By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5371
Posted 3-12-07
Dr. Yehuda Gellman
GREENSBORO, NC – Dr. Yehuda Gellman – professor of philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel – will speak at UNCG Thursday, March 22.
Gellman’s presentation, “Reb Nachman of Breslav on the Sacrifice of Isaac – a Divine Comedy in Two Acts,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Room 142, the Stone Building Auditorium. The lecture, sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies and the Jewish Studies Program, is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow. Parking is available in the parking deck off McIver Street.
Reb Nachman of Breslav was one of the most fascinating Hasidic masters, one who taught through storytelling. Gellman will explore the relationship between Nachman’s story of “The Humble King and the Wise Man” and the biblical story of the sacrifice of Isaac, which Jews refer to as the Aqedah or “the Binding.”
Gellman’s areas of interest include the epistemology of religious experience, Hasidic thought and philosophical issues of religious diversity. He has published two books on the sacrifice of Isaac in the work of the 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard, and in Hasidic thought: “The Fear, the Trembling and the Fire” and “Abraham! Abraham!”
The Jewish Studies Program is supported by the Herman and Zelda Bernard Professorship in Jewish Studies along with the Henry Samuel Levinson Program Endowment in Jewish Studies, the Barbara Colchamiro Jewish Studies Program Endowment and the Judith Rosenstock Hyman Jewish Studies Program Endowment.
For more information, call the Religious Studies Department at (336) 334-5762.
