Leonard Bernstein’s Jeremiah symphony uses verses from the Book of Lamentations to portray the tragedy of the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple in 587BCE. The authorship of Lamentations is traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah, the prophet who lived during that period. In this class we will look at two separate aspects of this fascinating and most important of the biblical prophets: Jeremiah in his historical context as a political figure advocating a pacifist stance, and Jeremiah as a wrathful and tragic messenger of God’s word. In the first two sessions of this class, Noah Hadas will guide us to look at two separate messenger of God's word. In the third session (May 10), Nuvi Mehta, San Diego Symphony's pre-concert lecturer who also performed as a violinist with the SD Symphony for several seasons, will present on The Jeremiah Symphony which is being performed at Copley Hall over the weekend of May 11-13. Mehta is an extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic lecturer who comes from a renowned musical family and attended conducting seminars with Leonard Bernstein himself.