UNIT II: THE EMERGING OF CLASSICAL JUDAISM: THE RABBIS

8. September 22: Crisis and Renovation: The Mishnah as a Second Torah

a. L. Schiffman, From Text to Tradition, pp. 157-176 (xerox #4, Vol. II)

b. J. Neusner, Ancient Israel After the Catastrophe, pp. 1-31, 50-80 (xerox: #5, Vol. II)

Focus: Note the ways that the rabbis, in composing the Mishnah, accomplish their task of producing stability and order in a destabilized world. Note also how a formative period in Judaism is the result of a catastrophe, a phenomenon that we shall encounter again and again within Jewish history.

9. September 24: Inscribing and Constructing

a. Selections from the Mishnah Tractate Avodah Zarah (xerox: #6, Vol. III)

b. A. Eisen, Galut, pp. 35-56 ( see conclusion of xerox #3, Vol. II)

c. M. Peskowitz, "Spinning Tales," in The Other in Jewish Thought and History, pp. 91-112 (xerox #7, Vol. III)

Links: For feminism and Jewish studies, see Jewish Feminist

d. Selections from Tractate Bava Metzia, Babylonian Talmud, pp. 7-9 (xerox #8, Vol. 1II)

This English translation of the Talmud by Adin Steinsaltz lays out the pages of the Talmud in the same form that it takes in the original Hebrew/Aramaic. Read the Mishnah (English, upper right on 2A and continuing on the next two pages) and then read the Gemara, and note the glosses and the super-glosses at the margins of the page.

Focus: In the Eisen and Peskowitz readings note how the inscribing of texts constructs (and naturalizes) notions of gender, time, space, holiness, Gentile/Idolater, Israelite/Jew, Jewishness etc. That is, the very process of writing and then reading a text leads to the cultural constructions becoming natural categories of thought (and action), such that for the reader they are internalized as something "taken-for-granted."

10. September 26: Midrash: Telling as Re-telling

a. Y. Yerushalmi, Zakhor, pp. 16-26

b. Hammer, The Classic Midrash, pp. 13-44, 53-66 (xerox #9, Vol. IV: Directions: Re-read chapters Exodus 12-13 before you read the Midrash selections on pp. 53-66.)

c. G. Bruns, "Midrash and Allegory," pp. 625-634 (xerox #10, Vol. IV)

11. September 29: (Section Meeting #2 ) Reading and Intertextuality

D. Boyarin, Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash, pp. 1-21, 93-104,117-129, and notes, pp. 130-134, 150-154, 156-158. (xerox #11, Vol. IV)

Focus: You will likely find the Boyarin reading difficult at first. Persevere through the first pages (1-11) so that the richness of his "new heory" will be available to you.

12 October 1: Liturgy: Praying and Remembering

a. P. Birnbaum, Daily Prayer Book, pp. 72-96 (Morning Service) and 758-769 (Blessings before and after a meal) (xerox #12, Vol. V)

Directions: Read carefully at least three prayers from the morning service, and the entire Blessing after the Meal.

b. Alan Mintz, " Prayer and the Prayerbook," pp. 403-429 (xerox #13, Vol. V)

Links: For additional material on prayer, as well as other interesting resources, see Zahavy

13. October 3: NO CLASS

14: October 6: Liturgy: Prayer and Study as Ritual Enactment

The Passover Haggadah, pp. iv-xii, 2-29, 64-65, 83, (xerox: #14, Vol. V)

Focus: Note especially the Midrash section that is incorporated into the Haggadah, pp. 17-20.

15. October 8: (Section Meeting #3): The Classical Kabbalah: Mystical Midrash and Remythologization within Judaism

a. G. Scholem, The Kabbalah and its Symbolism, pp. 87-117 (xerox # 15, Vol. VI)

b. D. Matt (ed.), Zohar, pp. 43-45; 49-57; 65-69 (xerox #16: Vol. VI)

16. October 10: Spiritual Practices among the Kabbalists

a. G. Scholem, The Kabbalah and its Symbolism, pp. 118-157 (see conclusion of xerox #15, Vol. VI)

b. D. Matt (ed.), Zohar, pp. 84-90 (see conclusion of xerox #16: Vol. VI)