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The RRC Beit Midrash: Resisting Authoritarianism: Jewish Ethics and Jewish Politics

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 - 7:00 pm EDT
 â€“ Wednesday, June 3, 2026 - 8:30 pm EDT

Wednesdays, 7–8:30 PM EDT | May 20, 27 & June 3 with Rabbi William Plevan, Ph.D.  

How does Jewish ethics view the abuse of political authority — and the obligation to resist it? Drawing on Biblical, rabbinic, and later Jewish ethical sources, this course explores how Jewish thinkers across the ages have grappled with these urgent questions. How were their ethical views shaped by the circumstances of their time? How did Jews live by these values in practice? And what do these examples offer us today? This is a course for a moment that demands both learning and moral clarity.  

Rabbi Plevan is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Thought at RRC, director of its Israel program, and the 2023–24 Democracy Fellow. He writes and teaches on contemporary Jewish theology, ethics, and political thought

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