Scholar-in-Residence: Dr. Benjamin Sommer
Friday, May 19 – Sunday, May 21
We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Benjamin Sommer as our Rabbi Jehiel Orenstein z”l scholar-in-residence. We will have several opportunities to learn with Dr. Sommer over the weekend, including Friday night, Shabbat morning, and the Sunday evening Orenstein lecture.
View the full schedule here and click here to register for dinner.

Benjamin Sommer is Professor of Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary and Senior Fellow at the Kogod Center for Contemporary Jewish Thought of the Shalom Hartman Institute. His book, Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, received the Goldstein-Goren Prize in Jewish Thought and was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz described Sommer as a “a traditionalist but an iconoclast – he shatters idols and prejudices in order to nurture Jewish tradition and its applicability today.”
This program is made possible by the Rabbi Orenstein Lecture Fund, named for Beth El’s spiritual leader of 35 years.