Park Slope

Pulitzer-Prize finalist to discuss story of Abraham and Isaac in Park Slope

Brooklyn BookBeat

August 28, 2013 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
james goodman.png
Share this:

In celebration of the Jewish New Year, Pulitzer Prize-finalist James Goodman will appear at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope to discuss the story of Abraham and Isaac. The event is part of a special class that will take place right after the second day Rosh Hashanah service at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 6th. He will be signing books at Park Slope’s Community Bookstore at 1 p.m. that day. 

Goodman will discuss and answer questions about the binding of Isaac, the subject of his new book “But Where is the Lamb? Imagining the Story of Abraham and Isaac.” In this lecture, Goodman will unpack a story that Jews have been trying to make sense of for more than 2,000 years.  It is a story many Jews believe is the most enduring symbol — the very definition — of what it means to be a Jew, while others wish weren’t even in the Bible.  

Goodman’s class will raise such questions as why we would want to worship a God who would ask a man to sacrifice his son, and how and why we would celebrate and revere, as the patriarch of patriarchs, a man who without protest, question, or hesitation, set out to obey.  The class will explore the answers that other people have given over the years. 

The Sept. 6 class will begin at 11:30 a.m. Congregation Beth Elohim is located at 274 Garfield Place at 8th Avenue in Park Slope.

Subscribe to our newsletters

The Sept. 6 book signing will begin at 1 p.m. Community Bookstore is located at 143 7th Avenue in Park Slope.

Snacks will be catered by D’Vine Taste, a longtime Middle Eastern specialty shop in Park Slope owned by Lebanese Jews.  


Leave a Comment


Leave a Comment