90199 - Jewish Language and Culture 2B

Learning outcomes

This module, presupposing the first three (Hebrew language and Jewish culture; Hebrew language and Jewish culture 2A), wil have a rather monographic and seminarial structure, offering each year the opportunity, beside a general introduction to Hebrew Medieval literature, to deepen the study of to deepen the study of samples from a specific literary genre, chosen among five great thematic areas: Rabbinic literature (Halakah); exegesis (Rashi, Ramban, Qimchi); philosophy (Ibn Gabirol; Yehudah ha-Levi; Maimonides [in translation]; Levi ben Gershom, Chasday Crescas); Kabbalah (the Bahir; Isaac the Blind; Azriel of Gerona; Moshe de Leon etc. to the XVI century); ethical and literary texts. In the end, the students will have aquired the linguistic and historico-literary skills that are required to translate and discuss a significant anthology of one of these great areas, being equipped moreover with the necessary background information in order to understand Jewish cultural creativity in the appropriate context from late antiquity to the threshold of modernity.

Course contents

The curse will offer an introduction to the ideas and a guide to the reading of the work of the Catalan Kabbalist 'Ezra of Gerona (12th-13th century). 

After a general introduction on Medieval Kabbalah, with a special focus on the interpretation of the Canticle of Canticles, the Commentary on the Canticle by Ezra of Gerona  will be read and commented. At the centre of the reading and of the seminarial discussion will be the Kabbalistic interpretation of the nuptial imagery of the Canticle. 

Readings/Bibliography

- G. Scholem, Le grandi correnti della mistica ebraica, Einaudi, Torino 2008.

- G. Scholem, Le origini della Kabbalà, EDB, Bologna 2013.

- S. Brody (ed.), Ezra of Gerona, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Other Kabbalistic Commentaries, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo 1999.

- G. Vajda, Le commentaire d'Ezra de Gérone sur le Cantique des Cantiques, Aubier Montaigne, Paris 1969.

- H. D. Chavel (ed), Kitve Ramban, Mossad ha-Rav Kook, Jerusalem 1964 (any reprint).

Teaching methods

traditional lecture / seminarial

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending. Non-attending students are invited to contact the instructor in order to agree a personalized program for the examination. 

Oral exam. The candidates will be asked to read, translate and comment one or more passages from the texts discussed during the course and will be asked questions concerning the texts and their interpretation. 

The exam candidates will receive a note falling into one of four assessment ranges: 1) excellent (28-30 cum laude); 2) good (24-27); 3) sufficient (18-23); insufficient (fail), according to their capacity to express themselves, to articulate their knowledge and to answer appropriately to the questions of the instructor.

 

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

 

Exams sessions

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months:

Juanuary

March

May

August

October

December

Teaching tools

The lecturer will distribute during the lecture and on the virtual page of the course additional materials supporting the learning process and the discussion.

Office hours

See the website of Saverio Campanini