"The Biblical Hero" - Book Launch with Author Elliott Rabin

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Elliot Rabin (PhD, Comparative Literature, Indiana University, 1997) is Director of Thought Leadership, Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, where he edits HaYidion, the leading publication for Jewish day school practitioners. He formerly served as Director of Educational Programs for RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School Network and Director of Education for the 92nd Street Y’s Makor/Steinhardt Center. He has taught classes in Jewish Studies, Hebrew Language and Literature, and World Literature in settings ranging from JCCs to the University of Louisville, Baruch College and New York University; and previously served as Assistant Editor at Harper’s Magazine. His book, Understanding the Hebrew Bible: A Reader’s Guide, was published by Ktav in 2006. He has also published many articles and translations from three languages, in various scholarly and general-interest publications.

Approaching the Bible in an original way—comparing biblical heroes to heroes in world literature—Elliott Rabin addresses core biblical questions: What is the Bible telling us about what it means to be a hero? Why do we need such heroes, possibly now more than ever?

Zooming into the lives of six major biblical characters—Moses, Samson, David, Esther, Abraham, and Jacob—Rabin examines their resemblance to hero types found in (and perhaps drawn from) other literatures, and analyzes why the Bible depicts its heroes less gloriously than other cultures:

* Moses founds the nation—and is short-tempered and weak-armed.
* Samson can kill 1,000 enemies with his bare hands—and is arrogant and unhinged.
* Esther saves her people from a genocidal villain—and has married a murderous, misogynist king.
* Abraham is God’s close companion—and his human relationships are wracked with tension.
* Jacob fathers twelve tribes—and wins his inheritance through deceit.
* David establishes a centralized, unified, triumphal government—through pretense and self-deception.
* In the end, is God the real hero? Or is God too removed from human constraints for the “hero” appellation to apply?

Ultimately, Rabin excavates how the Bible’s unique perspective on heroism can address our own deep-seated need for human-scale heroes.

Book will be available for purchase at this event.