News Release

Issued 05.04.11                                For immediate use

Jewish rabbi to give his view of God at Cathedral

A Jewish rabbi, theologian and writer will give his perspective on the “The Question of God” when he gives this month’s St Wilfrid Lecture at Ripon Cathedral.  

Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok will tackle the issue of suffering asking  ‘where was God when six million people died in the Holocaust?’ when he gives the second of this year’s St Wilfrid lectures, “How Odd of God to choose the Jews”,  on Thursday April 7th at 7pm.

Born in Denver, Colorado, and  ordained a Reform Rabbi, Professor Dan Cohn-Sherbok is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. Speaking ahead of the lecture he said, “The horrors of the Nazi regime raise serious questions about the nature of God. Traditional Judaism maintains that God chose the Jewish nation as his special people, and that He watches over them as a loving father. But where was God when six million died? This lecture grapples with this fundamental problem and formulates a new Jewish theology for the 21st century.”

Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd Keith Jukes said, “It will be a considerable privilege to welcome Dan Cohn-Sherbok to Ripon Cathedral as our next lecturer in this year’s series of St Wilfrid Lectures.  His question “Where was God during the Holocaust?” will lead us into an area that rightly still concerns us.  No all that long ago, the Cathedral hosted a Six Million + Button Exhibition, each button representing a life lost in the concentration camps.  People came and openly wept.  The rawness of the Holocaust still lives on and its horror leads us rightly to ask the question of where God was.  Dan will lead us in the consideration of this fundamental question whilst also formulating new Jewish theology for the 21st Century.”

Professor Cohn-Sherbok is the author or editor of over 70 books including: Judaism Today (2010), Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism (2006), and Judaism: History, Belief and Practice (2003).

The St Wilfrid Lecture is on Thursday April 7th at 7pm is free.

ENDS

More information, Ripon Cathedral (01765) 603462

Issued by John Carter

Press and Communications Officer

Diocese of Ripon and Leeds