A Field Guide to the Jewish Otherworld

What We Will Discover

Past generations of Jews have had a complex spirit world to negotiate. The unseen entities around them included not only the Holy One, but angels, demons, ancestral entities, and elemental beings of various kinds. Jews have ritually engaged with the prophets Miriam and Elijah, told fables of mythical creatures, dealt with house spirits and warded off Lilith. Souls sit under trees in the Garden of Eden or wander the world in the form of a dybbuk (a disembodied spirit looking for a body to possess). In this class, we'll encounter folk traditions and stories of such entities, and meditate on how we might treat the world around us as mysterious and alive. • Can an alien be Jewish? • What does Jewish tradition say about cloning and artificial life? • Can someone like Darth Vader truly repent? • Is it ever ethical for a superhero to kill the villain?