July 1-5

Tutors: Gregory Freeman and Lee Goldsmith
In the books of Exodus and Leviticus, we see a people liberated from slavery and beginning to form a nation under its own laws. But what are the qualities of this people? Presumably, over the course of their sojourn in and escape from Egypt they forged a national character. Moreover, that national character must have some relationship to the divine power that saved them. What, then, is that character, and to what extent is it defined by the sacred rituals and spaces by which they relate to God? To what extent do the laws by which they relate to God—and each other—define who they are?

Text: Torah/Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Recommended editions include:

• Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures. Jewish Publication Society, ISBN 978-0827603660
• The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (tr. Robert Alter). W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393333930
• New Revised Standard Version, ISBN 978-1496472038
• King James Version, ISBN 978-0718091736