Introduction to Judaism - lecture 2900-JSL-WDJ-OG

During the course the following issues will be discussed:

1. Judaism or Judaisms – general information; history of Judaism (chronological and geographical divisions; ashkanazi and sefaradi Jews and their cultural legacy; Jewish languages literatures; the main epochs and historical events that had an impact on Judaism, e.g., Haskalah, Zionism, Shoah, State of Israel) and the history of research on Judaism; fundamental research problems;

2. Basic concepts of the Jewish tradition (eg. Oral and written Torah, halacha, kashrut, etc.), the Jewish concept of time; the question of calendar;

3. Jewish holidays and rituals: Sabbath, three pilgrim festivals (Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot as well as Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah), high holidays (Rosh Ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur as well as Yamim Noraim), Hanukkah, Purim, Tisha be-Av;

4. The cycle of Jewish life: customs and rituals (circumcision/brit mila, bar/bat mitzvah, traditional education, wedding/chupa and divorce (geth), burial and mourning);

5. Jewish spaces: "kosher" home, synagogue, beit midrash, mikvah, cemetery;

6. Religious currents and movements that originated from or operate within Judaism: Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes; Sabbathaism, Frankism, Hasidism (and mitnagdim), Chabad; Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism, as well as neo-orthodoxy; the Karaite “issue”; Jewish mysticism.