This year Matan's Pre-Pesach Learning in English was on Monday. I slept over in Jerusalem the night before, so I wouldn't have to get up ridiculously early and then find myself dozing through the lectures. That gave me an opportunity to see my Jerusalem kids and my newest grandchild, ken yirbu.As you can see from the pictures, the auditorium was packed. They had to bring in extra chairs.
At 9am, we started with Dr. Yael Ziegler, who as usual kept us totally spellbound. She discussed the similaries between the סנה, the Burning Bush, and הר סיני, Mount Sinai. There's also a linguistic connection between the two, which I hadn't noticed before. I've been taking her classes for years. She's incomparable.
Then, after a short break, we heard Dr. Aviva Gottleib Zornberg, who discussed the Biblical narrative of the Exodus from Egypt.The program ended with Dr. Avigail Rock, who discussed different aspects of our Exodus from Egypt.
The classes/lectures were all so amazing that I had no trouble staying alert and awake for the four hours of the program. If you'd like to hear those lectures and others, click on the Matan Online website. Matan records most of its classes, and any which don't have an icon of a "lock" can be heard by the general public. For a reasonable fee, you can sign up to hear all of the locked classes, too. I'm looking forward to resuming my regular study schedule after Passover.