Apple & Freedman Dec 16 at Mandelbaum

Sunday 11 December, 10.30am to 1pm
Monday 12 December, 6.30pm to 9pm

BACK FROM THE BORDERLINE: THE STORY OF JEWS WHO CAME BACK with Rabbi Raymond Apple AO RFD
“Deep in his heart he began to feel the need of being a Jew”. Theodor Herzl wrote this in his essay, “The Menorah”. Many people felt that need and returned to Jewish identity, which (Herzl’s words again) “became so powerful that it crystallised from vague emotions into a definite idea”. These sessions trace the return of some leading “reversioners”. It also asks whether Judaism itself has been true to its own principles, and it looks at the phenomenon of Jews who abandon belief and become secular.

WHY JUDAISM? THE ORIGINS OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE AND A PROLOGUE TO MOSAIC THEOLOGY with Rabbi David Freedman
The purpose of Bible. Why Judaism?
The birth of man – faith and communication.
The origin of the alphabet, early writing and literature.
Ancient civilisations: Ugarit, Egypt, and Mesopotamia.
Ancient Myth – Gilgamesh v The Creation Epic; Ugaritic v The Psalms.
Paganism in pre-Israelite Canaan – The Ugaritic Pantheon and Baal worship.