Confronted by ethically troubling texts and themes in the Hebrew Bible, modern and contemporary Jewish commentators have developed an array of strategies for addressing and “repairing” the plain meaning of such passages. This talk argues that these reparative attempts have their own consequences, drawing out the ethical, political, and philosophical virtues of a renewed insistence on the biblical plain sense for the Bible’s most troubling texts.

Dr. Emily Filler
Washington and Lee University
Dr. Filler is Assistant Professor in the Study of Judaism at Washington and Lee University, where she teaches and researches Jewish philosophy, texts, and their political and ethical implications. She is the 2024 David Baumgardt Fellow at the Leo Baeck Institute in New York City, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Jewish Ethics.