Passage for Passionate Times

Nestled in Parashat Nasso is a bizarre little story about a woman accused of adultery. What are we to make of this charge and the prescribed remedy? More to the point, is there anything about this story that makes sense for our lives?  Reading Numbers 5:11b-31 with an eye towards ‘different cultural ways of knowing’ may help us develop a deeper appreciation for the function of ritual as a psycho-spiritual tool and its uses in today’s uncertain and frightening times. Come join the conversation!
The Derashah will be replaced by this shiur at the end of Tefillah.

Tamara Fish, a gleefully recovering academe who was a professor of religion at Manhattan College for many years, is currently the co-founding director of KHAZBAR: An Oasis in Deserts of Jewish Diversity for Jews of Color and Serious Allies. A member of both Congregation Tehillah in Riverdale and Congregation Ansche Chesed in Manhattan, she served as president of Congregation Tehillah and lives in Riverdale with her husband and their two small children.