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Bibliography | The Object of Jewish Literature Book Information

Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

With Dr. Barbara Mann, Chana Kekst Professor of Jewish Literature

This session is generously sponsored by Yale Asbell, 91�첥 Trustee

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

With Dr. Alan Cooper, Elaine Ravich Professor of Jewish Studies, 91�첥

Biblical storytellers are notorious for withholding crucial information about characters’ backgrounds, thoughts, feelings, and motivations. The story of Eve in Genesis is an extraordinary case in point. There are yawning gaps in the narrative, and the diverse ways that readers fill those gaps engender remarkably divergent interpretations. What do we learn about biblical storytelling when we confront a text that can be interpreted in diametrically opposite ways? And what do we learn about ourselves from the interpretive decisions that we make? 

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ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

With Dr. David Kraemer, Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics 

If stories express and transmit values and identities, contested values or identities will find expression in complex, challenging stories. This is certainly true of Philip Roth’s Operation Shylock, which gives expression to discomforts in Diaspora identities vis-à-vis Israel during the first intifada—and beyond. Join David Kraemer in exploring Roth’s recounting of the conflicts of this time, as Jews asked questions that are as pertinent today as they were then. 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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�¾��ٳ���Dr. Beverly Bailis, Adjunct Associate Professor of Jewish Literature����

Dr. Bailis discusses protest literature written by different generations of Mizrahi writers and examine how these literary works give voice to these writers’ experience in Israeli society, from the Great Immigration in the 1950s to today. In particular, considering how the stories these writers tell engage with the past and traditional Jewish texts, while also looking transnationally to the stories of other cultures and communities, including Palestinians and African Americans, to articulate the complexity of Mizrahi identity in the current historical moment. Writers under discussion will include Ronny Someck, Almog Behar, and Adi Keissar.��

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

�¾��ٳ���Dr. Benjamin Levy, Adjunct Assistant Professor

The rabbis of late antiquity did not write books of theology or political treatises. Rather, they composed stories that would draw the heart and guide the mind to communicate those ideas and practices they deemed essential to Jewish continuity and growth after the destruction of the Second Temple. To accomplish this the sages often redesigned existing literature from the surrounding culture. In “Alexander, was he great?” Ben Levy explores the ways that the rabbis of late antiquity lampooned stories of Alexander appearing in the popular Greek Alexander Romance, a collection of legends praising Alexander’s fabulous deeds and travels, to criticize Roman imperialism and creatively resist their rule. As conceptions of the Other are frequently employed to formulate the self, Dr. Levy illustrates the rabbis’ use of these narratives to establish and define a Jewish identity that stands in distinction to the morals and behaviors of Rome.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

With Dr. Judith Hauptman, E. Billi Ivry Professor Emerita of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture 

By reading six very short stories in the Babylonian Talmud, we discover that not just rabbinic pronouncements established Jewish law, but so did reports of rabbinic performance of the law. We will see Rabbis complying with, and sometime rebelling against, earlier stated rules. As we read these texts, we will tease out details of everyday life and relations between the sexes. Whether these anecdotes actually took place or not makes no difference. They are an invaluable source for understanding how the Rabbis viewed and modified transmitted traditions.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

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Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

Dr. Raymond Scheindlin, Professor Emeritus of Medieval Hebrew Literature  

Joseph, the protagonist of this proto-novel, at the urging of a mysterious companion, undertakes a journey that takes him to the land of the demons. We will read and discuss some of the stories that the travelers tell each other along the way and will attempt to unravel who the mysterious companion actually is. 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu

Download Sources

The Sacrifice of Isaac is a paradigmatic episode in Jewish philosophy, ethics, and interpretation. But new ideas in modern and postmodern philosophy call us to re-read this narrative, and change the ways we have often read the story. We will re-tell this story according to an “old-new” method, amalgamating historical and emblematic ways of viewing the story, but also bringing new ideas to the fore, especially around the ideas of passion and holiness in Jewish thought. Dr. Miriam Feldman Kaye proposes important suggestions for reading the Sacrifice of Isaac in our contemporary world.

Part of the series, “Stories and Storytelling”

With Dr. Miriam Feldmann Kaye, Adjunct Associate Professor 

ABOUT THE SERIES

Join 91�첥 scholars to explore a selection of stories drawn from across ancient, rabbinic, medieval, and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories, the unique ways in which they transmit values, norms, culture, and information, and how they can bring Jews together across time and space.  

SPONSOR A SESSION

At 91�첥, we are committed to providing the Jewish community with outstanding classes in Judaic studies. We hope you will partner with us so that we can continue to do so. Did you know that you can sponsor a learning session to honor a loved one, celebrate an occasion, or commemorate a yahrzeit? You can find sponsorship information . Questions? Contact learninglives@jtsa.edu