Course overview: This course offers an introduction to Jewish tradition and spirituality. Study of the Hebrew Scriptures is not sufficient as an exposure to basic Judaism. Post-Biblical sources, as well as the lifestyle of contemporary Jews, should also be studied in order to understand how Jews apply their faith in practice. The Jewish people is called to consecrate both time and space, the two pillars of a this-worldly spirituality. With the course structured around these two parameters, students will be able to compare their own faith orientations with that of the Jewish tradition.
The goals of the course are:
- To introduce students to the self-understanding of contemporary Jews
- To give students a foundation for appreciating the spirituality of their Jewish neighbors, both women and men
- To help students see the connection between the ritual and the metaphysical dimensions of Jewish holy days
- To approach the issue of disputed “holy land” from a spiritual perspective that is Jewish, yet sensitive to Christian and Muslim sensibilities--as one way of healing the tragic conflict over Israel/Palestine
ANTICIPATED LEARNING OUTCOMES:
- Understanding the particular features of Jewish spirituality, as traditionally defined and as assessed by a feminist critique
- Appreciating the commonalities with Christian and Muslim spiritualities
- Understanding how ritual/deed and metaphysics/mysticism/messianism are linked
- Appreciating how a spiritual perspective, consecrating both time and space, can help heal interreligious conflict, especially in the Middle East
TOPICS TO BE COVERED:
- Jewish identity and lifestyle: covenanted peoplehood, orthopraxy (deeds) rather than orthodoxy (creed)
- Images and Attributes of God in Judaism
- The Written and Oral Torahs: Scripture and Rabbinic Tradition
- The Dynamics of Jewish Prayer
- Shabbat and the pattern of 7’s programmed into Creation
- The High Holydays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and the process of teshuvah (return, repentance)
- The Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Weeks), and Sukkot (Tabernacles)
- Other holidays: Chanukah, Purim, Tu b’Shevat, Tisha b’Av
- Consecrating relationships: Jewish ethics, marriage and divorce, parents and children
- The Shoah (Holocaust), Zionism, and Israel
- Theologies of Land and History in Contemporary Israel
- Faith-Based Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine
- Jews and Judaism in America
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Students are urged to purchase the following books (supplemental readings, recommended for preparing final papers, are listed at the end of this syllabus):
Telushkin, Joseph, JEWISH LITERACY (New York: William Morrow and Company,
2001)
Steinberg, Milton, BASIC JUDAISM (San Diego and New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1975)
Fishbane, Michael, JUDAISM (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1987)
Adler, Rachel, ENGENDERING JUDAISM (Boston: Beacon Press, 1999)
Heschel, Abraham Joshua, THE SABBATH: ITS MEANING FOR MODERN MAN
(New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1975)
Greenberg, Irving, THE JEWISH WAY: LIVING THE HOLIDAYS (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993)
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT: Classroom participation (20%), Grasp of course material as demonstrated in a 15-page final paper (50%), and three 2-page reflections (10% each x 3 = 30%) on how Jewish tradition and practice compare with your own on issues of: (1) Identity and lifestyle (due February 10); (2) Prayer and theology (due March 3); (3) Sacred Time/Calendar (due April 7). The final paper is due by May 5, which is also the make-up date in case of a cancelation. Students should communicate with the course instructor, in person, by phone, or by e-mail, about the final paper a few weeks before it is due, to get feedback and approval for the topic.
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
Readings indicated should be read for that particular session.
January 27: Jewish Identity and Lifestyle
Telushkin, pp. 671-702 (#320-332); Steinberg, pp. ix-17, 125-129, 132-142;
Fishbane, pp. 3-9, 11-24, 101-113
February 3: Images and Attributes of God
Telushkin, pp. 599-615 (#284-291); Steinberg, pp. 31-58;
Fishbane, pp. 58-76; Adler, pp. viii-19
February 10: The Written Torah: The Hebrew Scriptures
Telushkin, pp. 3-44 (#1-23); Steinberg, pp. 18-30; Fishbane, pp. 26-30
FIRST REFLECTION DUE
February 17: The Oral Torah: Rabbinic Tradition
Telushkin, pp. 148-159 (#82-84); Steinberg, pp. 143-149;
Fishbane, pp. 25-58; Adler, pp. 21-59
February 24: The Dynamics of Jewish Prayer
Telushkin, pp. 705-738 (#333-348); Steinberg, pp. 116-125;
Fishbane, pp. 83-94; Adler, pp. 61-103
March 3: Shabbat and the Sabbatical Rhythm of 7’s in Creation
Heschel’s THE SABBATH; Greenberg, pp. 17-23, 127-181;
Telushkin, pp. 661-668 (#316-319); Steinberg, pp. 129-132
SECOND REFLECTION DUE
March 10: The High Holydays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Teshuvah
Greenberg, pp. 182-215; Telushkin, pp. 619-629 (#292-296);
Fishbane, pp. 94-101
March 17: The Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot
Greenberg, pp. 34-118; Telushkin, pp. 629-634 (#297-299), 641-647 (#304-
306), 653-655 (#311)
March 24: Other Holidays: Chanukah, Purim, Tu b’Shevat, and Tisha b’Av
Greenberg, pp. 217-303, 411-420; Telushkin, pp. 111-114 (#64-65),
102-103 (#60), 634-639 (#300-302), 655-657 (#312-313)
*NO CLASS MARCH 31* (SPRING BREAK, READING WEEK—Note: Passover begins the evening of March 29 and continues through the night of April 6 in the U.S.)
April 7: Consecrating Relationships: Jewish Ethics and Family Life
Telushkin, pp. 545-595 (#255-282); Steinberg, pp. 59-90;
Adler, pp. 105-215 THIRD REFLECTION DUE
April 14: The Shoah (Holocaust), Zionism, and Israel
Telushkin, pp. 373-422 (#182-203), 273-369 (#133-181)
April 21: Theologies of Land and History in Contemporary Israel
Essays by Andre Neher, Pinchas Peli, Uriel Simon, and Yehezkel Landau in
Burrell and Landau, eds., VOICES FROM JERUSALEM: JEWS AND
CHRISTIANS REFLECT ON THE HOLY LAND; Y. Landau, “The Land of
Israel in Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations” (all on reserve)
Apirl 28: Jews and Judaism in America: The Challenge of Pluralism
Telushkin, pp. 425-487 (#204-229) FINAL PAPER DUE
Suggested Supplemental Readings (recommended for preparing final papers):
TO BE A JEW by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
THE LIFETIME OF A JEW THROUGHOUT THE AGES OF JEWISH HISTORY
By Hayyim Schauss
ANCIENT ROOTS AND MODERN MEANINGS: A CONTEMPORARY READER
IN JEWISH IDENTITY edited by Jerry V. Diller
THE LONELY MAN OF FAITH by Joseph B. Soloveitchik
ISRAEL IN TIME AND SPACE: ESSAYS ON BASIC THEMES IN JEWISH
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT by Alexandre Safran
BACK TO THE SOURCES: READING THE CLASSIC JEWISH TEXTS,
edited by Barry W. Holtz
THE SEVENTY FACES OF TORAH: THE JEWISH WAY OF READING THE
SACRED SCRIPTURES by Stephen M. Wylen
“Revelation and Tradition as Religious Categories in Judaism,” by Gershom
Scholem, in THE MESSIANIC IDEA IN JUDAISM
DAILY PRAYER BOOK translated and annotated by Philip Birnbaum
TO PRAY AS A JEW by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
A GUIDE TO JEWISH PRAYER by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
MAN’S QUEST FOR GOD: STUDIES IN PRAYER AND SYMBOLISM
by Abraham Joshua Heschel
YOUR WORD IS FIRE: THE HASIDIC MASTERS ON CONTEMPLATIVE
PRAYER, edited and translated by Arthur Green and Barry W. Holtz
A BOOK OF LIFE: EMBRACING JUDAISM AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
by Michael Strassfeld
DAYS OF AWE by S. Y. Agnon
ON REPENTANCE IN THE THOUGHT AND ORAL DISCOURSES OF
RABBI JOSEPH B. SOLOVEITCHIK compiled by Pinchas H. Peli
SEASONS OF OUR JOY by Arthur Waskow
THE JEWISH HOLY DAYS IN CHASIDIC PHILOSOPHY by Noson Gurary
JUDAISM IN A NUTSHELL: HOLIDAYS by Shimon Apisdorf
THE PASSOVER HAGGADAH
AN INTRODUCTION TO JEWISH ETHICS by Louis E. Newman
RABBINIC WISDOM AND JEWISH VALUES by William B. Silverman
FAMILY REDEEMED: ESSAYS ON FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS by Joseph B.
Soloveitchik
HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER: FILIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN JEWISH
LAW AND ETHICS by Gerald Blidstein
THE JEWISH WAY IN LOVE AND MARRIAGE by Maurice Lamm
JEWISH DIVORCE ETHICS by Reuven P. Bulka
DIVORCE IN JEWISH LAW AND LIFE by Irwin H. Haut
STANDING AGAIN AT SINAI: JUDAISM FROM A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE by
Judith Plaskow
ON WOMEN AND JUDAISM: A VIEW FROM TRADITION by Blu Greenberg
REREADING THE RABBIS: A WOMAN’S VOICE by Judith Hauptman
ReVISIONS: SEEING TORAH THROUGH A FEMINIST LENS by Elyse Goldstein
FEMINISM ENCOUNTERS TRADITIONAL JUDAISM by Tova Hartman
MODERN JEWISH HISTORY: A SOURCE READER edited by Robert Chazan and
Marc Lee Raphael
ISRAEL: AN ECHO OF ETERNITY by Abraham Joshua Heschel
THE JEWISH STATE by Theodore Herzl
THE ZIONIST IDEA edited by Arthur Herzberg
A LAND OF TWO PEOPLES: MARTIN BUBER ON JEWS AND ARABS
edited with commentary by Paul R. Mendes-Flohr
IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL by Amos Oz
THE YELLOW WIND by David Grossman
ISRAELIS AND THE JEWISH TRADITION by David Hartman
MESSIANISM, ZIONISM, AND JEWISH RELIGIOUS RADICALISM
by Aviezer Ravitzky
JUDAISM, HUMAN VALUES, AND THE JEWISH STATE by Yeshayahu
Leibowitz, edited by Eliezer Goldman
JERUSALEM: CITY OF MIRRORS by Amos Elon
JERUSALEM BLESSED, JERUSALEM CURSED: JEWS, CHRISTIANS,
AND MUSLIMS IN THE HOLY CITY FROM DAVID’S TIME TO
OUR OWN by Thomas A. Idinopulos
HOLY WAR, HOLY PEACE: HOW RELIGION CAN BRING PEACE TO THE
MIDDLE EAST by Marc Gopin
AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE GARDEN OF EDEN: A JEW’S SEARCH FOR HOPE
WITH CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS IN THE HOLY LAND by Yossi Klein
Halevi
HEALING THE HOLY LAND: INTERRELIGIOUS PEACEBUILDING IN
ISRAEL/PALESTINE by Yehezkel Landau
