1. Judaism (I) Torah, Temple, and Talmud
Class RELS 1010

2. JUDAISM
– Demographics
– Geography
– History
– Impacts

3. The Jewish World Today

4. The Jewish World Yesterday
– Pre-monarchic: “Hebrews”; period of judges
– United monarchy (David; Solomon): “Israelites”
– Divided monarchy: “Judeans”
– Conquests and exile: 586 BCE (Babylon); 70 CE (Rome)

5. Jewish Scriptures “Written Torah” “Oral Torah”
Tanakh (a.k.a. Hebrew Bible; OT)
Torah, “teaching; law”
Nevi’im, “prophets”
Ketuvim, “writings”
Association with Moses, Sinai
Ancient contexts
Status accorded to text
Talmud
many components
Post-70 “compilation”
Use and scope
Status within and between Jewish denominations

6. Jewish Biblical Interpretation
Plain sense
Must be the beginning
Cannot be the end
“Inquiring”
Most distinctive
Main content of Talmud (most compact edition ever printed, r.)
Allegorical
Limited application
Mystical

7. Methods of inquiry – Dialogic – Multi-factorial
– As a rule: Insights > answers

8. Covenants and Commandments
Concept and definition
Biblical covenants
Genesis 9: Noahide covenant
Genesis 15: Abrahamic covenant
Exodus: Sinai covenant
Connection to land and people
“Orthopraxy”

9. Resources
Judaism: “Daily Chart: Mapping Judaism.” The Economist 25 July l/2012/07/daily-chart-16
The Jewish World Today: Carrie Hughes, “A Voyage around the Diaspora.” McCarter Theatre Education Project, l/7.html
The Jewish World Yesterday: Map of the divided monarchy, ca. 9th century BCE. Richard Prins, Creative Commons.
Jewish Biblical Interpretation. Seller’s image of Jacob Neusner’s complete translation of the Babylonian Talmud (Hendrickson Publishers, 2011; 22 volumes). Image courtesy of AbeBooks.
Methods of inquiry: Joann Sfar, The Rabbi’s Cat, tr. Alexis Siegel and Anjali Singh (New York: Pantheon, 2005), 25.
Covenants and commandments: Marc Chagall, “Moses Receiving the Tablets of Law.” Oil on canvas. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, Musée Marc Chagall, Nice.