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Course listings
TextCourses11-12
Course Catalogue 2011-2012
Syllabi 2011-2012
Intensive Text Courses
Aug 29 – Sept 21 / Studying the Bible, the Inter-testamental Literature and the Midrash
Co-taught by Prof. Yair Zakovitch & Prof. Avigdor Shinan (Hebrew University)
Exposing the rich variety of interpretations, the different ideologies they convey and the continuity from pre-biblical traditions to late rabbinical traditions. This course is co-taught by world renowned scholars in Bible and Midrash: Prof. Zakovitch and Prof. Shinan.
Prof. Yair Zakovitch has served as Head of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University, and also as its Dean of Humanities. His primary research interests are the Bible as literature, biblical thought and ancient interpretation of the Bible.
Prof. Shinan is Professor of Hebrew Literature. His fields of research are the Midrashic and Aggadic literature, the Aramaic Translations of the Bible and the Jewish Prayer book. His list of publication contains more than 120 scholarly articles and 8 books.
Oct 3 – Oct 12 / The Jewish Society in Modern Era – Between Tradition and Modernity / Prof. Mordechai Zalkin (Ben-Gurion University)
A concentrated look at the main religious, educational, social and economic processes with crucial impact on the Jewish collective consciousness and way of life from the mid 18th century to the Holocaust.
Prof. Motti Zalkin is an associate professor of and economic history of the Jews in Eastern Europe, mainly in Lithuania, and the history of Jewish modern Jewish history at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. His special fields of interest are the social education in Eastern Europe.
Oct 17 – Oct 27 / Early Kabbalah and its Origins / Prof. Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University)
Major concepts and historical development of early Kabbalah, examining themes such as theosophy, theurgy, the problem of evil and the structure of the human psyche. Central texts include the Bahir, Abraham Abulafia and the Zohar.
Prof. Boaz Huss teaches Kabbalah at the Goren-Goldstein Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He is an expert of various areas of Kabbalah, including the Zohar and contemporary Kabbalah.
Nov 7 – Nov 17 / Medieval Halakhah / PhD Candidate Rachel Furst (Hebrew University)
A survey of the development of Jewish law from the end of the Talmudic period up until early Modernity. With focus on text and meta-text, the course follows the different and conflicting ways that Jews extracted practical conclusions from the multivalent layers of the Talmud.
Rachel Furst is a PhD Candidate in Medieval Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and she teaches Talmud at MaTaN and Ulpanat Amit-Noga.
Nov 21 – Dec 1 / The Philosophy of Maimonides / Prof. Frederek Musall (The Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg)
Reading Maimonides, the foremost Jewish scholar of all time and one of civilization’s greatest minds. Examining the thinking of Maimonides in the context of Jewish philosophy as well as in an Islamic and Medieval context.
Prof. Musall studied Jewish studies, Islamic studies, Semitic languages and comparative religion at Heidelberg and Jerusalem. He received his PhD in 2005 on Moses Maimonides and Hasdai Crescas. He is currently Professor of Jewish Thought at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg.
Jan 4 – Jan 12 / Choices in Modern Jewish Philosophy and Culture / PhD Candidate Rani Jaeger (Bar-Ilan University)
Examining the responses of Jewish thought to the challenges of the modern world. The thinkers, whose works we will read, committed themselves to find new ways of giving meaning and direction to modern Jewish life thus approaching the past from the perspective of the present.
Rani Jaeger is a Ph.D. Candidate at the Bar Ilan University at the department of Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies. He is also the Director of the Shalom Hartman Institute School for Teacher Education.
Jan 16 – Jan 20 / Introduction to Jewish-Christian Relations: From Sour Grapes to Sacrament / Prof. Jesper Svartvik (University of Lund)
Identifying the stumbling blocks in Jewish-Christian encounters, from Antiquity over Reformation and the Shoah to the post-war European dialogue between Jews and Christians—characterized by an unsurpassed mutual respect and candor.
Prof. Jesper Svartvik is Krister Stendahl Professor of Theology of Religions at Lund University and at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem. He is also a member of the Peer Review Board of Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations.
Jan 30 – Feb 9 / The Hasidic Path: Theory and Society / PhD Candidate Assaf Tamari (Ben Gurion University)
Presenting the central Hassidic ideas by reading excerpts from the vast Hasidic library, and focusing on the relationship between theory and social order in Hasidism.
Assaf Tamari is a PhD Candidate at the department for Jewish thought in Ben-Gurion University. His main field of expertise is sixteenth-century Lurianic Kabbalah, and his research is focused on the Lurianic Body Discourse.
Feb 13 – Feb 23 / Jewish Philosophical Responses to the Holocaust / Dr. Nicham Ross (Ben Gurion University)
Where was God during the Holocaust? Focusing on the varying responses of several Jewish theologians and spiritual leaders to the problem of evil in general, and to the extreme example of the Holocaust in particular, in light of pre-modern Jewish attitudes to catastrophe and destruction.
Nicham Ross is a lecturer in the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben Gurion University specializing in researching identity and tradition in Jewish literature from the beginning of the 20th century. He is also the Director of the Gandel Institute for Adult Jewish Learning
Mar 5 – Mar 15 / Modern Hebrew Literature / Prof. Anat Feinberg (The Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg)
Identifying the landmarks of modern Hebrew literature during recent generations: the writers of prose and poetry classics who designed the topics, structures, characters and style of Modern Hebrew Literature.
Prof. Feinberg received her PhD in English literature from London University and has been a lecturer in Literature and Theatre studies at Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University. She is since 1990 Professor in Hebrew and Jewish literature at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg.
Mar 19 – Mar 23 / Judaism and Islam: Contact and Conflict as reflected in the Qur’an and Muslim tradition (=Hadith) / Prof. Meir Bar-Asher (Hebrew University)
A historical outline of the political, legal and societal relationships between Judaism and Islam throughout the Medieval Ages and how these are reflected in the Qur’an and the Hadith, with an analysis of Midrashic influence on Islamic scripture.
Prof. Meir Bar-Asher teaches at the department of Arabic Language and Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he has been the director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies. Prof. Bar-Asher is an expert on Quranic Studies and Shi’i Islam.
Year Long Courses
The Babylonian Talmud and Related Rabbinic Literature / Mordechai (Mordy) Cohen
The goal of the course is to give the learners a basic overview of the Babylonian Talmud and of the parallel Rabbinic Literature, in translation or in the original. The course is based on three analogous parts that will be learned simultaneously. A) Continuous learning of Talmudic texts; B) Parallel texts in corresponding Rabbinic Literature; C) Historic overview of the Sages’ period, its culture and figures. Some time will be devoted to the academic ways of studying, to the usage of the Talmud throughout history and to the importance of the Talmud today. The system of learning in chavruta will be explained, emphasized and practiced.
Torah Public Reading – The Cycle of Parashat Hashavua / Mordechai (Mordy) Cohen
This course will follow the yearly schedule of the Public Reading of the Torah followed by synagogues worldwide and offer the students an introduction to various methods of biblical interpretation. The last days of Moses, The narrative of Genesis, the exodus and the laws in the book of Exodus, the Jewish Temple and its ways of worship will all be dealt with in several ways of study, such as traditional, literal, modern etc. The ongoing question proposed throughout the course will be: Why is our studying so important today and what is its relevance to contemporary Jewish life?
Basic Ideas in Jewish Law & The Sages and Their Thoughts On the World / Mordechai (Mordy) Cohen
These two courses are, as the students will see later in the year, interwoven. “Basic Ideas in Jewish Law” will deal with important Halakhic (legal) issues that are based on philosophical concepts concerning how a society should live its life. “The Sages and Their Thoughts On the World” will bring forward some 2,000 year-old understandings and thoughts about Man, Woman and the world around them, vis-à-vis the modern Western World Today.
Modern Hebrew: Level 1, 2 and 3 / Frida Schatz
The Hebrew language course consists of the following parts: grammatical exercises; conversations and vocabulary; dictations; writing essays; reading texts and translating from Hebrew to English and vice versa. An exam is held at the end of the year.
Project Work
The applied dimension of the Paideia One-year Studies Program allows you to explore the question of how Jewish studies can nourish your particular field of competence and interest. During the year, each fellow is assigned a project of her/his own to develop within the field of academia, education, social activism or culture. The project can be done either on your own, or together with another fellow. The aim of the projects is to provide an opportunity to establish a deeper connection between Jewish textual studies and your profession and interest, and at the same time to give hands-on experience in working with Jewish content.