Why do we suffer? What should we do when we suffer or see others suffering? Where is God in our suffering? The Talmud takes on these questions and more and offers some surprising answers. Join us for a reading of this Talmudic sugya (presented in the original and English translation), involving close readings, partner arguments, and dramatic interpretations.

Jeff Amshalem has been in Jewish education for over twenty years in a variety of roles, and has done much of his learning and teaching in pluralistic environments such as Pardes and Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and at Hebrew College. He earned his PhD in Jewish Thought from Ben-Gurion University and has orthodox rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem. He now teaches in the Religion Department at Tufts University and lives in Sharon, MA, with his chef wife, Ariella, four children, a dog, a cat, and a flock of chickens.