We are thrilled to invite you to the dedication weekend of the Ruth and Bernard Greenberg Educational Endowment Fund, with guest scholar Aaron Kollar. This fund was established in honor of long time Beth El Synagogue members,  Ruth and Bernie Greenberg (z”l), who led lives guided by their two abiding faiths- Judaism and education.  

In honor of the Greenberg Family, we welcome Aaron Koller, a renowned scholar and professor at Yeshiva University for the weekend of September 20. On Friday, September 20 at 6:30 pm, we will have a joyful Kabbalat Shabbat service, a delicious dinner by Chef Dori, and an engaging presentation by Aaron titled, "The Invention of the Alphabet: Hebrew, English, and Everything in Between."

On Shabbat morning, September 21 at 8:45 am, Aaron will lead a special Mishnah Study teaching about "Magical Gardens in an Age of Science: The Garden of Eden, Immortality, and the Biblical Vision of Life." Aaron will also give a d'var during Shabbat services discussing what LGBTQ+ issues tell us about the purpose of the Torah, and he will lead a post-kiddush shiur around 1:00 pm titled, "Did Abraham Fail the Akedah? Jews, Christians, and Leonard Cohen."

Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yeshiva University. Aaron has held research positions at Cambridge University and in the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, he has been a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and was a fellow at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in East Jerusalem and the Hartman Institute in West Jerusalem. He is the author of Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and Unbinding Isaac: The Akedah for Modern Jewish Thought (JPS/University of Nebraska Press, 2020) among other books, the editor of five more, and is currently working on a cultural history of the alphabet. He lives in Queens, NY with his partner, Shira Hecht-Koller, and their children.

Stream Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat morning services, and the post-kiddush shiur here: https://betheldurham.org/livestream/