Judaism (I) Torah, Temple, and Talmud Class 06 RELS 1010

JUDAISM – Demographics – Geography – History – Impacts

The Jewish World Today

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)

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

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

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

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”

Resources Judaism: “Daily Chart: Mapping Judaism.” The Economist 25 July 2012. https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetai l/2012/07/daily-chart-16 The Jewish World Today: Carrie Hughes, “A Voyage around the Diaspora.” McCarter Theatre Education Project, 2008. https://www.mccarter.org/Education/mad7/htm l/7.html The Jewish World Yesterday: Map of the divided monarchy, ca. 9th century BCE. Richard Prins, 2010. 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, 1966. Musée Marc Chagall, Nice.