Jewish Religious Literature 2900-JSL-RLZ
During the course the following issues will be discussed:
1. Basic concepts: people of the book (am ha-sefer; ahl al-kitab), people of many books (the written and oral Torah); historical overview: chronological and geographical divisions; the specificity of Jewish literature: basic genres and languages: the role of the Hebrew language; manuscript and printing; circulation of books (home, school, synagogue); ethos of Torah study; ahistorical idea of ever-growing commentary and super-commentary;
2. The Written Torah and the Oral Torah: Tanakh and Talmud - Mishna, Barajta, Tosefta, Gemara, Rashi, Tosafot;
3. Midrashim (midrash halakha, midrash agada) and preaching literature (sermons; derashot);
4. Halakhic codes and rabbinic responsa (sheelot u-teshuvot);
5. Bible commentaries - translations (Targum) and interpretations (perusz; Rashi); various approaches to Scripture and its language, as well as exegetical methods;
6. Prayer book (siddur) and religious poetry (pijutim; Eleazar Ha-Kalir, Judah Ha-Levi, Shlomo ibn Gabirol, Abraham ibn Ezra);
7. Mystical and Hasidic literature;
8. Ethical literature (musar, Moshe Hayim Luzzatto);
9. Philosophical literature (Saadia Gaon, Judah Ha-Levi, Abraham Ibn Daud, Bachja ibn Pakuda, Moses Maimonides);
10. Women’s and children's literature.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will:
1. know the most important works of Jewish religious literature, as well as the main literary genres of this literature;
2. Correctly use the relevant concepts related to the discussed issues;
3. be able to independently search for and use the literature on the subject.
Symbol of learning outcomes for the study program: K_W03, K_W04, K_U01, K_U06, K_K01
Assessment criteria
Individual, depending on the person conducting classes in a given didactic cycle.
Bibliography
1. Majer Bałaban, Historia i literatura żydowska ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Żydów w Polsce, t. 1-3, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Artystyczne i Filmowe repr. 1925.
2. Haim Nahman Bialik, „Halachah and Aggadah”, in: Revealment and Concealment: Five Essays, Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2000, pp. 45-87.
3. Wojciech Brojer; Jan Doktór; Bohdan Kos, Sefer Jecira czyli Księga stworzenia, Warszawa: Tikkun, 1995.
4. T. Carmi (trans.), The Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse, London: Penguin Books, 1981 (or later editions).
5. Abraham Cohen, Talmud, trans. Regina Gromacka, Warszawa: Cyklady 2002.
6. Izaak Cylkow (trans.), Machzor rosz ha-szana, Machzor jom kippur, Kraków-Budapeszt: Austeria, 2013 (or other editions).
7. Michał Friedman, Ze skarbnicy midraszy, Wrocław: Wydaw. Dolnośląskie, 1995.
8. Michał Friedman (trans.), „Sentencje ojców”, Literatura na świecie 4 (189), 1987, pp. 3-31 (or other editions).
9. Judah Halevi, The Kuzari, An Argument for the Faith of Israel, przeł. Hartwig Hirschfeld, New York: Schocken Books, 1964.
10. Henryk Halkowski, Opowieści rabina Nachmana z Bracławia, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Mercury, 1999.
11. Barry W. Holtz, Back To The Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.
12. Abraham Ibn Daud, The Book of Tradition, trans. Gerson Cohen, Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1967.
13. Ireneusz Kania (oprac.), Opowieści Zoharu. O kabale i Zoharze, Kraków: Oficyna literacka, 1994.
14. Moshe Hayim Luzzatto, Ścieżka sprawiedliwych, Kraków, Wydawnictwo Pardes Lauder, 2005.
15. Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed, trans. M. Friedländer, New York: Dover Publication Society, 2000.
16. Bahya ibn Pakuda, Duties of the Heart, przeł. Menahem Mansoor, Sara Arenson, Shoshana Dannhauser, UK: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004.
17. Saadia Gaon, Book of Beliefs and Opinions, przeł. Samuel Rosenblatt, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1976.
18. Gershom Scholem, Mistycyzm żydowski i jego główne kierunki, Warszawa: Aletheia, 1997 (or later editions).
19. Eliezer Segal, Reading Jewish Religious Texts, New York, NY: Routledge 2011.
20. Maciej Tomal, Jak modlą się Żydzi?, Warszawa: Verbinum, 2000.
21. Eugen Werber, „Talmud – dziedzictwo historii i kultury”, w: Literatura na świecie 4 (189), przeł. Dorota Jovanka Cirlic, Warszawa, 1989, pp. 34-74.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: