The Bookstore & Get Lit Wine Bar
11 Housatonic Street, Lenox, MA 01240
Call: 413-637-3390 website: www.bookstoreinlenox.com
Wednesday, October 25th, 2017 at 5:30pm
Rabbi Dennis Ross
When A Lie Is Not a Sin:
The Hebrew Bible’s Framework for Deciding
When a Lie Is Not a Sin: Truthfulness in the Daily Routine
With politics and charges of lying often going hand-in-hand, we can lose sight of questions of truth and falsehood in our personal lives. For instance, do I have to be honest about a friend’s new tie or dress? Why is lying OK when life is at stake? Do kids need to be told the whole truth? Rabbi Ross will use his recent book, When a Lie Is Not a Sin: The Hebrew Bible’s Framework for Deciding (Jewish Lights), to take ancient Jewish teaching as a prism to daily living to address fine distinctions surrounding common but complicated personal situations and show how a smaller lie can sometimes serve a higher moral purpose.
God in Our Relationships: Spirituality between People from the Teachings of Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s I-Thou relationship offers a widely available and often overlooked spiritual opportunity. Rabbi Ross will draw from his book, God in Our Relationships: Spirituality between People from the Teachings of Martin Buber (Jewish Lights), and take examples from the give-and-take of daily life, to clearly and concisely illustrate Buber’s I-Thou.
Religion, Politics and Sex: A Conversation for Polite Company
Judaism has a long history of open discussion about delicate topics, a tradition of going all the way back to the Torah. Rabbi Ross will discuss Jewish teachings supporting access to birth control, keeping abortion safe and legal and extending legal rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-gender couples. He will draw from his work as director of Concerned Clergy for Choice for Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts! as well as from his recent book, All Politics Is Religious: Speaking Faith to the Media, Policy Makers and Community (Skylight Paths) to provide a positive Jewish approach to the public debate.