Hyssop and Humility

With Professor Brian Weiser 

Class Description:

King Solomon, overcome by wisdom, discoursed on the mighty Cedar and the lowly Hyssop that grows from the wall. Some commentators interpret the king’s speech as a lecture on the practical uses of plants, but others argue that Solomon delved into these plants’ roles in a variety of religious rituals. This Shiur explores the symbolic resonances of the lowly plant Hyssop and how paying attention to such resonances deepens our understanding of leprosy, the Red Heifer, Lashon Hara, the Paschal Sacrifice, and humility.

This class is part of a series of weekly shiurim in memory of Dalia Hillman z'l

Brian Weiser is Professor of History at MSU-Denver where he teaches a number of courses including Renaissance and Reformation, Tudor and Stuart England, and Magic in Early Modern Europe. He has published Charles II and the Politics of Access and several articles on topics such as representations of and to Charles II, shaming rituals in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, and the military revolution effects on honor and absolutism. His current project is"The Vicar, the Playwright, and the Horsegelder: Shame and Shaming in an Elizabethan Village." In Judaic studies, Brian had given lectures at the Jewish Center in New York and DAT Minyan in Denver. He has also published “The Coronation of Saul” in Mitokh Ha-Ohel, From Within the Tent: The Haftarot.

Image by Marina Pershina from Pixabay