Lecture 1Introduction to Judaism1 Professor Noam Pianko [email protected].

Lecture 1 Introduction to Judaism 1

Introduction to Judaism

Professor Noam Pianko

[email protected]

Lecture 1 Introduction to Judaism 2

Class Overview

• Course Introduction

• Major Course Themes

• Syllabus/Expectations

• Start Historical Overview

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Don’t Write this Down!

• It will be available on the course web-site for download

• Listen and engage in class!

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Introduction

• Who am I?

• Who are you?

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What Do You Think?

• How should we analyze a religion?

• What topics would you want to know about?

• How is studying Judaism similar/different from studying other religions?

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Six Areas of Investigation

1. Role of Scripture and Interpretation

2. Theology and Symbolic Vocabulary

3. Communal Forms and Religious Authority

4. Ritual and Worship

5. Ethical Values and the Formation of the Person

6. Ideologies of Political Life

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1. Scripture and Interpretation

• What are Judaism’s central texts?• How/when do certain texts become “scripture” or canonized ?• How does the process of interpretation work in Judaism?

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2. Theology and Symbolic Vocabulary

• What are the core beliefs/symbols that orient the Jewish tradition?– God– Torah– Israel– Messiah/Redemption

• How have these concepts changed over time in dialogue with surrounding cultures?

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Symbolic Vocabulary and Surrounding Cultures

Christian and Islamic Mysticism

Greco-Roman View of the Cosmos

Modern Philosophy and Ethics

Canaanite Pantheon

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3. Communal Forms and Religious Authority

• What is the Jewish ideal for community structure?

• How are boundaries determined? Who is inside/outside of the community?

• Who establishes norms in the community?• Who has authority to enforce norms?• How is authority challenged?

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Who Has Authority?

A Nation Led By Prophets

A Liturgical Community Led By Priests

Rabbi and Congregation

The Rebbe and His Disciples

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4. Worship and Ritual

• What rituals (actions with symbolic meaning) and forms of worship does Judaism proscribe?

• How is time punctuated on the Jewish calendar?

• What are Jewish conceptions of worship and how have they changed?

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Jewish Worship: From Sacrifice to Yoga

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5. Ethical Values and the Formation of the Person

• What does it mean to be a good Jew? A good person?

• Where do ethics come from?• How do celebrations of milestones

(lifecycle events) contribute to the formation of the individual?

• How have Jewish ethics/values changed over time?

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6. Ideologies of Political Life

• How has Judaism interacted with its many majority host cultures?

• What effect has life in the diaspora had on Judaism?

• What is the relationship between the modern State of Israel and Judaism?

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A Taste of Contemporary Jewish Diversity

• How do the six themes play out in this video?

• What is interesting about the film?

• What questions about Judaism does the film raise?

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Syllabus Notes

• Writing and Analysis Emphasis

• Books in Class and Section

• Late Policy

• Introducing Jennifer Callaghan

• Key terms exam

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Why Start Intro to Judaism with Jewish History?

• Pragmatic Considerations

• Past-Present-Future Blurred in Jewish Tradition– History and memory– Fact and myth

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Central Themes in Jewish History

1. Fluid Boundaries Between Jew and non-Jew

2. Diaspora and “Imagined Community”

3. Persecution

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Example

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But First, Some Terminology

• Hebrews• Israelites-Children of Jacob/Israel• Judeans-Southern Kingdom• Jews-Book of Esther• Judaism • Hebrew Bible/TaNaCh

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Jewish History in Six Acts

1. Israelite Origins and the Babylonia Exile (1900 BCE-587 BCE)

2. Return to Judea and the Second Temple (515 BCE-70 CE)

3. Diaspora and Rabbinic Judaism in Babylon and Jerusalem(70 CE-632 CE)

4. Jews in the Islamic World (632 CE-1500 CE)

5. Jews in Medieval Europe (900-1500)6. Jews in the Modern World (1500-present)

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Ancient Israelite History

• What do we know?

• What sources are available?

• What do you need to know?

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The Historicity of the Bible

• Nomadic group called “Habiru” • Migration from Mesopotamia into Canaan• Temple and New Capital built in Egypt in 13th

century BCE• No Evidence of Exodus from Egypt• Pharaoh's Inscription (1220BCE)

– “Israel is Laid to Waste, his seed is no more.”

• Records of conquest

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Bible Emerges from Ancient Near Eastern Setting

• Bible reflects interactions with surrounding cultures

• Bible culls from local traditions, narratives, rituals

• Imagines community of Israelites as distinct and separate

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Similar Divine Myths

“When you [Baal] killed Litan, the fleeing serpent, finished off the twisting serpent, the mighty one with seven heads, the heavens withered and drooped”

“On that day, Yahweh will punish with his fierce, great, and mighty sword Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan, the twisting serpent, he will slay the dragon of the sea.”