Rabbi Fuchs Offers Final Class on Genesis Stories

provided to Santiva Chronicle

Rabbi Fuchs

Rabbi Dr. Stephen Lewis Fuchs of Bat Yam Temple of the Islands will present “Cain and Abel: ‘The Symbol Story of the Human Soul” from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, in the Heron Hall at Sanibel Congregational United Church of Christ, 20250 Periwinkle Way. While this is the third and final session in the rabbi’s “Genesis’ Earlier Stories” seminar, participants need not have attended the other two. There is no admission charge, and all are welcome to attend.

Participants are encouraged to bring whatever Bible translation they have at hand. “It will be fun to sometimes compare different translations of the same Hebrew word because any translation involves some degree of interpretation,” says the rabbi. He feels that the classes are an excellent way to celebrate the congregation’s return to the beginning of the Torah at this time of year.
The Bible’s Book of Genesis is a subject near and dear to Fuchs. He explains, “Genesis is the foundation of all of Jewish thought. It provided me the basis of my doctoral dissertation at Vanderbilt Divinity School, which, many years later, I turned into my first book, What’s in It for Me? Finding Ourselves in Biblical Narratives.

“Genesis was also the basis of the course I taught for five years as a faculty member of the Hamilton College Elderhostel program and of the semester-opening lecture I delivered at the Abraham Geiger College in Berlin in 2014.”

Many years ago, the Columbia Public Library asked a number of individuals, including Rabbi Fuchs, to write essays for public display about their favorite book of all time. “I chose the Book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible,” he recalls. “If I were asked that same question today, more than 40 years and many hundreds of books later, my answer would still be the same.”

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