Presented by Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia Department of Religious Studies;
Rabbi Sally Priesand Visiting Professor Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion (2023-2024)
Immediately after October 7th, Jews worldwide were crafting new and complex ritual responses to what had happened and to efforts to secure the return of the hostages. In addition to clergy, the ritual "first responders" have included musicians, visual artists, poets, and other creatives. Individuals and groups have joined together to create poems, songs, and prayers, as well as communal projects such as Empty Shabbat Tables, Hostage Square outside of the Tel Aviv Museum, and solidarity missions to Israel, to name just a few.
Join Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D., author of "Inventing Jewish Ritual," to explore and honor this ongoing phenomenon.
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Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D., is the Professor Emeritus in the University of Virginia Department of Religious Studies, and currently the Rabbi Sally Priesand Visiting Professor at Hebrew Union College/ Jewish Institute of Religion (2023-2024).
Ochs' books include The Passover Haggadah: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2020), Inventing Jewish Ritual (winner of a 2007 National Jewish Book Award), Sarah Laughed, The Jewish Dream Book (with Elizabeth Ochs), Words on Fire, and Safe and Sound.
Thank you to Andrew R. Ammerman for sponsoring our Spring 2024 program lineup. He dedicates the semester’s learning in loving memory of Josephine and H. Max Ammerman, Stephen C. Ammerman, and Avi West.