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The End of Unetaneh Tokef: Defeat or Triumph?

Gordon Tucker explores the final passage in this iconic and challenging prayer on the Days of Awe.

July 23, 2020

July 23, 2020

Rabbi Gordon Tucker is a Fellow of the Kogod Research Center at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. He is also Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Previously he was the Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY (a Conservative synagogue) from 1994 to 2018. He received an A.B. from Harvard College, Ph.D. from Princeton University, and Rabbinic Ordination from Jewish Theological Seminary. He was

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The End of Unetaneh Tokef: Defeat or Triumph?

In this two-part class, Gordon Tucker explores the final passage in this iconic and challenging prayer on the Days of Awe, which confronts us with a sequence of similes that seem to underscore the inevitable last word that mortality has over us. And yet, hidden by the author’s ingenuity, there may yet be a counter-message waiting to be discovered. He seeks out that message, with the help of various biblical and midrashic texts, and in so doing, add optimism to Awe on these days, and gain admiration of the poet’s skill.