This course focuses on rabbinic midrash, the ancient rabbis’
creative interpretation ofthe sacred biblical text. The Rabbi Ben
Azzai described the activity of interpretingthe Bible in nothing
less than supernatural terms: “'I was linking up the words of
theTorah with one another and then with the words of the prophets,
and the prophets with the writings, and fire flashed all around
me.”
This course will examine how the early rabbis shaped a renewed
revelation, a new Torah, through sensitive and meticulous attention
to the letters, words, and literary details of the biblical text. We
will closely analyze several midrashic interpretations of biblical
narratives as well as legal passages, and we will read them
alongside the biblical texts themselves in order to gain a thorough
understanding of rabbinic hermeneutics and an appreciation of the
Rabbis’ ability to discover new truths in ancient words.
Requirements: Six 1-page response papers; four secondary-literature
reviews; one oral presentation; one 10-12-page final paper.