Introduction to Midrash

Catalog description

This course focuses on assisting students in developing the skills and confidence needed to read midrashic works in their original form. It examines the language and organic logic of midrash through a survey of selections from various aggadic and halakhic midrashim. RAB 150 Pirke Avot Ethics of the Fathers, an ancient, yet modern text as relevant today as it was nearly 1,800 years ago. The sage advice contained therein is as valuable a guide today as it was at the time it was written. These Mishnayot have been on the best seller list for millennia studied in depth by young and old, students and rabbis, intellectuals and the curious. Its wisdom regarding human nature and its pithy sayings memorized by countless generations are revered by Jews and learned non-Jews and still pondered between Pesach and Shavuot every year. (2 credits)