Marina Zilbergerts

Marina Zilbergerts is a scholar of Jewish literature and thought. She is the author of The Yeshiva and the Rise of Modern Hebrew Literature (Indiana University Press). From 2016-2022, she was the Lipton Assistant Professor of Eastern European Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She grew up in Zhitomir, Tel Aviv, and Toronto and received her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her first book of poetry, a series of retellings of Genesis called You Were Adam appeared with Wipf & Stock. She has published on Jewish culture, music, and literature in Tradition and Prooftexts.

Session Title: The Ecstasy of Making: Poetic Reflections on Human and Divine Creativity

Artists, mothers, and God: we do not often think of them as having much in common. But all three are partners in creation. In this session, based on my recently published poetry collection, You Were Adam (October 2022, Wipf & Stock), I take a poetic approach to understanding what it is like to make creatures with free will and the potential to become fundamentally different from ourselves. Drawing on peshat, remez, and sod in Bereshit (Genesis), refracted through poetry, I explore the nature of creation and of the relationships between creature and creator.

Get a copy of Marina Zilbergerts’ books!

“You Were Adam” – https://a.co/d/hgPHJ5M