Honor and Excellence: A View from Jewish and Western History

This course will explore themes of honor, excellence, and the human condition in Judaism and Western thought and literature. We will start with a discussion of the famous biblical battle between David and Goliath as an example of how Jewish and Western accounts of heroism are dramatically different. We will then turn to examining questions of self-sacrifice, heroism, and free will while consulting key Jewish and Western texts to tease out some of these differing conceptions of heroism and excellence. We will cover the stories of David and Goliath, Eleazar ben Yair’s speech at Masada, and “A Sword Day” from The Lord of the Rings.

We are grateful to Jennifer and David Millstone for supporting our education initiatives for exceptional 7th and 8th grade students.

Chaya Sara Oppenheim

Chaya Sara Oppenheim is pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a BA summa cum laude from Barnard College of Columbia University, where she studied English and history. At Barnard, she was the chief article editor of the literary journal Meliora and was the recipient of the William Haller Prize for the study of English literature, the Howard M. Teichmann Writing Prize, and the German Achievement Award. Chaya Sara has experience teaching English and Language Arts to 7th and 8th graders, creative writing at Writopia Lab, and multiple courses for Tikvah Online Academy. She currently serves as an editor for The Lehrhaus and The Shekel, and her writing has appeared in Tablet, HaMizrachi, Mishpacha, and Tradition, among other outlets.

Honor and Excellence: A View from Jewish and Western History

Chaya Sara Oppenheim

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