"Israel and the Book of Joshua" is the second in Tzedek Chicago's monthly online speaker series, "Torah Beyond Zionism."

To register for the Zoom meeting, please click here: https://bit.ly/32cxMvV

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In this session, Prof. Rachel Havrelock will present the ideas behind her recently published book, The Joshua Generation. We will consider the Hebrew Bible’s celebration of militarism in the first half of the book of Joshua before turning to the less-known ideas of cohabitation expressed in its second half.

Next, we will probe early Zionist enthusiasm for the book of Joshua, primarily expressed by founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Finally, we will examine the status of the book of Joshua today and its many interpretations in the State of Israel.

Rachel Havrelock is Professor of English and Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she also directs The Freshwater Lab, focused on water justice and species survival amidst accelerated climate change. Rachel’s latest book, The Joshua Generation: Israeli Occupation and the Bible (Princeton University Press, 2020), tells the story of how the Bible became militarized yet still holds lessons for de-escalation and cohabitation.

While writing River Jordan: The Mythology of a Dividing Line (University of Chicago Press, 2011), Dr. Havrelock became involved in environmental peacebuilding with the Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian NGO Ecopeace Middle East. The times being what they are, Rachel also writes about oil pipelines and how to make the transition from fossil fuels