The ideas of the Book of Deuteronomy changed the world. One of Israel’s leading intellectuals delves into the theological and political lessons of Moses’s final speech.
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Micah Goodman is a leading voice on Judaism, Zionism, the Bible, and the challenges and opportunities facing Israel and world Jewry. He is president of Beit Prat – Israeli Midrasha, an institute where secular and religious Israeli young adults study together, and a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Dr. Goodman lectures regularly at universities, think tanks, and cultural venues across Israel and North America. He is the author of Catch-67: The Left, the Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War, Maimonides and the Book that Changed Judaism, and several Israeli best-sellers on Judaism’s canonical texts, including Ha’neum Ha’acharon Shel Moshe, Moses’s Final Speech.
In Exodus, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. In this opening lecture, Dr. Goodman shows how in Deuteronomy, Moses seeks to take Egypt out of Israel.
Deuteronomy is not just a repetition of the Torah. It is Moses's unique interpretation of it—his own Oral Torah.
For the Book of Deuteronomy, religious ritual is most powerful only when we understand its limits.
The monotheistic revolution was about more that reducing the number of gods. It was about removing magic from religion.
Deuteronomy presents the Torah's only laws about kingship. And, as Dr. Goodman explains, they are all about limiting his power.
In this lecture, Dr. Goodman take a look at the history of ancient Israel and asks whether the religious and political revolutions of Deuteronomy succeeded or failed.
Dr. Goodman tells the story of King Josiah's religious revolution, and explores what the tragic end of his reign teaches us about the relationship between piety and politics.
In this concluding lecture, Dr. Goodman offers some final thoughts on King Josiah's fatal mistake and summarizes the key messages of Moses's last words to the People of Israel.
Explore the Hebrew Bible’s most profound teachings about power, politics, and philosophy.
