JEWISH STUDIES

The class “Jewish Studies” is part of the formative activities of the B.A. degree in "Language, Culture and Society of Asia and Mediterranean Africa – course Near and Middle East." The formative goal of the class is offering the students a detailed overview of Jewish Studies and of the most important events of the religious and cultural history of the Jews from antiquity to the early modern era through the analysis of themes and texts that represent the various expression of ancient, late-antique, medieval and early modern Judaism. Students will develop analytical skills and a critical thinking which will allow them to recognize central themes in the millenarian history of the Jewish people, to identify the many inter-cultural and inter-religious contacts between the Jews and their neighbors over time, as well as to understand the relevance of Jewish culture within the history of the Near and Middle East and in the European area.

Knowledge abilities on the course:

At the end of the course, students will:

- orientate themselves in the cultural and religious history of the Jews from antiquity to the early modern era;
- be familiar with the festivities, the most important texts, and the fundamental terminology/concepts of Judaism;
- recognize the major trends in Jewish thought and the central questions of Jewish history in relation also to the neighboring cultures;
- know: (a) to examine material and textual Hebrew sources from antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern era, which are relevant for studying Jewish history; (b) to contextualize these materials, and (c) to relate them one with another, in comparison also with coeval texts and archaeological materials of non-Jewish origin.

Communicative and learning abilities:

Students will learn to:

- read and critically elaborate the reading materials proposed during the lessons and assigned in preparation;
- autonomously study topics not covered during frontal lessons;
- understand academic contents in English and read scientific papers/books in English;
- know the terminology, themes of, and the fundamental approaches to Jewish Studies, in order to orientate themselves in the field at both a conceptual and historical level;
- develop a clarity which will enable them to autonomously formulate evaluations and interpretations of the course-related topics with the appropriate terminology.

No particular prerequisite are required.

The class introduces the students to Jewish Studies and to the different methodologies developed by scholars for attaining a religious-historical analysis of the themes and texts relevant to Judaism, thus examining Bible criticism, rabbinic philology, archaeology, art history, manuscript studies, lived religion, etc. After a first introductory lecture on the history and historiography of Judaism, the students will be presented with the most relevant events in Jewish history, as well as with its most important literary and artistic expressions. The approach will be chronological – from ancient Israel to the early modern era – but with attention also to analogous phenomena which developed diachronically in the different parts of the Jewish diaspora.
During the course, students will be guided in the reading and analysis of a selection of texts from the Bible, Qumran literature, the writings of Josephus Flavius, rabbinic literature, the corpus of Jewish magical texts (e.g. Sefer ha-Razim, Ḥarba de-Moshe, the Babylonian incantation bowls, etc.), the responsa penned by the , the Genizah fragments, Sefer Yuḥasin, Sefer Ḥassidim, cabalistic texts, etc. The analysis of these sources will be the starting point for examining various relevant topics, such as the different trends in Jewish thought, the encounter/clash with the non-Jewish population, the relationship between religion and science, etc.

Mandatory readings:
- Gunter Stemberger, “Introduzione all'ebraistica,” trad. ital. Morcelliana, Brescia 2013.
- Other texts and didactic material will be provided by the lecturer on the website of the course.

The final grade is obtained as follows:

40 % - attendance to classes and active participation in class discussions.
60 % - oral exam which examines the historical-cultural knowledge of the topics presented in class and in the preparatory readings.

The course includes 30 hours of frontal didactics alternated with readings of primary sources and discussions/exam of the topics presented in class and treated in the assigned reading material.

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