Purim is just around the corner! This week we looked at one central text in the Book of Esther, and used it as a focal point to think about reading anything ancient in the 21st century, or even just being human in the disenchanted modern world. Can the models of midrash give us a taste of a re-enchanted, super-significant way of being?
You can find the source-sheet here. We didn't have time in the shiur or in the video to touch on everything.
Note: It's not that I think we can go back to an enchanted world, the way it was. All sorts of fundamentalists are trying to promise us that. But the struggle with modernity, the openness to give up control and shout, "Who knows?", and even the madness of declaring "Who knows!" -- all these are exciting avenues to shake up the world of concealment that we've been thrown into.
Have a happy Purim, wherever and however you are celebrating!
(For some ideas on how to celebrate a deconstructed Covid-19 lockdown Purim, see my guide here.)
(And I've just put together a bunch of my writings, in different format, on my new website: 58th-Century Judaisms. Would love to hear your feedback, after Purim!)