Eshel Across America: Unbinding Isaac with Professor Aaron Koller

Eshel Across America Weekend (November 5-8, 2020)

As we read every year in Parashat Vayera, Avraham and Sarah plant an Eshel tree near their tent to signal the welcome of strangers. It is during this weekend that we, the Eshel community, celebrate our commitment to inclusion and dialogue.

Unbinding Isaac with Professor Aaron Koller

Under our virtual tent, this year we will kick off this weekend with Dr. Aaron Koller of the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University, who will share insights from his new book: Unbinding of Isaac.

Have you ever felt both moved and troubled by the Akedah?

“The notion that sincere individual faith can license the suspension of all ethical considerations is a deeply dangerous idea,” says Dr. Aaron Koller in his new work, Unbinding Isaac. He claims that the use of the Akedah as a foundation for the suspension of the ethical is a misreading of the text.

Contemporary Jewish thinkers as central as Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik have fallen in various ways for this reading, which has been corrosive for the halakhic enterprise. Professor Koller’s reading of the Akedah unbinds us all, offering a way for faithful LGBTQ+ Jews to stake their claims for halakhic renovation as a fulfillment of Abraham’s vision and not a rejection of it.

How to obtain the book: You may order Professor Koller’s book from the Univesity of Nebraska Press, which is offering a 50% discount with the code 6FALL20. You can also receive a free gift copy of the book by sponsoring this event. Info will follow after you register below.

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