to be human in the first place?

This is a special offering for Pesah 2022 and registration for this course includes two lectures that will take place on Zoom. 

Lecture 1, Monday March 21 7:30-8:30 pm

Packing Timbrels and Washing Hair: Gendered Anticipation of the Redemption in Rabbinic Texts

Lecture 2, Thursday April 7 7:30-8:30 pm

A Seder in Novosibirsk: What Seder Nights in Times of Trauma Can Teach Us in Times of Joy

Download a sample source sheet!

Watch the trailer!