JEWISH STUDIES

The course is one of the core courses in the curriculum of the program “Languages, Cultures, and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa.” Its educational objectives fall within the area of language skills learning.

Students will be introduced to Jewish culture and piety from antiquity to the early modern age through the analysis of some core themes and texts from ancient and late antique Judaism and Christianity.

Communicating skills:
- capability to express and process the contents of the course and the topic of the papers in written form (in Italian or in English for non-Italian speaking students).

Learning skills:
- efficiently taking lecture notes in classroom;
- critically integrating different teaching materials (class notes, slides, handbooks, academic papers);
- independent, critical study of course-related topics not dealt in class;
- improving the student's capability to read and process materials in English.

No previous knowledge of Hebrew is required, though literary and documentary sources on ancient, late antique and medieval Judaism will be analysed and discussed with reference to the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Hebrew originals.

Judaism or Judaisms?
History of ancient Israel.
The formative period of rabbinic Judaism.
Rabbinic hermeneutics of Scripture.
Rabbinic prayer.
Sanctity and morals according to the rabbis.
Jewish religious law.
Trends in Jewish mysticism from antiquity to the early modern age.

Mandatory readings:
- Gunter Stemberger, “Introduzione all'ebraistica”, trad. ital. Morcelliana, Brescia 2013.
- Giovanni Filoramo (cur.), "Ebraismo", Bari, Laterza 2016

Oral exam on the contents of the course and of mandatory bibliography. Attendance at lectures will be taken into greatest consideration.

oral

Regarding the grading scale, scores will be assigned according to the following schema:
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be awarded in the presence of: Sufficient knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be awarded in the presence of: Fair knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be awarded in the presence of: Good or excellent knowledge and applied comprehension of the program;
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of the ability to reason independently about what has been learned and to make connections between the notions acquired.

The course includes 30 hours of frontal teaching. The active participation of the students will be encouraged.