Judaism Unbound · Institute for the Next Jewish Future

Episode 496: Smashing the Tablets - Sara Lippmann, Seth Rogoff

·56 min·5 clips

Seth Rogoff argues Cain was innocent and God stoked fraternal conflict to divide humanity.

Hosts Dan Liebenson and Lex Rofeberg interview editors Sarah Lippmann and Seth Rogoff about their book 'Smashing the Tablets,' which features radical retellings of Hebrew Bible stories. They discuss the metaphor of smashing tablets as creating space for reinterpretation, examples like Cain and Abel and female characters, and how this project models creative engagement with Jewish texts for contemporary sensibilities.

As heard by us

Biblical retellings here feel like a serious, lively act of interpretation.

Smashing the Tablets treats the Hebrew Bible as something to be retold, not sealed away. Dan Liebenson and Lex Rothberg speak with Sarah Lipman and Seth Rogoff about a collection of provocative new readings by major contemporary Jewish writers.

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Why you'd press play

You want Jewish Bible retellings that feel radical without losing the text's weight.

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