4AAT1013: Introduction to Jewish Thought and Practice. Module Syllabus

Transcription

1 KING S COLLEGE LONDON DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES 4AAT1013: Introduction to Jewish Thought and Practice (Level 4-15 credits) : Semester 1 Tuesdays, 9-11am, Strand 2.29 Dates: 22 September, 29 September, 6 October, 13 October, 20 October, 3 November, 10 November, 17 November, 1 December, 8 December (Please note that the 24 November class has been cancelled and rearranged for 8 December.) Module tutor: Dr Benjamin Williams, benjamin.williams@kcl.ac.uk, Room 3.36 Virginia Woolf Building, Office hours: Tuesdays 2-3pm Module Syllabus 1. Introduction This module introduces the history of rabbinic Judaism and key rabbinic texts from antiquity to the middle ages as a springboard for the discussion of topics including exile, tradition and innovation, narrative and law, and Jewish and non-jewish relations. The first half of the course focuses on the varieties of Judaism that flourished in late antiquity, the destruction of the Temple and the formation of rabbinic Judaism. Following the reading week, classes will turn to the development of diaspora communities in the Muslim world and in the Latin West in the middle ages. Lectures will be interactive throughout, and based on pre-circulated primary and secondary sources that must be studied in advance. Module Aims To introduce key topics in Judaism by studying its history, fundamental texts, concepts and practices To develop a deeper understanding of Jewish thought and practice in late antiquity and the middle ages To study contemporary scholarly works relevant to the primary texts examined To provide a foundation for specialized modules in subsequent years Learning Outcomes By the end of the course, students will be able to engage critically with the primary sources studied be able to present key themes in the development of rabbinic Judaism coherently in written and oral form understand the development, content and significance of Judaism s most important texts be able to engage critically with debates about the nature of Jewish thought and practice 1

2 Apart from materials that will enable you to take notes, please bring this module syllabus to every lecture. It will also be important to have access to the preparatory readings that you have read and annotated, the notes you have taken, and the questions you have prepared. You will not wish to be the only member of the group who cannot follow a text that is being discussed because you don t have the text before you with your own annotations. The essential readings (and many of the recommended readings) can be found on KEATS. But there is no substitute for researching the topics we examine, particularly those you will study for essays and others that are of particular interest to you, in the Maughan Library. Finding the books listed below, and reading beyond the passages suggested, will be a good place to start. Please also consult the library s excellent Subject Resources page for TRS at Please contact the module tutor or Maughan Library if any relevant sources appear to be missing. 2. Module plan & Readings Essential Preparatory Reading - Fishbane, Michael, Judaism: Revelation and Traditions (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987) - De Lange, Nicholas, An Introduction to Judaism, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) - Solomon, Norman, Judaism: A Very Short Introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014) * It will be essential to read these short books in their entirety (and well worth buying cheap second hand copies from Amazon; note that you will find, upsettingly, copies of the eminent scholar Michael Fishbane s book by searching for Michael Fishbone; the ISBN is ). Encyclopaediae - Berlin, Adele, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 2nd edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011) - Skolnik, Fred, and Berenbaum, Michael, eds, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd edn, 12 vols (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007) Atlas - Barnavi, Elie, ed., A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People, new edn (New York: Schocken Books, 2002) Bibliography - Goodman, Martin, and others, eds, The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) - Rambi. aleph.nli.org.il/f?local_base=rmb01 [a comprehensive database of Jewish Studies articles] Week 1 Tuesday 22 September 2015: Introduction to the module; introduction to the Hebrew Bible 2

3 - Greenspoon, Leonard, The Hebrew Bible, in The Bloomsbury Companion to Jewish Studies, ed. by Dean Phillip Bell (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp Cohen, Shaye, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 3rd edn (Louisville: WJK Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), pp Brettler, Marc Zvi, The Hebrew Bible and the Early History of Israel, in The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, ed. by Judith R. Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp Segal, Alan, The Second Temple Period, in The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, ed. by Judith R. Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp Week 2 29 September 2015: Varieties of Judaism in the Second Temple Period - Primary Sources: o Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 18:15 in Feldman, Louis, ed., Josephus: Jewish Antiquities Books XVIII-XIX (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965), pp o Acts 22:30, 23:6-10 [Any translation of the New Testament may be used. The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition) may be accessed at o Philo, Apologia pro Iudaeis in Vermès, Géza, and Goodman, Martin, eds., The Essenes According to the Classical Sources (Sheffield: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1989), pp Goodman, Martin, Josephus and Variety in First-Century Judaism, in Goodman, Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays (Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp Cohen, Shaye, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, 3rd edn (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014), pp Gafni, Isaiah, The Historical Background in The Literature of the Sages, ed. by Shmuel Safrai, I (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1987), pp Goodman, Martin, Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays (Leiden: Brill, 2007), pp , , Week 3 6 October 2015: The Destruction of the Temple - Primary Sources: o Four rabbinic accounts of the Flight of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai from Jerusalem in Alon, Gedalyahu, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai s Removal to Jabneh, in Alon, Jews, Judaism and the Classical World, trans. by Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1977), pp Cohen, Shaye, The Significance of Yavneh: Pharisees, Rabbis, and the End of Jewish Sectarianism, in Cohen, The Significance of Yavneh: and Other Essays in Jewish Hellenism (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), pp

4 - Schäfer, Peter, The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World (Oxford: Routledge, 2003), pp Alexander, Philip, Using Rabbinic Literature as a Source for the History of Late- Roman Palestine: Problems and Issues, in Martin Goodman and Philip Alexander, eds, Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late-Roman Palestine (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp Goodman, Martin, Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations (London: Penguin, 2007), pp Week 4 13 October 2015: Jewish Bible Interpretation in Late Antiquity - Ben-Eliyahu, Eyal, Cohn, Yehudah, and Millar, Fergus, Historical Introduction, in Ben- Eliyahu, Cohn, Millar, Handbook of Jewish Literature from Late Antiquity, CE (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp Holtz, Barry, Midrash, in Holtz, Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), pp Bakhos, Carol, Jewish Midrashic Interpretation in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, in A History of Biblical Interpretation, ed. by Alan Hauser and Duane Watson, II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), pp Heinemann, Joseph, The Nature of the Aggadah, in Midrash and Literature, ed. by Geoffrey Hartman and Sanford Budick (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), pp Kugel, James, Two Introductions to Midrash, in Midrash and Literature, ed. by Geoffrey Hartman and Sanford Budick (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), pp Week 5 20 October 2015: The Mishnah and Talmudim Essential reading: - Primary Sources o Mishnah Avot chapters 1 and 2 (Danby, Herbert, tr., The Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), pp o Mishnah Berakhot 1:1-3 (Danby, Herbert, tr., The Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), p. 2 - Solomon, Norman, Introduction, in Solomon, The Talmud: A Selection (London: Penguin, 2009), pp. xv-xlix - Elman, Yaakov, Order, Sequence and Selection: The Mishnah s Anthological Choices, in The Anthology in Jewish Literature, ed. by David Stern (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp Kalmin, Richard, The Formation and Character of the Babylonian Talmud in The Cambridge History of Judaism, ed. by Steven T. Katz and others, IV (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp

5 - Kraemer, David, The Mishnah in The Cambridge History of Judaism, ed. by Steven T. Katz and others, IV (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp Stern, Sacha, The Talmud Yerushalmi in Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late- Roman Palestine, ed. by Martin Goodman and Philip Alexander (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp Even more readings on the Babylonian Talmud: - Goldberg, Abraham, The Babylonian Talmud, in The Literature of the Sages, ed. by Shmuel Safrai, I (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1987), pp Goodblatt, David, The Babylonian Talmud, in The Study of Ancient Judaism, ed. by Jacob Neusner, II (New York: Ktav, 1981), pp Reading Week Week 6 3 November 2015: The Rabbinic Academies of Babylonia - Primary Sources: o The Account of Rabbi Nathan the Babylonian in Brody, Robert, The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), pp o The Epistle of Sherira Gaon in Rabinowich, Nosson, tr., The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon (Jerusalem: Rabbi Jacob Joseph School Press, 1988) pages 70 to 71 (first paragraph only) page 73, last paragraph ( Along came the next generation ) only page 76, penultimate paragraph ( With these matters ) only page 84, first paragraph ( As regards your question ) only - Brody, Robert, The Geonim of Babylonia and the Shaping of Medieval Jewish Culture (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 3-11, Brody, Robert, The Epistle of Sherira Gaon, in Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late- Roman Palestine, ed. by Martin Goodman and Philip Alexander (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), pp Brody, Robert, Sa adyah Gaon (Oxford: Littman, 2013), pp. 1-24, Fishman, Talya, Becoming the People of the Talmud (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2011), pp Rustow, Marina, Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008), pp. xv-xxxiii, 3-35 Week 7 10 November 2015: Jews of the Muslim World - Primary Source o The Story of the Four Captives from Ibn Daud s Sefer ha-kabbalah in Cohen, Gerson, The Story of the Four Captives, Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research 29 (1960-1), Cohen, Gerson, The Story of the Four Captives, Proceedings of the American Academy of Jewish Research 29 (1960-1), 70-94,

6 - Rustow, Marina, Jews and the Islamic World: Transitions from Rabbinic to Medieval Contexts, in The Bloomsbury Companion to Jewish Studies, ed. by Dean Phillip Bell (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp Stillman, Norman, The Jews in the Medieval Arabic-Speaking World, in The Wiley- Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism, ed. by Alan Levenson (Oxford: Wiley- Blackwell, 2012), pp Stillman, Norman, The Jewish Experience in the Muslim World, in The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, ed. by Judith R. Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp Week 8 17 November 2015: Maimonides and the Maimonidean Controversy - Primary Sources: o Maimonides Thirteen Principles, in Twersky, Isadore, ed., A Maimonides Reader (New York: Behrman House, 1972), pp. 402, o Maimonides Letter to Phineas ben Meshullam in Twersky, Isadore, Introduction to the Code of Maimonides (Mishneh Torah) (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980), pp Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. Maimonidean Controversy, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, 2nd edn, XIII (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007), pp Rudavsky, Tamar, Maimonides (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), pp Davidson, Herbert, Moses Maimonides: The Man and his Works (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) - Septimus, Bernard, Hispano-Jewish Culture in Transition: The Career and Controversies of Ramah (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp Silver, Daniel, Maimonidean Criticism and the Maimonidean Controversy (Leiden: Brill, 1965), pp Stroumsa, Sarah, Maimonides in his World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009) Please note that the 24 November class has been cancelled and rearranged for 8 December. Week 9 1 December 2015: Jewry in the Latin West - Primary Source o The Charter of Bishop Rudiger of Speyer in Chazan, Robert, Church, State, and Jew in the Middle Ages (New York: Behrman House, 1980), pp Marcus, Ivan, History, Story and Collective Memory: Narrativity in Early Ashkenazic Culture, Prooftexts 10 (1990),

7 - Baumgarten, Elisheva, Medieval Jews and Judaism in Christian Contexts, in The Bloomsbury Companion to Jewish Studies, ed. by Dean Phillip Bell (London: Bloomsbury, 2013), pp Chazan, Robert, Jewish Life in Western Christendom, in The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture, ed. by Judith R. Baskin and Kenneth Seeskin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp Grossman, Avraham, Rashi (Oxford: Littman, 2012) - Haverkamp, Eva, Jews in Christian Europe: Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages, in The Wiley-Blackwell History of Jews and Judaism, ed. by Alan Levenson (Oxford: Wiley- Blackwell, 2012), pp Week 10 8 December 2015: Mysticism and Kabbalah - Primary Source: o The Testimony of Rabbi Isaac of Acre (from the Sefer Yuḥasin of Abraham Zacuto) in Tishby, Isaiah, ed., General Introduction in Tishby, The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, trans. by David Goldstein, I (London: Littman, 1989), pp Fine, Lawrence, Kabbalistic Texts, in Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, ed. by Barry Holtz (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), pp Dan, Joseph, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006) - Fishbane, Eitan, As Light before Dawn: The Inner World of a Medieval Kabbalist (Standford: Stanford University Press, 2009), pp Idel, Moshe, Kabbalah New Perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988), pp Schäfer, Peter, The Origins of Jewish Mysticism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011), pp Scholem, Gershom, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 3rd edn (New York: Schocken Books, 1995), pp Tishby, Isaiah, General Introduction, in Tishby, ed., The Wisdom of the Zohar: An Anthology of Texts, trans. by David Goldstein, I (London: Littman, 1989), pp Assessment Coursework essay (2500 words, contributing 40% to your module mark) on an essay question listed at the end of this syllabus. Due: Monday 9 November 2015, BEFORE 4pm, on KEATS Feedback will be available on KEATS no later than Monday 7 December Feedback tutorials will offer further guidance on improving your work. Final essay (3000 words, contributing 60% to your module mark) on an essay question listed at the end of this syllabus. Due: Monday 18 January 2016, BEFORE 4pm, on KEATS A provisional mark and written feedback will be available on KEATS no later than Monday 15 7

8 February Scope of assessment Coursework essay questions generally relate to topics covered in the first half of the module. Final essay questions normally deal with most of the remaining topics, but care is taken to avoid overlap across both sets of questions. Some questions may be formulated so as to encourage analysis, in the same answer, of topics that were investigated in different sessions, including those that fell early in the module. What is a good essay? Good essays will demonstrate a nuanced grasp of any topic, an awareness of its precise historical contexts and a capacity to develop a well-reasoned argument that is convincingly supported by reference to suitable evidence and is presented in a structured manner using clear English. One way to approach the introductory paragraph is to state concisely why the issue raised in the title is intriguing, to pinpoint the question(s) or problem(s) it raises, and to say why a better understanding is important and (hopefully!) interesting. A statement of the method by which the essay will resolve the questions(s) can follow, for instance by listing the points that will be made and how they will be demonstrated (perhaps a sentence each?). A final sentence can anticipate the results of the enquiry. The points outlined in the introduction are then demonstrated in turn in the body of the essay. It is essential to substantiate each one with reference to primary evidence and secondary sources (always indicating the sources you have used). A well-crafted essay will do so concisely, using words with precision and economy. Each sentence and paragraph will follow on logically, presenting a case to the reader step by step and demonstrating the credibility of the results outlined in the introduction. The concluding paragraph can state how the points made in the essay demonstrate the results anticipated. You may also wish to step back and ask yourself (privately!) So what?, and thereby identify and articulate the implications of the enquiry. For more details please see the link to marking criteria below ( Essential Information ). Best approaches to essay writing will be discussed as part of the teaching programme in the module. Please seek advice if you are unsure of anything. Essential information: How do I submit my essay? The Faculty of Arts & Humanities cover-sheet needs to be the first page of the submitted essays; please follow this link: The candidate number (e.g. W01234) on the cover-sheet needs to be accurate and of the present academic year. Your work cannot be attributed to you on the College systems, if this information is incomplete or wrong. The word limit includes all footnotes/endnotes, but excludes the bibliography, which you should provide. There is a 5% tolerance: no penalty will be incurred for essays that are up to 5% over the word limit. Beyond that tolerance band, two marks will be deducted for every 5% of 8

9 excess words until 50% is reached. After 50%, three marks will normally be deducted for each further 5% of excess words. The MHRA reference style has been adopted for this module. Please find the Quick Guide to Reference Styles in TRS in the TRS Handbook online. The presentation of your work, including the insertion of page numbers, quality of referencing and bibliographical information and the standard of English, has a strong bearing on the mark given for it. Submission BEFORE 4pm: Your work must be submitted via the assessment submission section of the KEATS area for the module, by the published deadline, i.e. before 4pm on the relevant day. Work with a TurnitIn time stamp of 4.00pm counts as a late submission (see next point). Late submissions will be treated as follows: Unless an extension has been granted by the Chair of the UG Programme Board of Examiners on the basis of a Mitigating Circumstances Form (MCF), supplied with supporting evidence, or comes to be granted retrospectively: - Work submitted within 24 hours after the original deadline will be marked, but the mark for this element will be capped at the pass mark of 40%. - Work submitted more than 24 hours after the original deadline will not be marked, and the submission will receive a mark of zero. Mitigating Circumstances Forms: MCFs can be downloaded from the Policy Zone of the College website. Extensions retrospectively: An extension may be granted retrospectively, providing the MCF with supporting documentation is submitted no later than 7 days after the missed assessment and supporting documentation has been received no later than 21 days after the missed assessment. Please note that extensions are granted by the TRS Assessment Board Chair and NOT by individual module tutors. Plagiarism: Please make sure that you understand the College rules on plagiarism. Information is available at: and you should also have been enrolled on a KEATS plagiarism module. Oral presentations and plagiarism: The College s rules on plagiarism apply to oral presentations, handouts and Powerpoint presentations just as they do to written work submitted for assessment. You must acknowledge any and all sources used in presentations and accompanying material, and must present all material in your own words except for explicitly acknowledged quotations from others. Collusion also counts as misconduct. Think twice before circulating your work to other students. Marking: Your essays for this module will be assessed according to Model 3: Essays: First and second markers will apply the Faculty s Undergraduate Marking Criteria: Classroom presentation and participation are assessed in line with these Marking Criteria: 4. Coursework Essay Please choose ONE question: 9

10 1. What beliefs and practices did all varieties of Judaism in the first century CE have in common? Please discuss three or more examples. See particularly the suggested readings for week 2. Additional sources include Stern, Sacha, Sects and Sectarianism in Jewish History (Leiden: Brill, 2011) Stern, Sacha, Jewish Identity in Early Rabbinic Writings (Leiden: Brill, 1994) 2. The Council of Yavneh is a scholarly myth without documentary foundation. If so, what is the significance of Yavneh in the formation of Rabbinic Judaism? See particularly the suggested readings for week 3. Additional sources include Lewis, Jack, What Do We Mean by Jabneh? Journal of Bible and Religion, 32/2 (1964), There are seventy faces to the Torah. How does this saying illustrate the midrashic approach to scriptural exegesis? See particularly the suggested readings for week 4. Additional sources include Fishbane, Michael, Midrash and the Meaning of Scripture, in Midrash Unbound: Transformations and Innovations, ed. Michael Fishbane and Joanna Weinberg (Oxford: Littman, 2013), pp For what purpose was the Mishnah produced? See particularly the suggested readings for week 5. Additional sources include Stemberger, Günter, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (Edinburgh: T&T Clark Ltd, 1996), pp Maccoby, Hyam, Early Rabbinic Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988). 5. Final Essay Please choose ONE question: 1. The Talmud really is the heart of Judaism. After the Bible, it is the book most studied by Jews. (Norman Solomon) When and how did the Babylonian Talmud attain such importance? See particularly the suggested readings for weeks 5 and Is Ibn Daud s account of the four captives a reliable historical source? Explain your answer. See particularly the suggested readings for week 7. Additional sources include Marcus, Ivan, History, Story and Collective Memory: Narrativity in Early Ashkenazic Culture, Prooftexts 10 (1990), Why were Maimonides works so controversial? Explain your answer with reference to the Mishneh Torah and/or the Guide of the Perplexed. See particularly the suggested readings for week 8. Additional sources include Twersky, Isadore, Rabad of Posquières: A Twelfth-Century Talmudist, 2nd edn (Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society, 1980), pp. 117, ,

11 4. The Zohar is a pseudepigraph attributed to Simeon b. Yohai (G. Scholem). If this is correct, who really wrote the Zohar? Justify your answer. See particularly the suggested readings for week