JUS 370B Spring 2004 History of the Jews: The Medieval and Early Modern Periods.

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1 David Graizbord, Ph.D. Office: U. of A. Office of Judaic Studies, 816 E. University Blvd. (at Geronimo s Plaza, next to the Café Paraiso) Office tel: (Please note that the above address and telephone number will change in March Details will be announced in class). Hours: Monday, 2-3 pm and by appointment dlgraizb@ .arizona.edu Class meetings: MW, 5:30-6:45 PM, ECON 104 JUS 370B Spring 2004 History of the Jews: The Medieval and Early Modern Periods. In this course we will survey key events and themes in Jewish history as it developed from Late Antiquity through the eighteenth century, with a special emphasis on events in Europe and the Mediterranean world between the conversion to Christianity of the Roman emperor, Constantine, in 312 C.E, to the Hasidic revival of the 1750s. One of our foremost tasks will be to understand the development of Jewish culture, especially the phenomena of Jewish adaptation and survival in the face of political weakness, dispersion, and frequent persecution. To do this we will explore the meaning(s) that exile and minority status have had for Jews, and observe the effects of historical change upon Jewish culture. Beyond introducing you to main events and themes in Jewish history the course has three principal objectives: 1. To help you develop and exercise the analytical skills that are required to attain an informed and sophisticated understanding of history 2. To introduce you to and allow you to practice the empirical methods by which professional historians build and support hypotheses and conclusions as to the shape and meaning of history on the basis of historical documents (also known as primary sources ) 3. To help you learn and sharpen the skills in oral and written communication that are required to convey your ideas correctly, persuasively, and in a disciplined way. Once mastered, these skills are not only essential to historical scholarship; they are the mark of an intellectually mature and sophisticated individual. Language is power, and as such it is a key to effective citizenship. Course Website: The password for this website is NOTE: ALL THE READING ASSIGNMENTS, DATES OF SCHEDULED EXAMS, AND QUESTIONS FOR WEEKLY DISCUSSIONS FOR THIS COURSE ARE FOUND IN THE WEB-BASED VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT. THE DOCUMENT IS LINKED TO THE COURSE WEBSITE. GO TO THE WEBSITE, CLICK ON Course Syllabus, AND PRINT THE DOCUMENT. Course Format: 1. Mondays: Lecture and discussion. Your job is to come prepared to ask questions that arise from your own reading of the assigned material and to bring that material to class.

2 2. Wednesdays: Discussion. Your job is to prepare responses to the assigned questions and bring the assigned reading material to class. Required Books: 1. Anna Foa. The Jews of Europe after the Black Death. 2. Jacob Katz: Exclusiveness and Tolerance: Studies in Jewish-Gentile Relations in Medieval and Modern Times. 3. Jacob Rader Marcus, ed. The Jew in the Medieval World, A Source Book: (Revised Edition). 4. Additional material will be available as E-Reserves, at other websites, and on reserve at the JUS Office. NOTE: All required books for this course are on reserve at the JUS office. Exams / Writing Assignments: A. Exams: Three take-home exams based on class sessions and your weekly reading assignments. 1. Format: Each exam will consist of three previously distributed essay questions, of which you will answer two of your choice. Details will follow in class. 2. Material covered: Each exam will address material learned during the preceding 1/3 of the course. 3. Length: Your responses to each exam should cover approximately 6-7 doublespaced, typed pages. 4. Preparation: You will receive review sheets to help you prepare for each exam. B. Quizzes: Two unannounced ( pop ) quizzes based on the assigned reading for given units of the course. 1. Format: Each quiz will consist of multiple-choice questions and/or questions requiring very brief answers. 2. Material covered: Each quiz will address reading material assigned for the week during which the quiz is administered. 3. Length: I estimate that the quizzes will take students min. of class-time to complete. 4. Preparation: All you need to do to perform well in the quizzes is follow the reading and preparation schedule that is outlined in this syllabus, below. No make-up quizzes will be offered except under special circumstances (see under Evaluations, below). Grading: 1. Each of the three exams will be graded on its own 100-point scale: = A; = B; = C; = D; 0-56 = E. 2. Each of the two quizzes will be graded on its own 10-point scale: 9-10 =A; 7-8 =B; 5-6 =C; 3-4 =D; 0-2 =E. 3. After your exams and quizzes have been evaluated, the letter grades you receive on each of those assignments will be converted as described in the table below. Then, final grades for the semester will be calculated on a 100-point scale as described in the last column of the table ( Grade for the course ):

3 First Exam + Second Exam + Third Exam + Participation + Quiz 1 + Quiz 2 = GRADE FOR THE COURSE A = 20 A = 25 A = 35 A = 10 A = 5 A = 5 A = points points B = 18 B = 22.5 B = 31.5 B = 9 B = 4 B = 4 B = C = 16 C = 20 C = 28 C = 8 C = 3 C = 3 C = D = 15 D = 17.5 D = 24.5 D = 7 D = 2 D = 2 D = E = 0 E = 0 E = 0 E = 0 E = 0 E = 0 E = Participating in the class is not the same as being physically present during class sessions. If you attend the class but do not speak up, or say very little, your participation grade will be E (zero points toward semester grade). 5. Writing assignments for Reading Days (if any) may be counted toward class participation. Policies and Requirements: PREPARATION 1. Complete all the reading and writing assignments and come promptly to each and every class session prepared to discuss these assignments. There is no better near-guarantee of your basic success in the course than to do this. 2. Bring your reading assignments to class, especially on Wednesdays, when I will ask you to consult them. Print out all web-based material (including E-reserves) and bring your printouts to class on the days that they will be discussed. Prepare to provide responses to my weekly questions. It is best if you briefly write your responses and bring them to class. ATTENDANCE 1. Your attendance at each and every class session is required and extremely important for the success of the course and for yours. There will be no opportunities to make up missed work including pop quizzes except in cases of family and medical emergencies. If you know that you will be absent from the class because of an illness or family emergency, let me know this before your absence if at all possible. Otherwise, it may be impossible to grant you an excuse for any work you miss. 2. Students who are absent during the first two scheduled class sessions may be administratively dropped (disenrolled) from the course. EVALUATIONS 3. Exams that are submitted late will be downgraded as follows: If I receive your exam after the deadline but before 4:30 PM on the same day as the paper is due: -15 points. If I receive the paper after 4:30 PM of the day the paper is due: A failing grade of E. If you foresee problems meeting deadlines, contact me in advance. 4. If you miss a quiz or quizzes for a reason other than a family or medical emergency, your quiz or quizzes will be assigned a grade of E (a failing grade worth zero points towards your final grade for the course). If you miss one quiz because of a medical or family emergency that you can conceivably document, your other quiz will be counted twice for purposes of calculating your final grade for the semester. If you miss both quizzes because of medical or family emergencies that

4 you can document, a grade of C will be assigned to each of the quizzes for purposes of determining your final grade for the semester. 5. No extra credit work will be assigned. 6. No resubmissions of exams or other assignments will be accepted. 7. Final grades for the semester will NOT be rounded upward to the nearest full number. For example, 91.5 = B, not A. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY 8. You must abide by all University regulations concerning academic honesty and plagiarism, as specified in the University s Code of Academic Integrity. Papers that read oddly alike will be treated as possible violations of the Code. READING ASSIGNMENTS AND EXAMS NOTE: I will let you know in advance if any changes to the list below are necessary. UNIT 1. Introduction. Wed. 1/14 The first few pages of the course syllabus will be distributed and discussed. Also, the lecture on Unit 2 will begin today. Your assignment for this week is to print out and read the course syllabus and read the following e-reserves: 195. de Lange, The Jews in the World, 1-3 Fishbane, Chronology Schiffman, Revolt and Restoration, and Mishnah: The New Scripture, 177- UNIT 2. Jewish Responses to Defeat and Exile from the 1st to the 3rd Centuries Mon. 1/19 MLK HOLIDAY NO CLASSES TODAY. Wed. 1/21 Excerpts from the Mishnah : Avot 1-2:16; Rosh Hashanah 4:1-3; Taanit 4: 6-7. Recommended: Neusner, The Second Crisis, 41-53, What do you think are the ultimate objectives of the narrative of Mishnah, tractate Avot 1-2:16? Why do you think the writers wrote this narrative? (How do you know this?) 2. Apply question #1 to the selection from Rosh Hashanah 4: Mishnah, tractate Taanit 4:6-7 tells of a supposed pattern of events in Jewish history. Describe the basic structure of this pattern. 4. What might be the use of depicting such a pattern for Rabbis in the time of the Mishnah? UNIT 3. Rabbinic Judaism in the Era of the Talmud: A Maturing Theory of Jewish History. Mon. 1/26 Neusner, The Third Crisis, Wed. 1/28 Excerpts from the Talmud Yerushalmi : Genesis Rabbah 44:17-18 and 56:9; Taanit 4:5; Taanit 1:1;

5 Yoma 3:2; Genesis Rabbah 98:14. Questions for Discussion: 1. In Genesis Rabbah 44:17-18, the authors interpret a biblical passage, Genesis 15:12. They treat the passage as a prediction of the history of the Jewish people and its conflicts against a series of enemies. The authors present the Jews enemies in chronological order: First comes Babylonia, which destroyed the Israelites First Temple. Then comes Greece, which dominated the Kingdom of Judah and profaned the Second Temple until the Maccabees defeated them. Then comes Edom and the chronological sequence is violated! (The Edomites were a people that neighbored the Israelites and were sometimes in conflict with them well before the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and well before the Greeks even set foot in the Land of Israel). This break in the chronology clues us in to the fact that the authors of Genesis Rabbah were not actually referring to Edom, but to Rome, the Roman Empire, which became Christian after 312 CE. (The Roman conquest of the Kingdom of Judah occurred after the Maccabees defeated the Greeks and liberated the Jewish kingdom). Edom is another name for Esau, the brother of the Israelite and therefore Jewish patriarch, Jacob. The Book of Genesis depicts Esau/Edom as Jacob s archrival. Later in the Bible, Esau/Edom figures as the patriarch of the people called Amalek, an archenemy of the Israelites. Lastly the Bible depicts the Edomites as the descendants of Esau/Edom. Again, the Edomites were a people with whom the Israelites (Jacob s descendants) had some conflicts. There is no empirical evidence that Rome and Christendom had any genealogical connection to Esau/Edom. Yet the authors of Genesis Rabbah implicitly claim that such a relationship existed by calling Rome (and by extension all Christians) Edom. Why do you think the rabbis chose to call Rome and Christendom Edom? From the Rabbis point of view, what ideological purpose might calling Christians Edom serve? 2. Genesis Rabbah 56:9 summarizes the basic historical model (or the concept of Jewish history) that the rabbis of the Talmud. Outline that model in your own words. 3. According to Talmud Yerushalmi, Taanit 1:1, how can Jews bring about their redemption? What attitudes must they adopt and what actions must they take? 4. According to Yoma 3:2, when will the redemption occur? 5. Apply question #3 to Genesis Rabbah 98:14. UNIT 4. Jewish Culture in the Late Persian and Early Islamic Periods (~ C.E.). Mon. 2/2 Seltzer, Jews in the Persian Empire, and The Jews Under Islam in the Middle Ages, , Wed. 2/4 Marcus, ed., , , 14-21, On Marcus, ed., pp : What are the bases or sources of the Exilarch s power and prestige, according to the chronicler? 2. On pp : On what bases do the defenders of rabbinic tradition assail the Karaites? 3. On what grounds do Anan s defenders defend their Karaite ideology and separateness as a group? 4. On pp : In what ways were Jews privileged under the provisions of the Pact of Omar? 5. In what ways were they victimized or disadvantaged? 6. On pp : What types of knowledge do the designers of the curriculum seem to value? What does that tell you about their outlook and cultural profile? UNIT 5. Early Medieval and Carolingian Europe: Relative Peace and Prosperity in Ashkenaz. Mon. 2/9 Reading Day #1. The class will not convene today.

6 Your assignment for today is to read the lecture for this unit, which will be posted to the course website ( LECTURE, Unit 5 ), and the material below. Then, write at least three questions that arise from your reading of the assigned material. Your questions should demonstrate a real attempt to grapple with the material (a question such as Where is Babylonia? Does not really demonstrate such an attempt. By contrast, a question such as Were the editors of the story about the four who entered the orchard in Mishnah, Hagigah in favor or against the practice of chariot mysticism? such a question does indicate deep thinking about the assigned material). Submit your questions in class on 2/11. Glick, The First European Jews and They Display Documents, Mon. 2/11 Theodoric the Ostrogoth, From a Letter to the Jews of Genoa. Website: Agobard of Lyon (excerpts): insolence.html FIRST EXAM DISTRIBUTED TODAY. Submit your responses in class no later than 5:35 PM on Monday, 2/16/ Who was Agobard? 2. Does Agobard seem to agree, diagree, or half-agree/disagree with Augustine s conception of Jews place in Christendom? How do you know this? 3. List at least 4 specific complaints that Agobard has against Jews. 4. What do Agobard s complaints suggest to you about the conditions of Jewish life in the Carolingian Empire? UNIT 6. The Jews of Al-Andalus Mon. 2/16 Scheindlin, Merchants and Intellectuals, Rabbis and Poets, Recommended: Stillman: Spain and The Best Years in Restrospect, Exams will be collected today at the beginning of the class session. Wed. 2/18 Marcus, ed., Yehuda ha-levi, Faithfulness, Between East and West, Reply, Finding Each Other Again. 1. The assigned chronicle on Samuel the Prince depicts Samuel s prominence and good fortune as legitimate. What are the sources of that legitimacy, according to the Chronicler? 2. Based on the chronicle, would you characterize the historical period in question as a Golden Age of Jewish-Muslim coexistence? Explain. 3. Does Yehuda ha-levi s poetry strike you as cosmopolitan, particularistic, neither or both? Consider: 4. How would you characterize ha-levi s attitude toward Gentiles in his poem Faithfulness? (Would Ashkenazic Jews of the post-1096 era agree with him, for example?) 5. Who do you think are the lovers who dialogue in Finding Each Other Again? How do you know this? 6. Can you detect any possible traces of Arabic-Moslem influence in the poems? UNIT 7. Jewish Status and Culture in Feudal Europe. Mon. 2/23 Foa, Chap.3. (49-73)

7 Katz, I-II (3-23) Recommended: Marcus, ed., Explain what the following traditional, rabbinic concepts (in italics, below) meant to Ashkenazic Jews in medieval Europe. In particular, indicate how the concepts allowed Jews to cultivate a sense of their own uniqueness and separateness from the Gentile world that surrounded them: 1. Israel vs. Ummot ha-olam ( The nations of the World ). See Katz p Galuth ( Exile ; this connotes dispersion ). See p Shechinah (The Divine Presence ). See p Ha-Zeman ha-zeh ( This Time meaning: This era, Our Day, etc). See p Knesset Israel ( The Community/Congregation of Israel ). See pp If the material that Marcus has excerpted can be said to describe or reflect an ethos (an ethical outlook shaped by ideas of what is most important), how would you describe that ethos? Itemize a scale of Ashkenazic values based on what you have read. Wed. 2/25 Katz, III-V (24-63) Marcus, (Section on Books and Schools, Germany, about 1200 ) Recommended: Glick, Jews in the Feudal World, UNIT 8. Ashkenazic Responses to Persecution and Interdependence in the Era of the Crusades. Mon. 3/1 Reading Day #3: The class will not convene today. Your assignment for today is (1) to read the lecture and the material below, (2) write down at least three questions on what you read, and (3) submit those questions in class on Monday, 3/8 along with the assignment for Reading Day #3 described below (see assignment for 3/3). Your questions for Reading Day #3 should demonstrate an attempt to grapple with the assigned reading material. Glick, In Witness to the Oneness, Katz, VI-VII. Wed. 3/3 Reading Day #3. The class will not convene today. Your task is as follows: Answer at least three of the Questions for discussion listed below (type appx. 2 paragraphs per question) and submit your responses in class on Monday, 3/8. Marcus, ed., , Katz, VIII. Recommended: Ivan Marcus, A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis, How does the chronicler, Simon Bar Samson, explain the disaster that befell the Jews of Mayence during the First Crusade? 2. Why do you think he explained the disaster in the way he did, and not in another? 3. Based on the assigned responsum, how would you characterize Rashi s outlook or general position on Jewish converts to Christianity? 4. Given what you know about the conditions of Jewish life in Ashkenaz (including the First Crusade), why do you think he held that position? 5. According to Katz, how did the Pietists (Hasidim) of Ashkenaz compensate, for the need to interact with Christians? UNIT 9. Confronting Anti-Judaism in High Medieval Europe Mon. 3/8 Cohen, The Attack on Rabbinic Literature, Foa, Chap. 2 (to p.40) Katz, IX.

8 Reading Day assignment will be collected at the beginning of the class session. Wed. 3/10 Yehiel of Paris, The Vikuah of R. Yehiel of Paris: A Paraphrase, Graizbord, Genesis 49:10: A Point of Controversy (2 pages). 1. How would you describe the strategy of defense employed by Yehiel of Paris against his Christian counterpart in the disputation? 2. What was the Christian disputant s underlying strategy, as you can reconstruct it? 3. Knowing what you know about disputations and their context, why do you think he adopted this strategy and not a different one? 4. Why do you think Genesis 49:10 was a special bone of theological contention in the European Middle Ages? Discuss. (SPRING BREAK 3/13-3/21) UNIT 10. Christian Spain and Portugal: From Coexistence to Expulsion and the Problem of Conversos. Mon. 3/22 Foa, Chap. 4. Wed. 3/24 Website: Ordinance of the Jews of Aragon : Marcus, ed., 59-64, SECOND EXAM DISTRIBUTED TODAY. Submit your responses in class no later than 5:35 PM on Monday, 3/29/04. On the Ordinance of the Jews of Aragon (website): 1. Introduction to item #3: Describe the nature of the Aragonese ordinance: What is it for? By whom is it being instituted? To whom is it addressed? 2. Items 4-12: According to the signatories, who is oppressing Jews and how? 3. Items 22-30: What do these items tell you about the internal condition of Jewish life in Aragon? Specify. On the chronicle of the Spanish Expulsion in Marcus, ed., 59-64, of the anti-converso massacre, 65-69: 4. What significance do you think that the chronicler attached to the alleged timing of the expulsion? (Note: The answer is implicit, not explicit, in the chronicle). 5. Why did the expulsion take place, according to the chronicler? How do you know this? 6. Given what you know about the Sephardic upper crust before and during the Reconquista, explain the chronicler s criticism of Abraham Seneor. 7. Based on what you can read between the lines of the second chronicle, how were the attacks on conversos related to earlier attacks on Jews? UNIT 11. Jews in Renaissance Italy Mon. 3/29 Foa, Chap. 5. Roth, The Jews of Renaissance Italy, Exams will be collected today at the beginning of the class session Wed. 3/31 Rossi, from Light to the Eyes,

9 Marcus, ed., , 220 (section on Forli, Italy). 1. What is Rossi s position on the validity of Rabbinic aggadah (legendary narrative)? 2. What criteria does Rossi use in his analysis in order to determine what is truth and what is not? 3. What textual sources does he use? So what? 4. Based on what you have read of his analysis, why do you think Rossi is considered a Renaissance thinker? 5. How does Rossi explain his reading of the Jewish canon? 6. What do the selections from Marcus anthology tell you about the (level of) acculturation of Italian Jews in the Renaissance? UNIT 12. The Diaspora Begins to Coalesce: Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and Jewish Responses. Mon. 4/5 Wed. 4/ PASSOVER BEGINS AT SUNDOWN. Observant Jewish students are exempt from the requirement to attend the class session. Foa, Chap. 2 (40-48), Ch. 6, Chap. 7 ( ). Recommended: Ben-Sasson, Changes in the Legal and Social Status of the Jews, 646- Katz, XI-XII. Marcus, ed., Katz argues that Ghettoization in central Europe during the late 15 th and 16 th centuries led to a shift in Ashkenazic outlooks towards Christians and Christianity. Describe that shift. 2. What evidence does Katz provide to illustrate that shift? Provide 2 examples. 3. According to Katz, how did Ashkenazic attitudes towards conversion to and from Judaism change? Explain. 4. How did Jews react to the Cossack massacres of , according to Katz? 5. How did this reaction differ from the reactions of the victims of the Rhineland massacres of 1096? 6. Who was Yom Tov Heller and how was his attitude towards Ashkenazic martyrdom significiant, according to Katz? 7. Given the chronicle in Marcus, ed., , how did Josel of Rosheim s approach to combating anti-jewish sentiment differ from the approach of earlier Jewish defenders? Why the difference? UNIT 13. Readmission and Cultural Coalescence in the Ottoman Empire and a Fractured Europe. 4/12 Ben-Sasson, Jewish Settlement and Economic Activity in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Foa, Chap. 7 ( ). Kaplan, Bom Judesmo, /14 Marcus, ed., , 76-79, Given the description in Marcus, ed., pp , what would you say were the chief values of the Sephardic congregation of Amsterdam? 2. How are these values different from the values of medieval Ashkenazic Jews, as you remember them from Units 7 and 8? 3. Who was Menasseh ben Israel? 4. What advantages of readmitting Jews to England did he highlight? 5. Why do you think he highlighted these alleged advantages and not others?

10 6. What is meant by terms such as The Judeo-Portuguese and Judeo-Spanish Nation and Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation? Discuss (For example, what characterized those who belonged to that Nation? 7. What did Western Sephardim mean by Bom Judesmo? UNIT 14. Jews in Poland Lithuania to Mo. 4/ Rosman, Innovative Tradition: Jewish Culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Foa, 185-end of first full paragraph on189. Review Ben-Sasson, only (see assignment for 4/12, above). Wed. 4/21 Hundert, The Love of Learning among Polish Jews, Weissler, Prayers in Yiddish and the Religious World of Ashkenazic Women, Marcus, ed., , , According to Hundert s introduction and Nathan of Hanover s (idealizing) narrative, how were Yeshivas and their students supported financially? 2. Who ran and supervised the Yeshivas? How so? 3. How were the classes at the Yeshivas run? (Who did what, when, and how?) 4. How did Yeshivas supervise elementary schools (Hadarim; singular: Heder)? 5. On Prayers in Yiddish : What are tkhines? 6. What does the Women s Paradise envisioned by Sarah bas Tovim reveal about her values and aspirations and/or those of her milieu? 7. What was the opinion of Leah Horowitz (the author of the Tkhine of the Matriarchs ) on the issue of Jewish women learning Torah? 8. What obstacles did Leah face in articulating her position and having it accepted? 9. Given the above questions, what would you say Tekhines reveal about the religious lives of early modern Ashkenazic women (and men, for that matter)? 10. On the Council of the Four Lands: Itemize the council s functions. 11. On the narrative regarding the Cossack Revolt: How would you characterize the ideology of martyrdom expressed in Nathan of Hanover s chronicle? 12. On Boyhood in Moravia : What value system or ethos do the narrator s behavior and account describe? In other words, what did the boy value? 13. Describe the competing values of the narrator s father. What do they (and the father s experience) tell you about the conditions of life for him and his Jewish contemporaries in Early Modern Eastern Europe? UNIT 15. Messianic Currents and The Sabbatean Explosion 4/26 Fine, The Kabbalah in Sixteenth-Century Safed, Lenowitz, The Messiahs of Safed: Isaac Luria and Hayim Vital, Scholem, Shabbetai Zevi and the Sabbatean Movement, /28 Fine, Pietistic Customs from Safed, Goldish, The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi, What are hanhagot? 2. What are tikkunim? Can you find an example of one in the primary texts? 3. To whom are Abraham Galante s hanhagot addressed, and how do you know this? 4. What are yihudim? Describe at least one found in these primary texts. 5. What emotions, thoughts and/or behaviors are Berukhim s ascetic practices meant to inspire? Discuss. 6. Given what you know of Safed theosophy (teaching about God and the world on the basis of mystical insight), what do you think was the point of summoning these emotions, thoughts, etc. from the mystic s point of view? How do you know this?

11 7. What is the significance of dreams in the account of Zvi s life written by Gershon of Arezzo? 8. According to Gershon s of Arezzo s account, in what ways can Shabbatai Zvi s messiahship be called antinomian? 9. In what ways could the movement be called traditional? 10. How are the ideas, behaviors, and values expressed in the Sabbatean chronicles related, if at all, to the narratives concerning the mystics of sixteenth-century Safed? How would you compare these two sets of narratives? UNIT 16. Decline in Poland and the Beshtian Hasidic Revival. 5/3 Rosman, only (see assignment for 4/19, above). Katz, The Transition to Hasidism, (This article is part of the e-reserves). Foa, middle of /5 Marcus, ed., THIRD EXAM DISTRIBUTED TODAY. Submit your responses in the JUS office by 3:00 pm on Friday, 5/14/ According to Katz, what was new about Hasidism and what was conservative? 2. To what stratum of Ashkenazic society did the first major figures of the Hasidic movement belong? Why is this significant? 3. How was Hasidism different from 16 th and 17 th -century kabbalistic pietism (including Sabbateanism)? 4. What does Katz mean by a Hasidic community (e.g., p. 209), and how was it different from traditional groups within Jewish society, such as the family, the Yeshiva, etc.? 5. How did Hasidism weaken the Jewish family, according to Katz? 6. What does Katz mean by the sanctification of idleness (p. 212)? 7. On the tales in Marcus, ed., pp : What are the bases of Rabbi Israel s charisma, according to the stories? Provide two examples of this. 8. Do you think there are any contradictions embedded in the depictions of the personality of Rabbi Israel, the Baal Shem Tov, in these stories? (See for example the part of the narrative concerning the Besht s brother in-law). 9. What would you say is the underlying message of the story concerning the Torah scroll? How does that message typify Hasidic values? Citation Data for E-Reserves DATE ASSIGNED CITATION IN MLA FOOTNOTING AND ENDNOTING FORMAT (NOT including Page Numbers) Mon. 1/19 Nicholas delange, An Introduction to Judaism (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2000). Michael A. Fishbane, Judaism: Revelations and Tradition (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1987). Lawrence H. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple Rabbinic Judaism (Hoboken: Ktav, 1991). Wed. 1/21 Mishnah, Avot 1-2:16. Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 4:1-3. Mishnah, Taanit 4:6-7. Jacob Neusner, From Testament to Torah: An Introduction to Judaism in Its Mon. 1/26 Formative Age (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1988). Jacob Neusner, From Testament to Torah: An Introduction to Judaism in Its Formative Age (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1988). Wed. 1/28 Genesis Rabbah 44:17-18, 56:9, 98:14. Talmud Yerushalmi, Taanit 1:1, 4:5 Talmud Yerushalmi, Yoma 3:2

12 Mon. 2/2 Mon. 2/9 Wed. 2/11 Mon. 2/16 Wed. 2/18 Wed. 2/25 Mon. 3/1 Wed. 3/3 Mon. 3/8 Robert M. Seltzer, Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History (Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1980). Leonard B. Glick, Abraham s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe (Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1999). Theodoric the Ostrogoth: Blbliographic data not available. Raymond P. Scheindlin, Merchants, Intellectuals, Rabbis and Poets: Judeo- Arabic Culture in the Golden Age of Islam, Cultures of the Jews, ed. David Biale (New York: Schocken, 2002). Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Sourcebook (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1979). Franz Rosenzweig, ed., Ninety-Two Poems and Hymns of Yehuda Halevi, trans. Thomas Kovach, Eva Jospe, and Gilya Gerda Schmidt (Albany: SUNY Press, 2000). Leonard B. Glick, Abraham s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe (Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1999). Leonard B. Glick, Abraham s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe (Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1999). Ivan G. Marcus, A Jewish-Christian Symbiosis: The Culture of Early Ashkenaz, Cultures of the Jews, ed. David Biale (New York: Schocken, 2002). Jeremy Cohen, The Friars and the Jews: The Evolution of Medieval Anti-Judaism (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1982). Yehiel of Paris, The Vikuah of Yehiel of Paris, Judaism on Trial: Jewish- Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages, ed. and trans. Hyam Maccoby (London: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1982). David Graizbord, Genesis 49:10: A Point of Controversy (class handout for JUS 370B). Mon. 3/29 Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance (New York: Harper & Row, 1965). Wed. 3/31 Azariah dei Rossi, Light to the Eyes, Ideas of Jewish History, ed. Michael A. Meyer (Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1987). Mon. 4/5 Mon. 4/12 Mon. 4/19 Wed. 4/21 Mon. 4/26 Wed. 4/ ). 1976). H. H. Ben-Sasson, ed. A History of the Jewish People (Cambridge: Harvard UP, H. H. Ben-Sasson, ed. A History of the Jewish People (Cambridge: Harvard UP, Yosef Kaplan, Bom Judesmo: The Western Sephardic Diaspora, Cultures of the Jews, ed. David Biale (New York: Schocken, 2002). Moshe Rosman, Innovative Tradition: Jewish Culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Cultures of the Jews, ed. David Biale (New York: Schocken, 2002). Gershon David Hundert, The Love of Learning among Polish Jews, Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period, ed. Lawrence Fine (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001). Chava Weissler, Voices of the Matriarchs: Listening to the Prayers of Early Modern Jewish Women (Boston: Beacon Press1998). Lawrence Fine, Kabbalistic Texts, Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, ed. Barry W. Holtz (New York: Summit Books, 1984). Harris Lenowitz, The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998). Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Meridian, 1978). Lawrence Fine, Kabbalistic Customs from Safed, Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period, ed. Lawrence Fine (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001). Matt Goldish, The Early Messianic Career of Shabbatai Zvi,, Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period, ed. Lawrence Fine (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2001). Jacob Katz, Tradition and Crisis: Jewish Society at the End of the Middle Ages (New York: Schocken, 1993). APPENDIX

13 How to Optimize your Performance in this Course 1. Establish a good rapport with your instructor early on. Do this by coming to each and every class session prepared (having read the assigned material) and in a timely fashion, by asking questions as they arise, and by participating consistently in class discussions. Doing this will convey that you are mature, resourceful, and reliable. As you know, true learning is not a spectator sport. You are entrusted with considerable power and control over your own education. There is no better way to own that power, to seize and exercise that control, than to prepare for class sessions outside the classroom and to participate in the sessions to the best of your ability. 2. Accomplish much of your learning outside the classroom by immersing yourself in the reading assignments. Read actively. Think while you read. Ask questions of the authors. Write down your reactions to what you read and convey these impressions in class. Mark the things you do not understand and ask me about them in class or by e- mail. Write notes on the material you read for the class; do not merely scan texts or underline whatever seems to be important without digesting it. 3. Focus on understanding the assigned reading material and on sharpening your communication skills, rather than on securing certain grades. Be assured that you are largely in control of your performance in the class. This is because students scores are earned, not doled out arbitrarily. At any rate, in the grand scheme of life, grades are almost completely insignificant. By contrast, your learning, and how you learn, are crucial. Please know that your instructor will not like you more or less according to your grades. He will, by contrast, appreciate and accommodate your genuine interest, your willingness to learn, and your positive attitude, regardless of the current level of your intellectual development and skills. 4. Make yourself heard. Ask questions about the subject matter of the course. Share your ideas respectfully with your instructor and your classmates. Relax. Let go of the reflex to play it absolutely safe. Ideally, the classroom is a place for students to work out their ideas and to make mistakes as they acquire knowledge. Good professors do not penalize students for thinking out loud about what they learn. In fact, professors need to know what the students are thinking about what they are learning. This allows the professors to help the students more effectively than would be possible otherwise. Incidentally, it does not matter how your classmates are performing in the course how smart or articulate they seem to be compared to you. Comparisons are virtually useless and can be toxic to your self-image. What matters is how you are learning and what you understand.