| Description |
This course is intended to introduce students to the classical Jewish tradition through a close reading of portions of some of its great books. These books include the Bible, rabbinic midrash, the Talmud, Rashi's commentary on the Torah, Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, the Zohar (the central work of the Kabbalah), Moses Mendelssohn's Jerusalem, Salomon Maimon's Autobiography, Leo Baeck's The Essence of Judaism, and Gershom Scholem's The Messianic Idea in Judaism. As we read, we will consider what these works tell us about creation, revelation, and salvation in Jewish tradition and how they come to define that tradition. |