INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM RELI UT TYLER SPRING SEMESTER 2016 Instructor Rabbi Neal Katz

REVIEW

HEBREW BIBLE TEXTS PROPHETS Joshua Judges Samuel (I & II) Kings (I & II) Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi TORAH Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy WRITINGS Psalms Proverbs Job Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Esther Daniel Ezra Nehemiah Chronicles (I & II)

SECOND TEMPLE

RABBINIC JUDAISM

PARDES P’SHAT - LITERAL REMEZ - HINTED D’RASH - SERMONIC SOD - SECRETIVE

Alexander the Great Maccabees Great Revolt Against Rome Judea defeated / Temple destroyed Pharisee/Rabbinic Period Begins Mishna Talmud

MISHNA

Deuteronomy 6:4Listen, Israel, God is our Lord, God is One. 6:5Love God your Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 6:6These words which I am commanding you today must remain on your heart. 6:7Teach them to your children and speak of them when you are at home, when traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 6:8Bind [these words] as a sign on your hand, and let them be an emblem in the center of your head. 6:9[Also] write them on the doorposts of your houses and gates.

Mishnah Berachot 1.1 From what time may one recite the Shema in the evening? 1) From the time that the priests enter [their houses] in order to eat their terumah until the end of the first watch, the words of Rabbi Eliezer. 2) The sages say: until midnight. 3) Rabban Gamaliel says: until dawn. 4) Once it happened that his sons came home [late] from a wedding feast and they said to him: we have not yet recited the [evening] Shema. He said to them: if it is not yet dawn you are still obligated to recite. 5) And not in respect to this alone did they so decide, but wherever the sages say “until midnight,” the mitzvah may be performed until dawn. a) The burning of the fat and the pieces may be performed till dawn. b) Similarly, all [the offerings] that are to be eaten within one day may be eaten till dawn. c) Why then did the sages say “until midnight”? In order to keep a man far from transgression.

HILLEL / SHAMMAI

PALESTINE BABYLON

OVEN OF ACHNAI

It is taught: On that day R. Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument, but the Sages did not accept any of them. Finally he said to them: "If the Halakhah (religious law) is in accordance with me, let this carob tree prove it!" Sure enough the carob tree immediately uprooted itself and moved one hundred cubits, and some say 400 cubits, from its place. "No proof can be brought from a carob tree," they retorted. And again he said to them "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let the channel of water prove it!" Sure enough, the channel of water flowed backward. "No proof can be brought from a channel of water," they rejoined. Again he urged, "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let the walls of the house of study prove it!" Sure enough, the walls tilted as if to fall. But R. Joshua, rebuked the walls, saying, "When disciples of the wise are engaged in a halakhic dispute, what right have you to interfere?" Hence in deference to R. Joshua they did not fall and in deference to R. Eliezer they did not resume their upright position; they are still standing aslant.

Again R. Eliezer then said to the Sages, "If the Halakhah agrees with me, let it be proved from heaven." Sure enough, a divine voice cried out, "Why do you dispute with R. Eliezer, with whom the Halakhah always agrees?" R. Joshua stood up and protested: "The Torah is not in heaven!" (Deut. 30:12). We pay no attention to a divine voice because long ago at Mount Sinai You wrote in your Torah at Mount Sinai, `After the majority must one incline'. (Ex. 23:2)" R. Nathan met [the prophet] Elijah [3] and asked him, "What did the Holy One do at that moment?" Elijah: "He laughed [with joy], saying, 'My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me.'"

500 CE

MIDRASH= BIBLICAL STORIES/LESSONS

2 MIDRASH TEXTS

 Midrash from Midrash Rabbah

 In his generation: There was a disagreement between Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Nechemiah. Rabbi Yehudah said: In his generation he was considered a righteous man, but if he would have lived in the generation of Moses or in the generation of Samuel then he wouldn't have been considered a righteous man. In the market where the blind cry out, the one-eyed man is called clear-sighted. There is a story of an individual who opened up one barrel of wine and found it had turned into vinegar. The same thing with the second barrel. The third barrel he found to be only sour (and so he took it). The others said to him, "That barrel is sour!" He answered back, "Is there any better?"MosesSamuel

 Rabbi Nehemiah said: If he was considered a righteous man within his own generation, then surely he would have been considered a righteous man had he lived in the generation of Moses and Samuel. This could be compared to a tightly closed flask of expensive perfume placed within a graveyard that still produced a pleasant smell. If it was outside the graveyard it would produce a smell that much better! This could also be compared to a virgin that frequented a marketplace of prostitutes, and she didn't receive a bad name. How much more so if she was among better company!

 Midrash from Midrash Rabbah

Look…my master. Her said to her, “I am afraid. The first man [Adam] violated a minor commandment, which he was commanded and he was banished from the garden of Eden; the one [sin] you want to violate is a major son, sexual immorality, how much more so! Look…my master. “I am afraid of my father in Canaan. Reuben, about whom it is written ‘Reuben went and lay with Bilhah’ (Gn 35:22), had his birthright taken away and given to me. If I listen to you, my birthright will be given away!” Another interpretation. Look…my master. “I am afraid of my master.” She said to him, “I will kill him.” He said to her, “Isn’t it enough that I would be counted in the assembly of adulterers, that I should be in the assembly of murderers? If this is what you what you want, ‘Look…my master.’ Here he is, go to him (that is, go to the one who is permitted to you, your husband).” Rabbi Yitzchak said, “The milk of white goats and the milk of black goats are the same.“