“Hineni. Here I am.” With this single word, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, and Isaiah
answer God’s call, and with this word we open our Yom Kippur worship. But what
does it actually mean to say Hineni? Our Sages wrestled with every dimension of the question: Why do the greatest leaders resist the call? What happens to a community when no one has the courage to speak up? And, hardest of all, what
happens when someone answers the call too eagerly, with a zeal that consumes the very people it claims to serve? Drawing principally on the Babylonian Talmud,
with excursions into Torah, Prophets, and modern poetry, we will study stories of
reluctant leaders, quiet heroes, catastrophic silences, and the Binding of Isaac, the Torah’s most troubling “hineni” of all. No Hebrew or prior Talmud experience required; all texts provided in translation. Come ready to discuss and debate. The Rabbis would expect nothing less.
Rabbi Blake’s popular online Talmud Shiur (class) is offered online, is recorded,
and is open to all.