Deena Aranoff is assistant professor of Medieval Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Prof. Aranoff teaches courses on Jewish society and culture in the medieval and early-modern European context. Her interests include rabbinic literature, medieval patterns of Jewish thought and the broader question of continuity and change in Jewish history. She is particularly interested in linguistic speculation as a means by which Jewish scholars articulated cultural affinities and boundaries in ancient, medieval and modern times. She completed her Ph.D. in 2006 in the department of history at Columbia University with a dissertation titled "In Pursuit of the Holy Tongue: Jewish Conceptions of Hebrew in the Sixteenth Century."

During her visit to Milwaukee, Professor Aranoff will also be holding private study sessions with faculty and students at Marquette University and the Sacred Heart School of Theology.

Schedule of Events

ALL PROGRAMS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Friday, March 19

after evening services at Beth Israel Center, Madison.
Call (608) 256-7763 for times.

Topic: "Ramban (Nahmanides on the Torah)"

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Saturday, March 20

9:00 a.m. at Beth Israel Center, Madison

Shabbat Services, D'var Torah
Topic: "Interpretation and Initiation: Why Jewish literacy begins with Leviticus."

Afternoon at Beth Israel Center, Madison

Hebrew Text Study
Topic: "Rabbis or Mystics? A close study of the Pardes story as it appears in rabbinic and mystical texts from late antiquity."

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Sunday, March 21

9:15 a.m. at Beth Israel Center, Madison

Topic: "The Problem of Evil: The Book of Job and its later interpretations"

3:00 pm at Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, 6255 N Santa Monica Blvd, Whitefish Bay

Topic: "The People of the Book in Modernity"

The Jews are often called the People of the Book. What does this mean? This talk will examine the role of sacred text in Judaism from antiquity to modern times. We will discover the amazing variety of Jewish approaches to the Bible as well as the changing status of the Bible in modernity.

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Monday, March 22

3:00 p.m. at Chai Point, 1400 North Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee

Topic: "Power and Powerlessness in the Torah - a comprehensive study of Ruth and Esther."

The books of Ruth and Esther are fascinating books in the Bible. This talk will examine the radically different tone and style of both works as well as their common and most unusual feature, a female figure whose initiative and devotion saves the day.

7:00 p.m. at Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha

Topic: "The Ethics of Biblical Law"

Biblical law is sometimes considered archaic or even at odds with the loftier aims of contemporary Judaism. Those who regard it as sacred often suggest that it requires a rabbinic gloss in order to apply to every-day life. Join us as we explore the underlying values and vision of Biblical law and its resonance as a free-standing contemporary religious text. In this talk we will take a fresh look at the legal portions of the Bible and discover their ethical aims and poetic style.