Tikun Leil Shavuot with Professor Robert Gibbs
Thursday, May 21, 8:00 pm
NOT “Thou Shalt Not”: The Grammar of Laws
According to Rabbinic tradition, The Ten Commandments were given and received at Mount Sinai on Shavuot. But do we know what they require of us? Every translation is an interpretation. Professor Gibbs believes the dominant English translation “Thou shalt not…” misrepresents the entire mitzvah-system which animates the covenant between God and the Jewish People.
Bring an open mind and bring a friend to enjoy sacred study with one of Toronto’s leading Jewish thinkers.
Robert Gibbs is a Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Toronto.
His research is located on the borderlines of Philosophy and Religion, with a comparative and historical focus on Law and Ethics. He has numerous publications in Jewish Philosophy and in related fields in continental philosophy, including two books, Correlations in Rosenzweig and Levinas and Why Ethics? Signs of Responsibilities. His current research focuses on Higher Education, and he has recently published What Could a University Be? Revolutionary Ideas for the Future in the On-Campus series at UBC Press. In it, he inquires what a Research University is for and explores different models of universities by refocusing on the research capacities of students.
He was raised in the Classical Reform tradition in Chicago and was confirmed at Temple Jeremiah in 1974, offering a speech on Solomon’s choice (I Kings 3:5-14). He is now a member of the Leadership Team of City Shul.
