2023 Scholar In Residence
Jewish Ethics in a Dynamic Age
Rabbi Dudley Weinberg Memorial
Scholar in Residence Weekend
March 24-26, 2023
Featuring Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD
Our Scholar in Residence, Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD will be with us in-person at CEEBJ March 24-26 for an exciting weekend of presentations, text study and discussion. Sessions are open to all and can also be accessed on Zoom and via streaming on the CEEBJ website (ceebj.org).
Rabbi Crane is the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar of Bioethics and Jewish Thought at Emory University’s Ethics Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He is also a professor of Medicine, Emory School of Medicine, and affiliate faculty in the Department of Religion and the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, Emory College of Arts and Sciences. (Learn more about Rabbi Crane after the session descriptions below.)
Friday, March 24, 6:00 pm
Preceding our 7:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat Services, join us at 6:00 pm for dinner. Click here to register or call (414) 228-7545.
Friday, March 24, 7:30 pm
Rabbi Crane will speak during the service on “Sowing Doubt and Hiding Reasons.” In this age of uncertainty, questioning evidence, undermining truths, and casting aspersions are commonplace. By confusing and concealing, such strategies deliberately construct ignorance. Do not be alarmed, though: the rabbis of old did the same. In this text study we wrestle with the ethics of agnotology, of strategically deploying uncertainty to one’s advantage.
Click here for Friday's Text Study
Join us in person, on Zoom or watch on the ceebj.org website, YouTube or Facebook. Click here for more information.
Saturday, March 25, 9:00 am
Join the Shabbat Study Minyan for text study led by Rabbi Crane on Trysts in the Garden: Reconsidering the Naḥash. You may think you know the creature who convinced Eve to eat that fruit: it was a scheming, slithery serpent, right? Not according to rabbinic sources and Christian art. This visual traipse through the Garden of Eden demonstrates that the naḥash defies categorization in multiple ways and challenges conventional notions regarding companionship. This juicy conversation is relevant for an era of increasing gender and sexual fluidity.
Join us in person, on Zoom or watch on the ceebj.org website, YouTube or Facebook. Click here for more information.
Saturday, March 25, 12:00 pm
Stay with us for a Potluck Lunch at 12:00 pm. There is no charge for the lunch, but click here to register or call (414) 228-7545 so we can contact you about what you are bringing.
Saturday, March 25, 12:30 pm
Rabbi Crane will discuss Coming to a Conclusion: Ethics around the End of Life. Intervening in someone’s final moments is emotionally, medically and ethically fraught. A careful investigation of Chananya ben Teradyon’s fiery martyrdom helps elucidate some of the issues and concerns surrounding euthanasia.
Join us in person, on Zoom or watch on the ceebj.org website, YouTube or Facebook. Click here for more information.
Sunday, March 26, 10:00 am
Join us for Brunch at 10:00 am. Click here to register or call (414) 228-7545.
Sunday, March 26, 10:30 am
Rabbi Crane will engage us in Who’s Your Mama? DNA, Gestation, Diapers, and the Making of Jewish Motherhood. Concern about reproductive liberty is as old as the Bible. In this raucous text study regarding Dina’s birth, we trace Rachel and Leah’s pursuit for progeny as imagined by classic rabbis. Many of their ancient ideas about procreation are now becoming technologically feasible. Yet the question remains: who’s your mama, Dina?
Click here for Sunday's Text Study
Join us in person, on Zoom or watch on the ceebj.org website, YouTube or Facebook. Click here for more information.
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More about Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD
Rabbi Crane of the Ethics Center, Emory University, earned a BA (summa cum laude) from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, an MA in international peace studies from the University of Notre Dame, an MPhil in Gandhian thought from Gujarat Vidyapith in India, an MA in Hebrew literature and rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, and a PhD in religion from the University of Toronto.
He is co-author of Ahimsa: The Way to Peace, co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality, author of Narratives and Jewish Bioethics, editor of Beastly Morality: Animals as Ethical Agents, author of Eating Ethically: Religion and Science for a Better Diet, and editor of Judaism, Race, and Ethics: Conversations and Questions. He is the founder and co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Jewish Ethics.