Instructor: Rabbi Reuven Z. Cohn
No prior text-study experience required.

Many of the piyutim (liturgical poems) that we recite on Tisha b'Av were written in Israel over a thousand years ago. Despite the stature of the paytanim (pious religious poets), their creations often strike the modern ear as wooden and all but inaccessible. This course will aim to recover the beauty and power of these liturgical poems by tracing motifs from the Tanakh through the Talmud and Midrash and considering how they have been selected and molded by the paytanim. Each week we will explore a seemingly obscure theme-from the murder of an otherwise unknown prophet to the on-going practice of the priestly rotations, which continued even after the Temple's destruction. We will also consider a modern piyut that responds to the Holocaust. Students will understand the issues that the paytanim considered relevant to Tisha b'Av and will come away able to connect this ancient poetry to modern religious concerns.

Wednesdays, 8:00 - 9:15 PM
4 Sessions: July 7, 14, 21, 28
Location: Congregation Shaarei Tefillah
Tuition: $65
Open to men and women