This talk stems from Zierler’s work as a scholarly consultant for the recent television series, The Faithful, which dramatizes the lives of the matriarchs of the biblical book of Genesis. Her presentation will examine the first two episodes of the show as contemporary feminist commentary on the biblical story of Sarah and Hagar, a narrative cycle that has long troubled readers because it seems to construct identity through exclusion: Hagar is exploited and expelled, Ishmael is displaced, with the covenant ultimately secured through separation. The Faithful offers a different vision of these two founding matriarchs, however, one of profound interdependence, shared vulnerability, and mutual obligation.

Wendy Zierler is the Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies at Hebrew Union College in New York. From 1997-2001, she taught in the English Department of the University of Hong Kong. Her most recent book, Going Out with Knots: My Two Kaddish Years with Hebrew Poetry (Jewish Publication Society) was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. Previous books include Movies and Midrash: Popular Film and Jewish Religious Conversation (SUNY Press, also a National Jewish Book Award finalist, 2017), and And Rachel Stole the Idols: The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Women’s Writing (Wayne State UP, 2004). Since 2017 she has been Co-Editor Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History.

All are welcome. Registration is required.