Click here to view the Film or copy and paste the link below into your browser
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lTGPn0wsTFjjW37ry1YVUJwUiZQMxXep/view?usp=sharing

Rabbi Howard Cooper is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. He is a writer and the Director of Spiritual Development at Finchley Reform Synagogue, London.

The ancient Biblical story of the Garden of Eden became part of the background mythology of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and its themes are woven too into the consciousness of contemporary secularism. But what can this story say to us today? Howard's Plenary dramatizes the story from the viewpoints of the four 'characters' who appear in the text - Adam, Eve, the serpent and God - as a way of illuminating some of the themes and motifs of this protean myth.

In his collection of papers "Jewish Explorations of Sexuality", Jonathan Magonet, Principal of Leo Baeck College, describes Howard Cooper's as "[an] imaginative re-reading of the Genesis Story [which] offers a creative, witty and profound approach to the interface between sexuality and spirituality". Howard's plenary, delivered some 25 years after his original paper, differs slightly and brings additional, contemporary insights to bear on the myth.

There were some severe technical problems with the lighting in the room we used for this plenary and this interfered with the video-camera's autofocus capabilities. For the video we have supplemented Howard's talk with images from 'The Haywain' by Hieronymus Bosch. These did not figure in Howard's presentation on the night.

10452825_831439693535331_683052144297337660_o

10430386_833781566634477_495245820917659296_n

1979523_767928159886485_1511761577_n

Link and Introduction