On Thursday, December 31, in response to the revived nation-wide interest in Star Wars, sparked by the recently released movie directed by J.J. Abrams, Rabbi Blackstein gave a shiur to Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA) students on the topic of connecting Torah to The Force. Without spoiling the movie for you: the gist of the shiur was a comparison of The Divine Force to the Divine Spirit, as well as a comparison of various Jedis to major characters in Tanach. While the shiur was both entertaining and humorous, it was also informative in the realms of both Tanach and the Jedis. Rabbi Blackstein demonstrated a vast knowledge of both topics and was able to suggest many chiddushim on the ethical nature of many Star Wars filming and screening choices.

By Hillel Krief