Welcome to The Plagues Project!
Below you will find more than 30 videos, each offering a unique perspective on Judaism and plagues.
Plague is, certainly, a timely topic to all of us these days. Jews will also have plagues on the mind when the story of the Ten Biblical Plagues is read from the Book of Exodus (chapters 7-12) during the portions “Va’era” and “Bo” in the traditional synagogue Torah reading cycle, and then they will encounter them again during their Passover Seders. We hope that The Plagues Project can help expand our community's thinking on this important topic by showcasing the variety of ways that Jews have thought about Plagues - both the Biblical Plagues and plagues throughout history - for the last 3,000 years.
We believe that a plurality of voices can be brought together to explore the vast canon of Jewish literature. Tradition tells us that the Torah has “seventy faces,” and we look forward to exploring them with you. Bringing together these varied perspectives was made possible by a collaboration between BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change, Judaism Unbound, 929 English, The Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, and jewishLIVE. This project is being launched in partnership with the Office Of Innovation (OOI), which is publishing a series of essays reflecting on living during the period of the Coronavirus, titled Torah in a Time of Plague (Ben Yehuda Press, March 2021).
Entering the Text: A Variety of Perspectives
Zoe Fertik, Introduction to the Ten Plagues
Shira Hecht-Koller, Crafting Order from Chaos
Erin Leib Smokler, Theological Vertigo: Living in Proximity to Plague
Richard Elliott Friedman, How Many Plagues Were There?
Nathaniel Berman, Standing Between the Living and the Dead, Plague and the Incense Ritual in Kabbalah
Teklit Michael and Elliot Glassenberg, a Refugee's Perspective
Wrestling with the Story
Chaim Seidler-Feller, The Plagues as Human Self-Destruction
Yehuda Kurtzer & the Children Ives-Kurtzer, Studying The Ten Plagues with Our Kids
Faustine Sigal, Making Midrash with Children
Shaul Magid, Covid-19 and the Theological Challenge of the Arbitrary
Ayala Dekel, Being a First Born
Daniel Reifman, The Tenth Plague
Contemporary Lenses
Leon Wiener Dow, Boils: Inside-Out
Tamara Tweel, The Song of Sirens: A Covid Birth Story
Lex Rofeberg, Boils: The 6th Plague Unlocks the Torah
Yonatan Neril, The Plagues and the Environment
Esther Sperber, MicroPolis Homes: Lessons Learned about Housing During the Pandemic
Zohar Atkins, The Finite Gift of Life Itself
The View from the Academy
Edward Bleiberg, A View from Ancient Egypt
Marc Zvi Brettler, God and Plagues in the Bible
Tamara Morsel-Eisenberg, Are We Permitted to Flee the City in a Plague?
Interpretations Throughout History
Sara Labaton, Healing and Humaneness
Elli Fischer, The Anti-Plague Properties of the Incense
Devorah Schoenfeld, Loving a Distant God: Rashi's Commentary on Song of Songs
Deena Aranoff, Household and Halakha in a Time of Pandemic
The Perspectives of Art and Literature
Emily Shapiro Katz, Marc Chagall and The Plague of Darkness
Jeffrey Saks, The Plagues in the Work of S.Y. Agnon
Elka Deitsch, The Plagues in Hagaddah Manuscripts
Steven Zeitchik, Plagues in Hollywood
Hadar Cohen, A Body-Based Practice
Anita Silvert, The Toolbox of Bibliodrama
The Ten Plagues from Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”
The Ten Plagues from Dreamworks Animation’s “The Prince of Egypt”
“Israel in Egypt” (G. F. Handel) (performed by The SCM Chamber Choir and SCM Early Music Ensemble)
If you like the Plagues Project, check out our related projects…
About the Partnership. The Plagues Project is part of a larger initiative brought to you by a unique partnership of four organizations: jewishLIVE/Judaism Unbound, 929 English, the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto, and Israel’s BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change. Brought together by a passion to make Jewish texts and Jewish learning accessible to everyone, and accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis, these four organizations have teamed up to offer new ways of encountering Jewish text and ideas online using a multimedia toolbox in a maximally open sandbox. The Plagues Project includes a fifth partner, the Office Of Innovation (OOI), which is publishing a series of essays reflecting on living during the period of the Coronavirus, titled Torah in a Time of Plague (Ben Yehuda Press, March 2021). The greatest strength of this partnership is our ability to showcase a wide range of Jewish thinkers and Jewish ideas. The more perspectives we hold together, the more united we can be.
Click on the logos below to visit the partners’ web sites:
