Ithaca College Spring Semester 2002

Jewish Mysticism Jewish Studies 340-333, Religion 344-333 Tu/Th 10:50-12:05 Chapel, Phillips Room Tu/Th 2:35-3:50 CNS 118 Professor Rebecca Lesses Office: Gannett G122 Phone: 274-3556 E-mail: rlesses@ithaca.edu Office Hours: Mon./Wed., 2:00-3:00; Tu./Th., 4:00-5:00.

This course traces the history of Jewish mysticism from its beginnings to the present day. After a brief overview of early Jewish mysticism from the biblical and rabbinic periods, we will concentrate on the medieval flowering of Kabbalah, and its further developments in Safed, Israel and Eastern European Hasidism. The emphasis will be on understanding both the theoretical and experiential aspects of Jewish mysticism, and on examining some of its key texts.

Daniel Matt, Zohar: The Book of Enlightenment
Lawrence Fine, ed., Safed Spirituality
Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
Joseph Dan, ed., The Early Kabbalah
David R. Blumenthal, ed., Understanding Jewish Mysticism: The Merkabah Tradition and the Zoharic Tradition.
David Meltzer, ed., The Secret Garden: An Anthology in the Kabbalah.

1. Participation (10%). Attendance, active participation in class discussions, and occasional very short quizzes.

2. Weekly chevruta study (10%).

Chevruta (fellowship) is the rabbinic method of studying a text: reading a text together with another person, so that you can discuss your own questions about the text and spark each other’s ideas. It stems from the idea that learning is acquired best through the active interaction between self, fellow, and text. Your chevruta partner may have different questions than you do, or different answers. Each student will choose or be assigned a small group that will meet weekly, outside of class, to discuss the assigned reading. I will hand out questions each week to foster discussion in the chevruta groups.

Once a week each group is required to submit questions/comments (at least one page) which will be addressed in class. The questions should be submitted to me via e-mail by Monday at noon (for Tuesday’s class) or Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. (for Thursday’s class).

3. Each group will also do one oral presentation, of fifteen to twenty minutes, in the course of the semester (10%)

4. Two textual analysis papers, chosen from a list of topics, with varying due dates (4-5 pages each) (15% each). At least one must be written before spring break (starts March 11), the other may be written after it.

What is mysticism? — due Jan. 31

Merkabah mysticism — due March 8

Sefer Yezirah — due March 8

the Bahir — due March 22

the Zohar — due Apr. 2

Safed mysticism — due Apr. 11

Hasidism — due Apr. 25

6. Midterm examination — Thursday, March 7 (10%). This exam will test you on basic terms in Jewish mysticism.

5. Research paper/project (8-10 pages) (30%)

A one-page proposal for the paper/project is due March 26 (5%).

1. No plagiarism on papers or cheating on examinations. ALL WRITTEN WORK MUST BE YOUR OWN. Please consult pages 116-118 of the Student Handbook for a complete statement of the Ithaca College policy on plagiarism, including definitions of plagiarism and proper citation of sources.

2. Attendance in class is required. In order not to be penalized for missing class because of illness or family emergency, you must notify me and provide a written excuse: either a note from the health center or your doctor, or an official notice from Kathy Lucas’s office (274-1375) (H&S; if you are not an H&S student, from the appropriate office in your school).

3. All written work must be done to pass the class. This includes the midterm exam and papers.

4. Students with learning disabilities: please approach me early in the semester and let me know your needs in terms of papers or exams. Also, please have the Office for Support Services send me a letter with your specific needs.

Topic 1: Introduction (Jan. 22-31)

Tuesday, January 22: Introduction to class
handout: Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6, definitions of mysticism
basic information on Judaism (time-line, basic religious concepts)
read: Eugene R. Borowitz: "Judaism: An Overview" in The Encyclopedia of Religion (available in the library: Reference BL31 .E46 1986)

Thurs., Jan. 24: What is mysticism?
read: *William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, chapters 16 and 17 (on mysticism)
*David Ariel, The Mystic Quest: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism (New York: Schocken, 1988), pp. 1-15.

Tues., Jan. 29: What is Jewish mysticism?
read: Gershom Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, pp. 1-39.
*Ariel, The Mystic Quest, pp. 17-37

Thurs., Jan. 31: Mysticism in the Bible; introduction to Gnosticism
read: *2 Kings 8 (Solomon’s dedication of the Temple), Ezekiel 1, Isaiah 6, Zechariah; 1 Enoch 14
Further Reading
Jon D. Levenson, "The Jerusalem Temple in Devotional Visionary Experience," in Arthur Green, ed., Jewish Spirituality I (New York: Crossroad, 1986), pp. 32-61.

Topic 2: Gnosticism (Feb. 5-7)
read: *Gen. 1-3 (creation of the world), Proverbs 8-9 (the figure of Wisdom)
*Hypostasis of the Archons
*Hymn of the Pearl and hymn of the maiden of light in the Acts of Thomas

Topic 3: Merkabah Mysticism (Feb. 12-14)
Tues., Feb. 12: Rabbinic Mysticism?
read: Scholem, Major Trends, ch. 2
*Louis Jacobs, The Schocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies (New York: Schocken, 1978), pp. 21-25

Thurs., Feb. 14: Hekhalot literature
read: *Hekhalot Rabbati, sections 198-251 (my translation), or David Blumenthal Understanding Jewish Mysticism: The Merkabah Tradition and the Zoharic Tradition, pp. 53-97.

Topic 4: Sefer Yezirah (Feb. 19-21)
read: Blumenthal, Understanding Jewish Mysticism, "The Secrets of Creation," pp. 9-46.
Background reading
Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), pp. 24-35.
Scholem, Kabbalah (New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co., 1974), pp. 21-30.

Tues., Feb. 26- Thurs., Feb. 28: Sefer ha-Bahir
read: David Meltzer, The Secret Garden: An Anthology in the Kabbalah, pp. 49-96; Joseph Dan, The Early Kabbalah, pp. 7-14, 28-31, 59-69.
Background reading
Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, pp. 35-198.

Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 30-35, 42-61, 312-316.

Tues., March 5: Introduction to the Zohar
read: Scholem, Major Trends, pp. 205-243.
Daniel Matt, Zohar, pp. 2-45, 121-126.
Background reading

Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 213-243, 432-434, 443-448.

Thurs., Mar. 7: Midterm examination

Tues., Mar. 19: Creation
read: Matt, Zohar, pp. 49-53, 147.

Thurs., Mar. 21: Male and Female
read: Matt, Zohar, pp. 55-56, 65-68, 99-101, 105-106, 117-118, 153-162.
*Ariel, The Mystic Quest, pp. 89-104

Tues., Mar. 26: Evil
read: Dan, pp. 31-37, 165-182 ("Treatise on the Left Emanation")
Matt, Zohar, pp. 54, 60-64, 69-74, 75-79, 84-90, 133-141.
Background reading
Joseph Dan, "Samael, Lilith, and the concept of Evil in Early Kabbalah," in Lawrence Fine, Essential Papers on Kabbalah, pp. 154-178.

Thurs., Mar. 28: no class, Passover

Tues., April 2: The Zohar on religious practice
read: Matt, Zohar, pp. 127-132, 148-152
*Isaiah Tishby, The Wisdom of the Zohar vol. 3, pp. 1037-1039, 1314-19.
recommended reading: *Ariel, The Mystic Quest, pp. 139-162.
* Mark Verman, The History and Varieties of Jewish Meditation (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1996), pp. 151-160 ("An Ancient Meditation").
Background reading

Elliot Ginsburg, "Kabbalistic Rituals of Sabbath Preparation," in Lawrence Fine, Essential Papers in Kabbalah, pp. 400-437.

*Film showing of "Bar Yohai" by the maker, Prof. Robert Ascher of Cornell University — a five-minute film on the pilgrimage to Meron, near Safed, Israel* -- exact date TBA

Thurs., Apr. 4: Lurianic myth
read: Scholem, Major Trends, pp. 244-286
Meltzer, pp. 171-209
Further Reading:
Scholem, Kabbalah, pp. 67-79, 128-144, 420-428.
R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, "The Safed Revival and its Aftermath," in Arthur Green, ed., Jewish Spirituality II (New York: Crossroad, 1989), pp. 7-33.

Tues., Apr. 9 Safed practices
read: Fine, pp. 1-80
*Ariel, The Mystic Quest, pp. 104-109.
Further Reading:
*Scholem, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism (New York: Schocken, 1969), pp. 109-117, 137-146
Lawrence Fine, "The Contemplative Practice of Yihudim in Lurianic Kabbalah," in Green, Jewish Spirituality II, pp. 64-98
Louis Jacobs, "The Uplifting of Sparks in Later Jewish Mysticism," in Green, Jewish Spirituality II, pp. 99-126.

Thurs., Apr. 11: Women and Kabbalah
read: *Chava Weissler, "Woman as High Priest: A Kabbalistic Prayer in Yiddish for lighting Sabbath Candles, " in Lawrence Fine, Essential Papers in Kabbalah, pp. 525-546.
Background reading:
Chava Weissler, "Traditional Piety of Ashkenazic Women," in Green, Jewish Spirituality II, pp. 245-275.
Chava Weissler, Voices of the Matriarchs (Boston: Beacon, 1998).

Tues., Apr. 16: Introduction: The Ba’al Shem Tov
read: *Ariel, The Mystic Quest, pp. 163-165, 173-183.
Scholem, Major Trends, pp. 325-350.

*Jacobs, pp. 148-155.

Thurs., Apr. 18: Hasidic thought

read: *Louis Jacobs, Hasidic Thought, pp. 1-11, 29-35, 57-81, 170-173.
Further Reading
Rivka Schatz-Uffenheimer, "The concept of ‘Annihilation’ (’Ayin) and the extinction of human will," in Hasidism as Mysticism (Jerusalem: Magnes; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 67-79.

Tues., Apr. 23: Hasidic prayer
read: *Louis Jacobs, Hasidic Prayer, pp. 17-35, 54-81.

listening in class: Hasidic nigunim
Further Reading
Schatz-Uffenheimer, Hasidism as Mysticism, "Contemplative Prayer," pp. 168-188.
Gershom Scholem, "Devekut, or Communion with God," in The Messianic Idea in Judaism and other essays on Jewish spirituality (New York: Schocken, 1971), pp. 203-226.

Thurs., Apr. 25: Hasidic tales
read: *Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav, "The Master of Prayer," in Arthur Band, ed., Nahman of Bratslav, The Tales (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), pp. 213-250.

Tues., Apr. 30: The Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapiro
read: *Nehemia Polen, The Holy Fire: The Teachings of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, The Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1994), pp. xv-14, 106-156.

Thurs., May 2: Evaluation and conclusions

This page maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised December 15, 2002