Our winter 2023 Scholar in Residence is Dr. Robert Harris, Professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Dr. Harris is widely published and frequently speaks on biblical narrative and Jewish liturgy to congregations and organizations around the country. We hope you will be able to join us for at least one of his sessions, as he is an entertaining and engaging speaker.

Searching for God in Times of Crisis is the theme for the weekend.

Friday, February 17th | Shabbat Renewal at 6:00 pm | Freedman Levit Sanctuary 

"Romemu: Crying out for God’s Love and God’s Justice in a world of struggles and conflict"  Reflections on Psalm 99 of Kabbalat Shabbat, from which we sing “Romemu Adonai Eloheinu.”

Saturday, February 18th |  Kiddush lunch (approximately 11:45am) | Stein Hall

"Truth or Consequences  -  Finding Faith and Kindness in a World of Dissension and Strife:" In a time of mortal danger to Israel - both from a powerful foreign enemy and internal hostility among political factions - Jeremiah sought to preserve the Jewish way of life. What insights can we discover to guide us today?

Saturday, February 18th | 7:00pm | Daniel & Karol Musher's Home 

Meet Dr. Harris for an informal Q&A.  Please register below so we have space for everyone.

Sunday, February 19th | Jewish Federation of Houston's Yom Limmud at 10:15 am | Congregation Beth Israel

"I Pshat the Torah:  From Charlemagne to Rashi - The Reinvention of Reading in the Middle Ages"

For Yom Limmud, please register at the Jewish Federation of Houston's website, where you can find the full schedule of speakers (including Rabbis Rosen, Morgen, and Fort!)

More about our scholar, Dr. Robert Harris:

Robert A. Harris is professor of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages at The Jewish Theological Seminary, teaching courses in biblical literature and commentary, particularly medieval Jewish biblical exegesis.

Dr. Harris is an expert in the history of medieval biblical exegesis. His most recent book is Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency: Commentaries on Amos, Jonah (with Selections from Isaiah and Ezekiel).  TEAMS Commentary Series. Kalamazoo, MI:  Medieval Institute Publications, 2017. In 2004 he published a book in the Brown Judaic Studies series, Discerning Parallelism: A Study in Northern French Medieval Jewish Biblical Exegesis. In addition, he has published many articles and reviews in both American and Israeli journals. His dissertation (1997) was titled The Literary Hermeneutic of Rabbi Eliezer of Beaugency.  He is currently at work on a book, tentatively titled The Reinvention of Reading in the 12th Century Renaissance. 

Dr. Harris’s most recent publication is “Sexual Orientation in the Presentation of Joseph’s Character in Biblical and Rabbinic Literature,” AJS Review 43:1 (Spring, 2019). He regularly delivers papers at academic conferences, such as the Society of Biblical Literature; the World Congress of Jewish Studies; and the International Medieval Congress. Many of his addresses have ultimately been published in various scholarly and academic journals.

Dr. Harris also lectures on biblical narrative and Jewish liturgy in congregations and adult education institutes around the country. One of his most popular series is Unfolding the Text: An Introduction to Jewish Medieval Bible Commentaries; Dr. Harris is at work on a book on this subject (the first chapter of which is entitled “I Pshat the Torah!”). Dr. Harris also frequently lectures about Passover in a program called “The Cow That Laid an Egg:  From the Torah to Your Seder Plate,” and hopes to publish a popular book of that title. A similarly popular program reevaluates Hanukkah, and is titled “That Kislev Affair: What Really Happened at Hanukkah?”

Dr. Harris has served as a rabbi in several congregations in the United States and Israel, including the Pelham Jewish Center in Westchester County, New York, and Moriah Synagogue in Haifa, Israel.  He has continued his love for congregational work for the past 20 years by serving Temple Beth Shalom (“The Tremont Street Synagogue”) in Cambridge, Massachusetts on the High Holidays, and frequently visits there during the year as well. 

For many years, Dr. Harris taught in JTS’s renowned adult education program, Context. He spent 1995–1997 as a visiting scholar at the Bible Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and returned there again in the summer of 2007 as a visiting associate professor. In 2004 and 2007, he taught in Moscow at JTS’s Project Judaica at the Russian State University for the Humanities; in 2019, he returned to Project Judaica, this time at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2011, he was a visiting professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and in 2018 served as the Gesenius Visiting Professor at the University of Halle, Germany. Dr. Harris is a past president of the Society for the Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages, a constituent organization of the International Medieval Congress. 

Dr. Harris regularly performs with his rock band, SR2, and he has composed two original rock ‘n’ roll albums.

Dr. Harris is a past director of theater at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, where he translated more than a dozen musical comedies into Hebrew. Dr. Harris also directed musical productions in Hebrew at JTS, as well as in Jewish schools around the metropolitan area.