Scholar in Residence Professor Mika Ahuvia
with Service Leader Eddy Shuldman
Weekend in Quest is returning to Astoria on the Oregon Coast. Join us in person for a weekend of community and study with Professor Mika Ahuvia, whose lectures will draw upon her recent book On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture as well as addressing angels in Judaism today.
March 3 – 5, 2023 l Registration $195 per person
Program begins Friday at 5pm and runs through Sunday noon
Registration includes all study sessions, three kosher-style catered meals (Friday and Saturday dinners and Saturday lunch), Shabbat and Havdalah services on Friday evening and Saturday morning, optional Saturday afternoon program, and entertaining Saturday evening program. The registration fee does not include lodging costs.
Attendees are responsible for booking their own accommodations. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Holiday Inn Express in Astoria at the discounted rate of $165 per night. This room rate is only available through February 5, 2023. Call 503-325-6222, ext. 0 and request the special Weekend in Quest room rate.
All study sessions, services, programming, and meals take place at the hotel. Saturday and Sunday breakfasts are included in the room rate for guests staying overnight at the hotel.
Registration for Weekend in Quest is now closed. If you are interested in attending, please email or call Gail Mandel at gmandel@ojmche.org or 503-226-3600 ext. 104.
OJMCHE thanks our co-sponsors to date for their efforts to promote Weekend in Quest: Beit Am, Congregation Beth Israel, Congregation Havurah Shalom, Congregation Kol Ami, Congregation Neveh Shalom, Congregation P’nai Or, Congregation Shaarie Torah, Congregation Shir Tikvah, East Side Jewish Commons, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Jewish Review, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, and Portland Jewish Academy.
PROGRAM
Friday, March 3, 2023
- Session 1: Angels in Judaism: Invisible and Omnipresent
In this introductory lecture, Professor Ahuvia will set the stage for the weekend and discuss what the Torah says about angels, the origins of the Sabbath song Shalom Aleichem, and when Jews began doubting the existence of angels. She will examine how angels fit into the 20th and 21st centuries and their presence in the work of modern era Jewish artists, writers, and thinkers such as Marc Chagall, Tony Kushner, and Walter Benjamin.
Saturday, March 4, 2023
- Session 2: Angels in Classical Rabbinic Sources
How did rabbis make sense of contradictory descriptions of angels in the Hebrew Bible? Do Jews believe in the idea of an angel and devil on their shoulders? Professor Ahuvia will survey examples of angels and demons in rabbinic literature and argue that early rabbis believed Jews were too preoccupied with angels. Only later did the rabbis give in to popular demand and incorporate angels into Jewish prayers, Shabbat practices, and storytelling.
- Session 3: Angels in Jewish Magic
In this session, Professor Ahuvia will probe the category of magic in Judaism, the role of angels in Jewish magic, and what Jewish magic reveals about women and witchcraft. She will examine one of the most popular magical prayers — the invocation of angels on all sides – and how it became a part of Jewish liturgy. Finally, she will address how the rabbis responded and participated in Jewish magical practices.
Sunday, March 5, 2023
- Session 4: Angels in the Liturgy
In this final lecture, Professor Ahuvia will address Jewish prayer and how the imitation of angels became crucial to Jewish practice and liturgy. The Holy, Holy, Holy of Isaiah provided the only biblical eye-witness report as to how God liked to be praised and became a fixed part of the liturgy by popular demand. Ahuvia will also describe how Jews in the early medieval world imagined angels praying amongst them.
Mika Ahuvia is Director, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, Herbert L. & Lucia S. Pruzan Chair in Jewish Studies, and Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies, at the University of Washington, Seattle. Ahuvia was born in Kibbutz Beit Hashita in northern Israel. She researches the formative history of Jewish and Christian communities in the ancient Mediterranean world. Specializing in Late Antique Jewish history, she works with rabbinic sources, liturgical poetry, magical texts, early mystical literature, and archaeological evidence.
Professor Ahuvia’s book “On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture” investigates conceptions of angels in foundational Jewish texts and ritual sources. In the book, Ahuvia uncovers how angels made their way into the practices and worldview of ancient Jews and makes sense of why angels continue to play such an important role within and outside of institutional religious settings.
Eddy Shuldman is a volunteer lay leader, teacher, and coordinator of the Downstairs Minyan at Neveh Shalom. She has been training bar/bat mitzvah students since she was 15 years old and also serves as the Spiritual Life Committee chair for Cedar Sinai Park. Believing that there are many ways to experience Judaism, Shuldman works to incorporate music, art, and study into her services and classes.
If you prefer to pay by check, or have questions about Weekend in Quest, please contact Gail Mandel at gmandel@ojmche.org or call 503-226-3600, ext. 104.