Download RELI 108: TRADITIONAL JEWISH WRITINGS

Version 2011/Final
The Department of Religious Studies
RELI 108:
TRADITIONAL JEWISH WRITINGS
Dr. Evyatar Marienberg
Spring 2011, Mondays & Wednesdays, 12:00-12:50, Peabody 218
The aim of this undergraduate course will be to familiarize ourselves with Jewish literary works that
are considered “fundamental”, “classic”, “traditional” (often, all of the above). We will include in our
list the Hebrew Bible, the Mishnah, the Babylonian Talmud, midrashic collections, works from the
Geonic period, works by Maimonides, major codes of Jewish law, major kabbalistic, philosophic,
poetic, and ethical works, hassidic compositions, and more. At the end of this course, students would
have, it is hoped, a better understanding of the complex and diverse Jewish written corpus.
All texts will be studied using English translations. No knowledge of Hebrew or background in
Jewish culture or history is required.
Good attendance is expected. Students will be required to regularly read secondary sources
(chapters/articles), submit short summaries/reflections, and prepare primary sources.
Grading:
Presence and participation (class):
Presence and participation (recitations):
Postings on Blackboard:
Final (Monday, May 2nd, 12:00pm)
10%
10%
40%
40%
Instructor‟s contact information: Dr. Evyatar Marienberg ([email protected]).
Office hours: Saunders Hall #128, Mon. 2:30pm-3:30pm
TA‟s contact information: Mr. Joseph Gindi ([email protected]).
Office hours: Saunders Hall #122, TBA
Additional Information:

Participation in class is expected. If you have a particular problem with voluntary
participation (social anxiety, etc.), or an especially difficult time dealing with being
suddenly called upon, please advise the professor during the first two weeks. Your
request will be fully honored, and, if appropriate, another method of personal evaluation,
agreed upon by both you and the professor/TA, might be put into place.

Students are expected to arrive promptly and to remain for the entirety of the scheduled
class/recitation. The professor/TA retain the right to refuse entrance to students who
arrive late and consider those who leave early as absent from the entire class/session.

Students must prepare the assigned readings (and/or other tasks) for each class. If
students are not coming prepared, a system of pop quizzes may be introduced, with the
grade system adjusted accordingly.

The use of cell phones, laptops, iPads, MP3 players, and similar gadgets is not permitted
during class. Sorry!

All students are expected to abide by the university‟s Honor Code (http://honor.unc.edu).
Any suspicion of intellectual dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism of any kind) will cause a
thorough investigation and, if found to be justified, will have severe consequences.

All readings, and many of the sources we will use in class, will be available through
Blackboard.

There is an attendance requirement for this course: all students are responsible for
making sure their presence is recorded. A student who misses more than four
classes/recitations will fail. In exceptional cases, if the absence was well-justified, the
student may be asked to write an additional essay about the topics dealt with during
his/her absence.

Before each session you are responsible of posting on Blackboard, no later than two
hours before the session, your reflections about the readings for that session. These
postings will be graded. Without a posting, your attendance in a particular session might
not be taken into account.
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Course Plan
Date
Topic
I
Mon, Jan 10
Introduction
Readings (to read before class) and
printouts (to bring to class)
N/A
II
Wed, Jan 12
Jewish History
in a Nutshell
- Cowling, “Judaism: A Historical
Overview”
R1
Fri, Jan 14
NO CLASS
(MLK Jr Day)
The Hebrew
Bible I
N/A
N/A
- Rabin, “Introduction: There‟s More
than One Way to Read the Bible”
- Brettler, Introductions to Torah,
Nevi’im, and Kethuvim
- David and Goliath
- Amos
- Song of Songs
- Psalm 22
- Rabin, “History in the Bible”
- Friedman, “Introduction/Collection
of Evidence”
- Grintz and Dan, “Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha”
deSilva,
Introducing
the
Apocrypha: Message, Context and
Significance
- Genesis 1-2
- Exodus 19-22
- Numbers 22-23
- Septuagint
- Hellenism
- Disapora Judaisms
- Canonization of Hebrew Bible
- Apocrypha
- Pseudoepigraph
- Sirach 1-2
- 1 Maccabees 1-2
- 1 Enoch 1-10
- Sandmel, “Philo Judaeus: An
Introduction to the Man, his
Writings, and his Significance”
(Parts only: check bibliography)
- http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/dss
(sections)
- Philo
- Josephus
- The Flood story
- Philo & Josephus on Flood
- Qumran
- The Dead Sea Scrolls
- Current debates
- Psalms from Qumran
- The Copper Scroll
- The Rules
- Brown, “The Nature and Origin of
the New Testament”
- Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the
New Testament
- The Historical Jesus
- “Jesus Christ”
- New Testament
- NT as a Jewish Text
- The Synoptic Problem
- Matthew 12
Mon, Jan 17
III
Wed, Jan 19
R2
Fri, Jan 21
IV
Mon, Jan 24
The Hebrew
Bible II
V
Wed, Jan 26
Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha
R3
Fri, Jan 28
VI
Mon, Jan 31
Philo and
Josephus
VII
Wed, Feb 2
Qumran
R4
Fri, Feb 4
VIII
Mon, Feb 7
New Testament
3
Subjects/texts discussed in class
- General Introduction
- A responsum on removing one‟s
hat in a synagogue
- How to analyze a text?
- Jewish history and geography: a
very quick survey
Date
Topic
Mishnah
& Tannaitic
Literature
Readings (to read before class) and
printouts (to bring to class)
Danby,
“Introduction
Mishnah]”
[to
the
Subjects/texts discussed in class
- Acts 15
- Acts 6-8
- What is “Rabbinics”?
- What is the Mishnah?
- The Organization of the
Talmudic Literature
- Selections from Mishnah
Shabbat, Baba Mezia, Avodah
Zarah, Avot
IX
Wed, Feb 9
R5
Fri, Feb 11
X
Mon, Feb 14
Midrashic
Literature
- Stern, “Midrash
Interpretation”
XI
Wed, Feb 16
Talmud I
- Nothing (a little break!)
R6
Fri, Feb 18
XII
Mon, Feb 21
Talmud II
Geonic
Literature
- Talmudic Sources
- Geonic Sources
XIII
Wed, Feb 23
Historic
Literature
- Schiffman,
“Epilogue: The
Hegemony of the Babylonian
Talmud”
- Brody, “Geonim”
- Skinner, “Gender, Memory and
Jewish Identity”
R7
Fri, Feb 25
XIV
Mon, Feb 28
XV
Wed, Mar 2
- Lieber, “Piyyut”
- “Three Piyyutim”
- Wiesel, Rashi: A Portrait
R8
Fri, Mar 4
Piyyutim:
Text,
Performance
- Rashi on the Bible
- Rashi on the Talmud
- Rashi as codificator
- Talmud with Rashi
NO CLASS
(Spring Break)
NO CLASS
(Spring Break)
NO
RECITATION
(Spring Break)
Maimonides
& Philosophic
Literature
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
- Kraemer, “The Life of Moses ben
Maimon”
Special Session:
Crisis in Japan Suffering and
Theodicy in
Judaism and
Japanese
Religions
N/A
Texts from:
- Guide of the Perplexed
- Mishneh Torah
- Medical Writings
- Maimonides on suffering
- Guest: Prof. Barbara Ambros
Mon, Mar 7
Wed, Mar 9
Fri, Mar 11
XVI
Mon, Mar 14
XVII
Wed, Mar 16
R9
Fri, Mar 18
Piyyut
Literature
Rashi
& Exegetic
Literature
4
and
Jewish
- What is Midrash?
- Selection of Midrashic texts
- What is Talmud? (I)
- What is Talmud? (II)
- What is Shofar?
- Talmudic texts on the Shofar
- Yossifon
- The Scroll of Ahimaaz
- Crusade‟s Chronicles
Music,
Date
Topic
XVIII
Mon, Mar 21
Kuzari
& Apologetic
Literature
XIX
Wed, Mar 23
Sefer Hasidim
& Medieval
Literature
R10
Fri, Mar 25
XX
Mon, Mar 28
XXI
Wed, Mar 30
NO
RECITATION
(Holy Friday)
Jewish
Environmentalist Literature
(Session taught
by TA Joseph
Gindi)
The Siddur and
Jewish Liturgy
R11
Fri, Apr 1
XXII
Mon, Apr 4
Kabbalah &
Mystical/Esoter
ic Literature
XXIII
Wed, Apr 6
Shulhan Arukh
& Halakhic
Literature
R12
Fri, Apr 8
XXIV
Mon, Apr 11
“Women
Related”
Literature
XXV
Wed, Apr 13
Haggadah
R13
Fri, Apr 15
XXVI
Mon, Apr 18
Ethical
(“Mussar”)
Literature
XXVII
Wed, Apr 20
Hassidic
Literature
(Passover)
Readings (to read before class) and
printouts (to bring to class)
- Saenz-Badillos, Lasker, et al., ,
“Judah ha-Levi”
- Shear, The Kuzari and the Shaping
of Jewish Identity 1167-1900
- Dan, “Sefer Hasidim”
- Schäfer, “Jews and Christians in the
High Middle Ages : the "Book of the
Pious"”
N/A
Subjects/texts discussed in class
- Selection of texts from the
Kuzari
- Texts from Sefer Hasidim
TBA
- Harlow, Siddur Sim Shalom
- The Shema
- The Amida
- Morning Blessings
- Lekha Dodi
- Scholem, Idel, and Garb,
“Kabbalah” (Parts only: check
bibliography)
Werblowsky
and
Goldish,
“Shabbetai Tsevi”
- Huss, “All You Need Is LAV:
Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah”
- Twerski, “The Shulhan „Aruk:
Enduring Code of Jewish Law”
- Ta-Shma, “Responsa” (Parts only:
check bibliography)
Texts from:
- Heikhalot Rabbati
- Sefer ha-Bahir
- Tomer Devorah
- Zohar
- Weissler,
“Prayers in Yiddish
and the Religious World of
Ashkenazic Women”
- Turniansky, “Glueckel of Hameln”
- Tabory, “The Haggadah and Its
Ritual”
- Texts from Glueckel‟s memoir
- Selection of Tkhines
- Dan, “Ethical Literature”
- Dan and Hansel, “Luzzatto, Moses
Hayyim”
(Parts
only:
check
bibliography)
- Dan, “Hasidism: An Overview”
- Green & Magid, “Hasidism: Habad
Hasidism”
- Green, “Nahman of Bratslav”
- Selection from Hovot haLevavot & Mesilat Yesharim
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- Texts from Shulhan Arukh Orah
Hayyim & Yoreh De‟ah
- Responsa Literature
- Art in Haggadot
- Selection of texts from the
Haggadah
- Text from the Tanya
- Texts by Nahman of Braslav
Date
R14
Fri, Apr 22
XXVIII
Mon, Apr 25
XXIX
Mon, Apr 27
Mon, May 2
Topic
Readings (to read before class) and
printouts (to bring to class)
Subjects/texts discussed in class
Winds of
Change:
Secularization
and Haskalah
- Hess, “Christian Wilhelm von Dohm”
- von Dohm, “On the Civic Improvement
of the Jews (1781)”
- Wessely, “Words of Peace and Truth
(1782)”
- Eisenstein-Barzilay, “The Ideology of
the Berlin Haskalah”
- Haskalah / Secularization /
Emancipation
- The Decline of the Rabbinic
Hegemony
Questions for review
- Review
- Conclusion
(Easter Monday
; Passover)
Review Session
and Conclusion
FINAL EXAM
N/A
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Readings: Detailed Bibliography
- Geoffrey Cowling, “Judaism: A Historical Overview”, in: Christopher H. Partridge (ed.),
Introduction to World Religions, Fortress Press 2005, pp. 265-273
- Elliott Rabin, “Introduction: There‟s More than One Way to Read the Bible”, in: Elliot
Rabin, Understanding the Hebrew Bible: A Reader’s Guide, Ktav, New Jersey 2006, pp. 1-18
- Marc Zvi Brettler, Introductions to Torah, Nevi‟im, and Kethuvim, in: Adele Berlin and
Zvi Brettler (eds.), The Jewish Study Bible (=JSB), Oxford University Press, 2004, pp. 1-7, 451461, 1275-1279
- Elliott Rabin, “History in the Bible”, in: Elliot Rabin, Understanding the Hebrew Bible: A
Reader’s Guide, Ktav, New Jersey 2006, pp. 75-109
- Richard Elliott Friedman, “Introduction/Collection of Evidence”, in Richard Elliott
Friedman, The Bible with Sources Revealed: A New View Into the Five Books of Moses,
HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco 2003, pp. 1-31
- Yehoshua Grintz and Joseph Dan, “Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha”, in: Encyclopedia
Judaica 2nd Edition (=EJ2), Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik (eds.), Macmillan Reference
USA, Detroit 2007, Vol. 2, pp. 258-261
- David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context and Significance, Baker
Academic, Grand Rapids 2002, pp. 15-41
- Samuel Sandmel, “Philo Judaeus: An Introduction to the Man, his Writings, and his
Significance”, in: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, II/21:1 (1984), pp. 3-46 (read
only chapters I, II, III, V)
- http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/dss (Pages: “Discovery of the Scrolls”; “What do the Scrolls
Contain?”; “Who Wrote the Scrolls?”; “Publication of the Scrolls”)
- Raymond E. Brown, “The Nature and Origin of the New Testament”, in: Raymond E.
Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament, Anchor Bible Reference, Doubleday, New York
1997, pp. 3-19
- Bart D. Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament, Oxford University Press, New
York 2004, pp. 1-13
- Herbert Danby, “Introduction”, in: Herbert Danby, The Mishnah, Translated from the
Hebrew, Oxford University Press, London 1933, pp. xiii-xxxii
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- David Stern, “Midrash and Jewish Interpretation”, in: JSB, pp. 1863-1875
- Lawrence H. Schiffman, “Epilogue: The Hegemony of the Babylonian Talmud”, in:
Laurence H. Schiffman (ed.), Texts and Tradition: A Source Reader for the Study of Second
Temple and Rabbinic Judaism, Ktav 1998, pp. 749-761
- Robert Brody, “Geonim”, in: Norman Roth (ed.), Medieval Jewish Civilization: An
Encyclopedia, Routledge, New York-London 2002, pp. 281–286
- Patricia Skinner, “Gender, Memory and Jewish Identity: Reading a Family History from
Medieval Southern Italy”, Early Medieval Europe, 13:3 (2005), pp. 277-296
- Laura S. Lieber, “Piyyut”, Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism
- “Three Piyyutim”, from www.piyut.org.il
- Elie Wiesel, Rashi: A Portrait, Schocken, New York 2009, pp. 1-31
- Joel L. Kraemer, “The Life of Moses ben Maimon”, in: Lawrence Fine (ed.), Judaism in
Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period, Princeton University Press,
Princeton NJ 2001, pp. 413-428
- Saenz-Badillos, Lasker, et al., “Judah ha-Levi”, in: EJ2, Vol. 11, pp. 492-501
- Adam Shear, The Kuzari and the Shaping of Jewish Identity, 1167-1900, Cambridge
University Press, 2008, pp. vii-20
- Joseph Dan, “Hasidim, Sefer”, in: EJ2, Vol. 8, pp. 392-393
- Peter Schäfer, “Jews and Christians in the High Middle Ages: the „Book of the Pious‟”, in:
Christoph Cluse (ed.), The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries),
Brepols, 2004, pp. 29-42
- Jules Harlow, Siddur Sim Shalom, The Rabbinical Assembly – The United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism, New York 1989, pp. xi-xix
- Gershom Scholem, Moshe Idel, and Jonathan Garb, “Kabbalah”, in: EJ2, Vol. 11, p. 1
(586, “Kabbala”) - p. 10 (595, “Jewish Gnosis and the Sefer Yeẓirah”) ; p. 20 (605, “The
Kabbalist Center of Gerona”) - p. 21 (606, “Other Currents in 13th Century Spanish Kabbalah”)
; p. 24 (609, “The Zohar”) – p. 25 (610, “The Kabbalah in the 14th Century up to the Expulsion
from Spain”) ; p. 29 (614, “The Kabbalah after the Expulsion from Spain and the New Center in
Safed”) – p. 34 (619, “The Kabbalah in Later Times”)
- R. J. Zvi Werblowsky, “Shabbetai Tsevi [First Edition]”, and Matt Goldish, “Shabbetai
Tsevi [Further Considerations]”, Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd Ed., Edited by Lindsay Jones,
Vol. 12, Macmillan Reference USA, Detroit 2005, pp. 8258-8262
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- Boaz Huss, “All You Need Is LAV: Madonna and Postmodern Kabbalah”, in: Jewish
Quarterly Review 95:4 (2005), pp. 611–624
- Isadore Twerski, “The Shulhan „Aruk: Enduring Code of Jewish Law”, in: Judah Goldin
(ed.), The Jewish Expression, Yale University Press, New Haven 1976, pp. 322-343 (first
published in Judaism 16.2 (1967))
- Israel Moses Ta-Shma, “Responsa”, in: EJ2, Vol. 17, pp. 228-232 (stop at: "...that to date it
numbers no less than some 250,000 responsa")
- Chava Weissler, “Prayers in Yiddish and the Religious World of Ashkenazic Women”, in:
Judith R. Baskin (ed.), Jewish Women in Historical Perspective (Second Edition), Wayne State
University Press, Detroit 1998, pp. 169-192
- Chava Turniansky, “Glueckel of Hameln”, in: Jewish Women – A Comprehensive Historical
Encyclopedia, 7 pages
- Joseph Tabory, “The Haggadah and Its Ritual”, in: The JPS Haggadah, Philadelphia 2008,
pp. 1-32
- Joseph Dan, “Ethical Literature”, in: EJ2, Vol. 6, pp. 525-531
- Joseph Dan and Joelle Hansel, “Luzzatto, Moses Hayyim”, in: EJ2, Vol. 13, p. 281 until p.
282 (“in a plague”) ; p. 284 (“Luzzatto’s Ethical Work”) – p. 285 (“suspected of
Shabbateanism”)
- Joseph Dan, “Hasidism: An Overview”, in: Encyclopedia of Religion 2nd Edition (=ER2),
Lindsay Jones (ed.), Macmillan Reference USA, Detroit 2005, Vol. 6, pp. 3785-3792
- Arthur Green and Shaul Magid, “Hasidism: Habad Hasidism”, in: ER2, Vol. 6, pp. 37923793
- Arthur Green, “Nahman of Bratslav”, in: ER2, Vol. 9, pp. 6401-6402
- Jonathan M. Hess, “Christian Wilhelm von Dohm (1751-1830)”, in: Richard S. Levy (ed.),
Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, ABC CLIO, Santa
Barbara 2005, Vol. 1, p. 184
- Christian Wilhelm von Dohm, “On the Civic Improvement of the Jews (1781)”, in:
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise, Translated, Edited, and with an Introduction by
Ronald Schechter, Bedford/St. Martin‟s, pp. 128-139
- Naphtali Herz (Hartwig) Wessely, “Words of Peace and Truth (1782)”, in: Paul MendesFlohr and Jehuda Reinharz (ed.), The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, 3rd
Edition, Oxford University Press, New York 2010, pp. 74-77
- Isaac Eisenstein-Barzilay, “The Ideology of the Berlin Haskalah”, in: Proceedings of the
American Academy for Jewish Research 25 (1956), pp. 1-37
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