The idea for the symposium began when the MSU Main Library received a generous donation of books consisting of Hebrew and Israeli literature from now-deceased Detroit resident Irwin “Toby” Holtzman’s wife, Shirley Holtzman.

“He died in 2010 and his wife approached MSU about donating the book collection,” said Reference and Collections Librarian Deborah Margolis. “It added well over 1,000 volumes of Israeli literature.”

Last night, Shalev gave a presentation on Biblical figure Jacob and his relationships. Tonight at 7:30 p.m., Alter will give a presentation on Hebrew poetry.

Shalev believes many interpretations of Jacob’s story attempt to improve his character and make it holier. He said his approach to the story is a more secular view.

“The story of Jacob is known to everybody who is part of a certain civilization,” Shalev said. “It’s the same way we know the stories of Greek mythology. We are used to one way of looking at these stories, and I think it’s like every other thing, a change of point of view is interesting. It’s making you able to think in a different way.”

Alter’s presentation will involve the poetry of 20th century poets Mason Zach and Zelda and how their work relates to the Book of Job. Attendees will be handed copies of the poems and study the poetry with Alter.

“A lot of people are at least familiar with the Book of Job and the suffering of Job,” Margolis said. “I would hope that people will want to see how the Book of Job is imagined and used by the 20th-century poets.”

Associate professor of Hebrew and Israeli Culture Marc Bernstein said it’s important for students to learn about the side of Israel that’s not involved with war and terrorism, but culture and literature.

“We live in a diverse, multicultural environment,” Bernstein said. “Israel is a center of many things going on in the world, but most don’t know what’s going on as far as Israeli culture. We want to expose people to literature that have come out of that society.”