What is the Machzor Thinking

Sunday, September 29, 2024 • 26 Elul 5784

9:15 AM - 10:30 AMKol Rinah

High Holiday Preparation with JTS Prof. Shira Billet

What is the Machzor Thinking?" or Liturgy as Philosophy: The Siddur and the High Holiday Machzor in Jewish Thought

No RSVP needed to attend

The siddur is arguably the most important Jewish book ever printed, a book designed for daily use by the entire community, with no differentiation between elites and non-elites. The siddur has always served as a source of Jewish philosophical reflection. The high holiday machzor is the "bible" of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar. Like the siddur, it is a book that is used and read by the entire community. The machzor too has served as a source of Jewish philosophical reflection on the themes of the high holiday season – e.g. regret and hope; forgiveness and repentance; the relationship between God and human beings; human frailty and human empowerment. In this session, we will introduce the general idea of the siddur – and liturgy – as a source of philosophical reflection and will then dive into specific examples of how Jewish philosophers have found inspiration in the high holiday liturgy.

Shira Billet is assistant professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics at JTS, academic director of JTS’s Hendel Center for Ethics and Justice, and the BA and MA advisor for the Jewish Ethics program at JTS. Before joining the faculty at JTS, she was a postdoctoral associate in Philosophy and Judaic Studies at Yale University, and she completed her doctorate at Princeton University in 2019. Dr. Billet's scholarship focuses on the ethical writings and Jewish philosophy of Hermann Cohen. She is currently completing a book manuscript entitled The Philosopher as Witness: Testimony, Virtue Ethics, and Hermann Cohen’s Jewish Philosophy. Dr. Billet lectures widely on topics related to modern Jewish thought and Jewish ethics.

Sponsored by the Hereld Institute for Jewish Studies of JTS and the Leo and Sara Wolf Adult Education Fund.

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Sun, March 16 2025
16 Adar 5785

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