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 course will offer an introduction to the ideas and a guide to the reading of the main work of the Kabbalist of Spanish Origin, but born in Safed (Tzfat), Eliyahu de Vedas (16th century). 

After a general introduction on Medieval Kabbalah, we will read selected passages from the ethical-Kabbalistical work bearing the title Reshit Chokhmah (Beginning of Wisdom). We will also consider, as a concrete example of the fortune of this work, the compendium entitled Tappuche Zahav (Golden Apples) by the Italian Kabbalist Yechiel Melli, published for the first time in Mantua in 1623.

At the centre of the reading and of the seminarial discussion will be the integration of passages from the Zohar within an ethical work.

Readings/Bibliography

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

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

- G. Scholem, La figura mistica della divinità, Adelphi, Milano 2011. 

- Eliyahu ben Mosheh de Vidas, Reshit Chokhmah, 3 voll., Jerusalem 2020. 

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 with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible ( https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

 

Exams sessions

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months:

Juanuary

March

May

July

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