Jews often seek out beautiful ritual objects like lulav, etrog, shofar, and the menorah in order to beautify their performance of a mitzvah, a concept called "hiddur mitzvah."  But what does it actually mean to choose a lulav or etrog to bring "additional beauty" to a commandment? By looking at rabbinic sources, fiction, and visual art, we will get to the heart of he theological question at stake in hiddur mitzvah - how can we, lowly human beings, glorify God? - and see how hiddur is related to our relationship to God, ethics, community, and commandedness.  

Bio: Ranana Dine is an Assistant Professor of Catholic-Jewish Studies and the Crown-Ryan Chair at Catholic Theological Union, where she also directs the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program. Her research interests include modern Jewish thought and ethics, Jewish feminist thought, bioethics, and religion and visual culture.

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