This course is an introduction to ancient Judaism from the Biblical through the Rabbinic Period. It surveys the epochs extending from the dawn of Hebrew civilization (c. 1800 B.C.) through the completion of the Talmud (c. 500 A.D.)

TEXTS
The texts used are Ancient Israel, ed.by Hershel Shanks and From Text to Tradition; A History of Second Temple And Rabbinic Judaism by Lawrence Schiffman.

This course includes a study of Jewish festivals and customs that take their origin from ancient Judaism. The student should have access to a Bible, and any one of the many books on the Jewish Holy Days for collateral reading.

The library reserve reading shelf for this course has materials that support the course objectives and should be consulted by students according to their interest.

OBJECTIVES

• To investigate the Semitic roots of the ancient Israelites, their ideas and observances, and how their literature developed into Holy Scripture.
• To compare the ancient Israelites with their neighbors regarding religion, life style, and political situation.
• To analyze crucial events that altered the course of Jewish history.
• To differentiate between various sects that developed in ancient Jewish life and assess what bearing they had on the development of Judaism.
• To investigate the transformation of the Jewish people from statehood to their dispersion among the nations as a religious and cultural entity.
• To understand and be able to discuss Jewish holiday customs and observances.
• To observe modern Jewish synagogue rituals and symbols and relate them to their ancient antecedents.

EXAMS
There will be a midterm exam on the readings and lecture notes through the lesson of the previous class. The exam will be of multiple choice, matching and short answer format. It will comprise 25% of the final grade.

The final exam will be essay and cover only assignments from the midterm to the end of the course. It will comprise 25% of the course grade.

ATTENDANCE
The student must plan to attend class regularly for a fuller understanding of the subject. A maximum of three (3) absences will be allowed for personal reasons without penalty. Four to six absences will result in lowering of the final grade by one full letter. Only a medical excuse for absence will be accepted. Punctuality is likewise expected. Three (3) times tardy count as one absence.

ADDITIONAL CLASS MEETINGS
Attendance at a religious service in the synagogue and briefing as noted in the schedule is required. If it is impossible to attend the Friday night service listed, alternate arrangements must be made by no later than September 6th.

A two-page description and review of your experience in the synagogue should be submitted at the next class period following the date of your attendance.

COMMUNICATION WITH PROFESSOR
Mutually convenient appointments should be made in advance when possible by calling me at 787-2182 during the day or 788-8971 at night. Particularly good times to meet are during the half hour prior to class or during the half hour afterward. You may contact me also by e-mail: rabbimarcus@sc.rr.com

BOOK REPORTS
Two books relating to the period covered in the course material must be read. Books for selection are in the History 383 Reserve section. For one an oral report may, if desired, be presented instead of a written report. At least one of the two must be submitted in writing. The written book report(s) must be six to eight pages in length. Students should select books from the appended list by no later than August 30th. If there is no book of student interest listed the student may, with the professor's agreement, select a different one related to the historical period covered. Write each book's title and author on a separate 3"x5" card along with your name. Indicate on card which title will be for oral report and which for written. The earlier you select the books the surer you can be of your preference for oral presentation.

The written report should be grammatically correct. It is expected that it will be double-spaced and that it will present no difficulty to read. It is due November 3rd.

A. Guidelines for Written Reports:

1. All reports are due and to be turned in no later than assigned date
2. They should be about six to eight pages in length.
3. If you wish to have yours returned you must make a second copy and turn them both in on the designated date.
4. The report should include:
   1. An overview of the contents (about one page)
   2. A discussion of what you feel are the major points or issues (4-6 pages.) You will probably need to be selective.
   3. Your reaction to or critique of the book (about one page)

B. Guidelines for Oral Reports:

1. You will have no more than ten minutes to talk. Please be aware of the time and remain within that limit. There will be an opportunity for questions and comments following each presentation.
2. Summarize the book in a few minutes, then focus on a few significant aspects or issues. Be selective. There is no way you can possibly present a comprehensive digest of the book.
3. Feel free to use notes liberally. You will probably have to do so to organize your thoughts in an orderly fashion, but don't simply read your written book report. Oral presentations are meant to be clearly understood. Use illustrations, examples, maps, charts, photos or whatever else you can find to make the point, if you think these will help.
4. Grades will be based on:
   1. Your selection of relevant material that supports the objectives of this course. For example, if you read a book about ancient Israel, don't spend many words on agriculture or forestry.
   2. Clarity of thought, and sense of continuity as opposed to rambling.
   3. Use of illustrative materials. You may wish to use slides, or overhead overlays. If so, see me at least by the prior class to reserve the appropriate projector.

Each written book report will comprise 25% of the student's grade; and if one oral presentation is substituted, it, too will comprise 25%.

QUESTIONS TO GUIDE YOUR STUDY

BIBLICAL PERIOD

1. What are the ethnic origins of the Jews?

2. What major events highlight the move from an individual to family to tribal to national consciousness as a people?

3. What is the theological significance of Sinai? of Jerusalem? of the destruction of the First Temple?

4. What does it mean to be the "Chosen People"? Chosen by whom and for what purpose?

5. What were the roles of the prophets?

6. Why did the Jews of Judah survive exile as a people, while those of Israel did not?

7. What conditions made it possible for the return to Zion from exile?

RABBINIC PERIOD

1. Who were the Rabbis, Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes?

2. What is the Written Tradition, the Oral Tradition?

3. Define: Mishna, Gemara, Midrash, Halacha, Haggada (Aggada)

4. What impact did these people have on Jewish history: Hillel, Shammai, Josephus, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zaccai, Rabbi Akiba, Bar Kochba, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the Tannaim, the Amoraim?

5. What was the impact and theological significance of the destruction of the Second Temple on Jewish life?

6. What were some of the differences and similarities between early Christianity and Judaism of that period?

HIGH HOLY DAYS

1. What are some of the key concepts and symbols of the Days of Awe?

2. Why repentance, prayer and good deeds?

3. What is the role of the rabbi and how does his/her position differ from priest?

4. What are some distinguishing features between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur?

5. Observances in home and synagogue

THREE "PILGRIM" FESTIVALS

1. How did these festivals develop? (historical, agricultural and pastoral roots)

2. Major symbols of the festivals and their modern expression.

3. Observances in home and synagogue

CHANUKAH, PURIM, the Ninth of Av, etc.

1. Origins of these festivals? Which are (are not) Biblical.

2. Major symbols and modern expression.

WHO IS A JEW?, JEWISH THEOLOGY

1. Define Jew, Judaism, Jewishness. Individual and group identity.

2. Mitzvot, halachah, God, Afterlife, Social/community concerns, creeds.

BOOK REPORT SELECTION LIST
Adler, Morris. The World of the Talmud. Washington, D.C.: B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundations, 1958

Agnon, Shmuel Yosef. Days of Awe. New York: Schocken Books, 1948

Akenson, Donald Harman. Surpassing Wonder: The Invention of the Bible and the Talmuds. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998

Alon, Gedalyahu. The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age: 70-640 C.E. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1980

Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. Basic Books, 1981

Anderson, Bernhard W. Creation in the Old Testament. Fortress, 1984

Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993

Bacchiocchi, S. 1977. From Sabbath to Sunday, A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity. Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University.

Bal, Mieke, ed. Anti-Covenant: Counter-Reading Women's Lives in the Hebrew Bible. Sheffield, England: Almond Press, 1989

Bal, Mieke. Lethal Love: Feminist Literary Reading of Biblical Love Stories. Indiana, 1987

Baskin, Judith R., ed. Jewish Women in Historical Perspective. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1991

Ben-tor, Amnon, ed. Trans. R. Greenberg. The Archaeology of Ancient Israel. Yale, 1992

Bloom, Harold, and David Rosenberg. The Book of J. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990

Bonner, Sects and Separatism during the Second Jewish Commonweath, New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1967

Brueggemann, Walter. Texts under Negotiation: The Bible and Postmodern Imagination. Fortress, 1993

Carroll, James. Constantine's Sword

Charlesworth, James H., ed. The Messiah: Developments in Earliest Judaism and Christianity. Augsburg, 1992

Clements, R. E. 1965. God and Temple. Philadelphia: Fortress Press

Cohen, Abraham. Everyman's Talmud. London: J. M. Dent, 1934

Cohen, Shaye J. D. From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987

Cross, Frank M., Jr. The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Biblical Studies. Fortress, 1995

Darr, Katheryn P. Far More Precious Than Jewels: Perspectives on Biblical Women. Fortress, 1991

Day, Peggy L., ed. Gender and Difference in Ancient Israel. Fortress, 1989

Dentan, R. C. The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments. Greenwich, NC: Seabury Press, 1954

Finkelstein, Louis. Pharisaism in the Making: Selected Essays. New York: KTAV,1972

Foerster, Werner. From the Exile to Christ: A Historical Introduction to Palestinian Judaism. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1964

Freid, Jacob, ed. Jews and Divorce. New York: KTAV, 1968

Gordis, Robert. The Book of God and Man: A Study of Job. University of Chicago, 1965

Gowan, Donald E. Eschatology in the Old Testament. Fortress, 1986

Greenstone, J. H., The Messiah Idea in Jewish History. Greenwood, 1972

Grunfeld, Isidor. The Sabbath. New York: Feldheim, 1972

Guttierrez, Gustavo. Trans. Martha J. O'Conner. On Job: God-Talk and the Suffereing of the Innocent. Orbis, 1987

Gutmann, Joseph, ed. The Synagogue: Studies in Origins, Archaeology, and Architecture. New York: KTAV, 1975

Heschel, Abraham Josua. The Sabbath, New York: Farrar, Straus, & Cudahy. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1966

Holladay, William L. The Psalms Through Three Thousand Years. Fortress, 1993

Horowitz, George. The Spririt of Jewish Law. New York: Central Book Co., 1953

Jeansonne, Sharon P. The Women of Genesis: From Sarah to Potiphar's Wife. Fortress, 1990

Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities. Vols, IV-VX, works of Josephus. Loeb Classical Library. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.

Kirsch, Jonathan. The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible. New York: Ballantine Books, 1997

Klein, Ralph W. Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation. Fortress, 1979

Kugel, James. On Being a Jew. New York: San Francisco: Harper, 1990

Lamm, Maurice. The Jewish Laws of Mourning.

Larue, Gerald A. Sex and the Bible. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1983

Leslie, Elmer A. Jeremiah. Abingdon, 1964

Lindblom, Hohannes. Prophecy in Ancient Israel. Fortess, 1982

Lods, A. Prophets and the Rise of Judaism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1961

Manuel, Frank. The Broken Staff: Judaism through Christina Eyes. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1992

Mendelsohn, I. 1949. Slavery in the Ancient Near East. New York: Oxford University Press

Michner, James. The Source

Miles, Jack. God: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995

Moore, G. G. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. 2 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1927

Murphy, Roland E. Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature. Doubleday, 1992

Neusner, Jacob. From Politics to Piety. The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973

Nickelsburg, G. W. E. Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishna. Fortress, 1981

Novak, David. Law and Theology in Judaism, First Series. New York: KTAV, 1974

Oppenheim, A. L. 1964 Ancient Mesopotamia. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press

Parkes, J. The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue.

Perdue, Leo G., and W. Clark Gilpin, eds. The Voice from the Whirlwind: Interpreting the Book of Job. Abingdon, 1991

Philo of Alexandria. The Essential Philo. Edited by Nahum N. Glatzer. New York: Schocken Books, 1971

Plaskow, Judith. Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective. New York: Harper and Row, 1990

Preuss, J. 1978. Biblical and Talmudic Medicine, translated and edited by F. Rosner. New York and London: Sanhedrin

Routtenberg, Lilly S., and Seldin, Ruth R. The Jewish Wedding Book. New York: Schocken Books, 1968

Rosenberg, David. The Book of David. New York: Harmony Books, 1997

Silver, A. H. A History of Messianic Speculation in Israel

Smallwood, E. Mary. The Jews Under Roman Rule: From Pompey to Diocletian. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976

Smith, T. C. How We Got Our Bible. Smith & Helwys, 1994

Smith, D. L. The Religion of the Landless: The Social Context of the Babylonian Exile. Indiana, 1989

Steinberg, Milton. Basic Judaism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1947

Stone, Michael E. Scripture, Sects, and Visions: A Profile of Judaism from Ezra to the Jewish Revolt. Fortress, 1980

Thompson, Thomas L. The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narrative: The Quest for the Historical Abraham. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1974

Trible, Phyllis. God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. Fortress, 1978

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Rabbinical Council of America. Kashruth: Handbook for Home and School. New York, 1972

Van Till, Howard J. et al. Portraits of Creation: Biblical and Scientific Perspectives on the World's Formation. Eerdmans, 1990

Vawter, Bruce. Job and Jonah. Paulist, 1983

Weinfeld, Moshe. Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School Clarendon, 1972

Weisfeld, Israel H. David the King. New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1983

Wistrich, Robert S. Antisemitism: The Longest Hatred. New York: Pantheon Books, 1991

Zerubavel, E. 1985. The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week. New York: The Free Press

Zuker, David J. Israel's Prophets: An Introduction for Christians and Jews. Paulist, 1994