Alone on the Fading Path of Halakhah
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
FBK Aula Piccola
Fondazione Bruno Kessler - Polo delle Scienze Umane e sociali
Aula Piccola
Loneliness, as a theme in biblical theological anthropology, has a continuous history yet a discontinuous presence within the biblical corpus. One immediately thinks of the opening chapters of Genesis, where human solitude is articulated in ontological terms («it is not good that man should be alone,» Gen 2:18); of Jacob’s solitude at the Yabok, taking the form of a liminal and transformative isolation preceding encounter and renaming (Gen 32:23–33); of David’s experience of isolation during his fugitive years under Saul (in both the Samuel narrative and the Psalms); and, finally, of Job’s profoundly theological loneliness, as he stands increasingly alone before both his friends and God.Isn’t the man of faith, ontologically, “lonely but not alone,” as Soloveitchik affirmed?
Inscribing itself within the continuity of rabbinic reflections, this seminar will focus on a contemporary yet dramatic dimension of the human experience of solitude: that of a halakhic loneliness in the context of the Shoah. Its primary textual anchor will be the Responsa of Rav Oshry, written in the Kovno Ghetto (1941–1944, as preserved in Responsa from the Holocaust). These texts will be studied in conversation with selected contemporary theological voices (Fackenheim, Leibowitz, but also Barth), while remaining attentive to the resonances and tensions they generate with selected classical rabbinic teachings.
Participants will be invited to reflect both on the anguish that such loneliness entails, and on the ethical possibility that may nonetheless arise from it when a religious tradition finds itself confronted with a rupture it could not have imagined and that can only be met with silence and loneliness.
RAV DAVID MEYER | Leo Baeck College
Cycle of Seminars: “Solitude and Communion in Religion and Ethics“
Scientific coordination: Massimo Leone, FBK-ISR
The event, organized by FBK’s Center for Religious Studies, will be held in English.
The event will be in-person in the FBK Aula Piccola, while seats last, and online.
Registration by June 5, 2026 at 12:00 a.m. is required so as to arrange the connection.
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Image: AdobeStock_518968971
Speakers
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Rav David Meyer - Guest SpeakerLeo Baeck CollegeDavid Meyer is an ordained Rabbi from the Leo Baeck College, rabbinic seminary in London. After finishing his degree in Applied Mathematics at the University of Paris IX, he obtained a Master’s degree from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and later a Master’s degree in Hebrew and Jewish Studies with Distinction. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL) in Leuven, Belgium. Rabbi Meyer is currently a lecturer at the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies at the Gregorian Pontifical University in Rome where he teaches Classical Rabbinic Literature and Contemporary Jewish Thought. Rabbi Meyer has taught in various universities and countries around the world from Belgium to Peru to China.
Registration
Registration to this event is mandatory.
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Organizers
The initiative was also realized thanks to the contribution of "Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali" of the Ministry of Culture.