Midrash Agnon with Jeffrey Saks

Start each week with a bit of Agnon! Join Jeffrey Saks for a Sunday morning study session of the Nobel laureate’s writing—reading in English translation as our instructor helps build a bridge to the original Hebrew texts and the rich rabbinic sources from which Agnon crafted his modern writing.

In S.Y. Agnon’s stories we encounter the Jewish world in transition between the past and the present, tradition and modernity, and the Diaspora and Eretz Yisrael. What do his stories mean for today’s readers and contemporary Jewish history? Each session explores a different short story from the anthology “A Book That Was Lost” (Toby Press). Click here for the course syllabus.

5 Sundays in a row May 17 – June 14, 2026 at 11:00am

This series talks place live at Agnon House, 16 Klausner Street, Jerusalem (no Zoom broadcast).

Rabbi Jeffrey Saks is director of research at Jerusalem’s Agnon House.