Romancing the Stone: America's Embrace of the Ten Commandments

Speaker: Prof. Jenna Weissman Joselit, Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies & Professor of History at The George Washington University

Location: Beth Sholom Congregation & Talmud Torah; Potomac, MD

This age-old compilation of dos and don'ts has become an American article of faith and, in some quarters, even America's "rightful heritage." The most richly imagined of all Biblical texts, the Ten Commandments loom large in American culture, where they figure in art, literature, politics, and the law. The cultural and historical processes by which a covenant with the ancient Israelites became a covenant with America lies at the heart of this encounter in both American history and Jewish history.

In memory of Renee and Frank Schick – Endowed by the Schick Family

Also co-sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington