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 Spanish Kabbalist, based in the Ottoman Empire, Meir Ibn Gabbay (15th-16th century). 

After a general introduction on Medieval Kabbalah, the chapter, bearing the tile Sod ha-Shabbat (Secret of the Sabbath), part of the treatise Tola'at Ya'aqov by Meir Ibn Gabbay will be read and commented. In the focus of the chapter and of the seminarial discussion will be the Kabbalistic interpretation of the rites of the Sabbath. 

Readings/Bibliography

- M. Ibn Gabbay, Sefer Tola'at Ya 'aqov. Sefer Serek Emunah, David Shalom Shar'abi, Jerusalem 2022.

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

- E. K. Ginsburg, The Sabbath in the Classical Kabbalah, The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, Oxford 2008.

- E. K. Ginsburg, Sod ha-Shabbat. The Mystery of the Sabbath, State University of New York Press, New York 1989.

- R. Goetschel, Meir Ibn Gabbay. Le discours de la Kabbale espagnole, Peeters, Louvain 1981.

Teaching methods

traditional lecture / seminarial

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

oral exam.

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 with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special accommodations according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the teacher but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adaptations. For more information, visit the page:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

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