Syllabus - Jewish and Christian Time: Perennial Historical Messianic (13848)

Course/Module Content:
זמן יהודי וזמן נוצרי: הקלנדרי, ההיסטורי, המשיחי
Jewish and Christian Time: Perennial, Historical, Messianic
Seminar No. 13848 at the Hebrew University 2015/6
Prof. Israel J. Yuval

Syllabus

The relationship between Judaism and Christianity, their concepts of time and symbols, all are inscribed in and prescribed through their liturgy. The lion’s share of these liturgies has been shaped in the long period from the origins of Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism to the Middle Ages. We are going to survey various modes of Jewish-Christian interaction in this continuous liturgical discourse, in particular the cycle of liturgical time/year: Purim, Passover-Easter; Shavuot-Pentecost; The Ninth of Av; New Year; Yom Kippur; Encaenia; Sukkot-Hanukkah; Hanukkah-Christmas-Sol Invictus; Sabbath-Sunday.

Requirements
1. Students are expected to attend class regularly and actively (25%)
2. Presentation of beginning of research project in class (10%)
3. Research paper of about 20 pages long on a topic chosen by the student with the teacher’s approval (50%)

Schedule

Introduction
The cycle of time and its meaning, The Jewish and the Christian calendars, Comparisons and parallels between Judaism and Christianity: Parallelophobia or Parallelomania?

Readings:
1. Mircea Eliade, The Myth of the Eternal Return, Paris 1969
2. Jonathan Z. Smith, 1990. “On Comparison” in idem: Drudgery Divine. (London, Chicago: SOAS and University of Chicago Press), pp. 36-53
3. Paul Bradshaw, “Parallels between early Jewish and Christian Prayers; Some Methodological issues”, Identität durch Gebet (2003), pp. 21-36

4. Biblical Festivals: Shimon Gesundheit, Three Times a Year. Studies on Festival Legislation in the Pentateuch, Tübingen 2012
5. The Calendar of Qumran: איל רגב, הצדוקים והלכתם. על דת וחברה בימי בית שני, פרק שני: השבת ולוח השנה; יונתן בן דב, "השנה בת 364 יום בקומראן ובספרות החיצונית", בתוך: מגילות קומראן. מבואות ומחקרים, עורך מנחם קיסטר, כרך ב, ירושלים 2009, 476-435
6. Jewish and Christian Calendars in late Antiquity: Sacha Stern, Calendars in Antiquity, 2012
7. Jewish Festivals after the Destruction of the Temple: יוסף תבורי, מועדי ישראל בתקופת המשנה והתלמוד, ירושלים תשנ"ה; הנ"ל, פסח דורות, ירושלים תשנ"ה;
8. Christian and Jewish Calendars in the Middle Ages: Elisheva Baumgarten, "Shared and Contested Time: Jews and Christian Ritual Calendar in the late Thirteenth Century", Viator 46 (2015), 253-276
9. The Gregorian Reform; Jewish Calendars in Early Modern Europe: Elisheva Carlebach, Places of Times: Jewish calendar and Culture in Early Modern Europe, London 2011

Hanukkah, Christmas, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, and Kalends

Sources:
1 Macc 4; 2 Macc 1-2; 2 MAcc 10; B Talmud Shabbath 21b; B Talmud Avodah Zarah 8a; Pesikta Rabbati, 3 (Translation: Braude, p. 58), 8 (p. 148-9)

Readings:
1. Leo Baeck, “Haggadah and Christian Doctrine”, Hebrew Union College Annual, 23 (1950), pp. 549-560
2. Andrew Gowan, “How December 25 Became Christmas”, Bible Review, December 2002, pp. 46-58
3. Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, “Sacrifice, Fires, and the Victory of the Sun: A Search for the Origin of Hanukka”, The Psychoanalytic Review, 63 (1976), pp. 497-509
4. Marc Shapiro, “Torah Study on Christmas Eve”, Journal of Jewish Thought & Philosophy, 8/1 (1999), pp. 319-350
5. Sid Z. Leiman, “The Scroll of Fasts: The Ninth of Reberh”, JQR, 74 (1983), pp. 174-195

Purim, Carnival, Lent
A period of fast and a period of joy; The Hanging of Haman and the cruxifiction of Jesus

Sources:
Esther’s Scroll; Mishnah Megillah ch. 1, 1-2; ch. 3, 4-6; Pesikta Rabbati (translated by W.G. Braude), ch. 12; Codex Theodosianus 16:8:18 (A. Linder, The Jews in the Roman Imperial Legislation, Detroit 1987, No. 36, pp. 236-37); Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 7:16; P. Goodman, The Purim Anthology, Philadelphia 1949

Readings:
1. T. C. G. Thornton, "The Crucifixion of Haman and the Scandal of the Cross," Journal of Theological Studies 37 (1986) 420-429
2. Elliott Horowitz, Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence, Princeton 2006, pp. 81-146
3. Katrin Kogman-Appel, “The Tree of Death and the Tree of Life: The Hanging of Haman in Medieval Jewish Manuscript Painting” in: C. Hourihane (Ed.), Between the Image and the Word, Penn State University Press, 2005, pp. 187-208
Pessach and Easter
The Great Shabbath and the Great Week, From Aqedat Yitzhak to Pessach Sacrifice and Agnus Dei, The Christian Narrative of Easter and the Jewish Narrative of Pessach, The Afikoman and the Host, Bi’ur Chametz and Harosset

Sources:
Exodus 12; Exodus 23:14-17; Leviticus 23:1-44; Deut. 16:1-17; Genesis 21-22; Exodus 12; I Chronicles 21; Matthew 21-28; Mark 14; Melito of Sardis, On Pascha, Texts and Translations by S.G. Hall, Oxford 1979, pp. 3-61, 75-77; Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (translated by J.Z. Lauterbach), Pisha 7; Mishna Pessahim, ch. 10; The Passover Haggadah; Epistula Apostolorum, in: J.K. Elliot, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1993, pp. 565-66; Pesikta Rabbati (translated by W.G. Braude), ch. 17; Pesikta de-Rav Kahana (translated by G.Z. Braude), pp. 120-21, 151; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 48

Readings:
1. B. Bokser, The Origins of the Seder, New York 1984
2. Idem, ”Ritualizing the Seder”, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 56 (1988), pp. 443-471
3. T.J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, New York 1986, pp. 1-37
4. E. Werner, “Melito of Sardis, the First Poet of Deicide”, Hebrew Union College Annual, 37 (1966), pp. 191-210
5. S.G. Hall, “Melito in the Light of the Passover Haggadah”, Journal of Theological Studies, 22 (1971), pp. 29-46
6. J.D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity, New Haven 1993, pp. 173-232
7. S. Spiegel, The Last Trial, New York 1967
8. P.D. Davies, “Passover and the Dating of the Akedah”, Journal of Jewish Studies, 30 (1979), pp. 59-67
9. L.A. Hoffman, “The Jewish Lectionary, the Great Sabbath, and the Lenten Calender”, Time and Community in Honor of Thomas Julian Talley, ed. by J. Neil Alexander, Washington 1992, pp. 3-20

Shavuot and Pentecost
The Giving of the Tora and the Descent of the Holy Spirit

Sources:
Exodus 19-20; Jubilees 6, 15-22; Acts 2; Sifre, Deut. (transl. as above), No. 343; Seder Olam Raba, ch. 6; Shnei Luhot ha-Brit, Tractatus Shavuoth: “Shavuoth Epistle” (transl. by H.L. Grodon, The Maggid of Caro, New York 1949, pp. 105-111)

Readings:
1. Philipp Goodman, The Shavuot Anthology, Philadelphia 1974
2. Gerard Rouwhorst, “The Origins and Evolution of Early Christian Pentecost”, In M. Wiles & E. Yarnold (Eds.) Studia Patristica (pp. 309-322
3. R.J.Z. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo. Lawer and Mystic, Philadelphia 1977, pp. 19-21, 84-121

The Destruction of Jerusalem in Christian and Jewish Eyes
The Hurban Legends of the Talmud; The Vindicta Salvatoris Legend; Visual representations in European painting

Sources:
The hurban legends in B. Talmud Gittin 55b-57a; Vindicta salvatoris: M.R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1924, pp. 159-61; Origen, Contra Celsum (translated by H. Chadwick, Cambridge 1953), IV, 22; Wilhelm von Kaulbach (painter), The Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus (1846)

Readings:
1. Robert Goldenberg, “Early Explanations of the Destruction of Jerusalem”, Journal of Jewish Studies, 33 (1982), pp. 517-525
2. S.K. Wright, The Vengeance of Our Lord: Medieval Dramatizations of the Destruction of Jerusalem, Toronto 1989, pp. 1-32
3. Amnon Linder, “The Destruction of Jerusalem Sunday”, Sacris Erudiri, 30 (1987/88), pp. 253-292

Rosh ha-Shanah and the Last Judgement
From Sanctity to Sacrifice; The Memorization of the Martyrs

Sources:
The Story of R. Amnon of Mainz: Or Zarua, I, Rosh ha-Shana, 272 (transl. by P. Goodman, The Rosh Hashana Anthology, Philadelphia 1973, pp. 246-48)

Readings:
1. Ivan Marcus, “A Pious Community and Doubt: Qiddush ha-Shem in Ashkenaz and the Story of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz”, Studien zur jüdischen Geschichte und Soziologie. Festschrift Julius Carlebach, Heidelberg 1992, pp. 97-113

Yom Kippur and the Concept of Atonement
High Priest and Scapegoat in Jewish and Christian mythology and legends;
Christian Counter Festivals to Yom Kippur: Ember Days; Encaenia

Sources:
Mahzor Leyamim Nora’im: Yom Kippur, Daniel Goldschmidt (Ed.), Jerusalem 1970, pp. 186-87, 196-97; Mishnah Yoma 8; Acts 27 :1-12; Origen; Chrysostom; Leo the Great; Egeria; Leviticus 16; 1Enoch 10.14; 11QMelchizedek; Mishnah Yoma 6; Matthew 27:15-23; Hebrews 2:14-18; 7; 9; Barnabas 7

Readings:
1. Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, “Yom Kippur in the Apocalyptic Imaginaire and the Roots of Jesus’ High Priesthood: Yom Kippur in Zechariah 3, 1 Enoch 10, 11QMelkizedeq, Hebrews and the Apocalypse of Abraham 13,” in: Jan Assmann and Guy G. Stroumsa (eds.), Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions (Studies in the History of Religions [Numen Book Series] 83; Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, 1999), pp. 349-366
2. Michael Swartz, “Ritual about Myth about Ritual: Towards an Understanding of the Avodah in the Rabbinic Period.” Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 6 (1997) 135–155
3. M.A. Fraser, “Constantine and the Encaenia”, Studia Patristica, 29 (1997), pp. 25-28
4. Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra, “Whose Fast Is It? The Ember Day of September and Yom Kippur” in: Adam H. Becker und Annette Reed (Eds.), The Ways that Never Parted: Jews and Christians in Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 95; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), pp. 225-248

From Sukkot to Hanukkah
The dedication of the First Temple and the three dedications of the Second Temples; How Sukkot became Hanukkah

Sources:
2 Chronicles 7; Hagai 2; Megilat Ta’anit: 25th Kislev

Readings:
1. Joshua Schwartz, “The Encaenia of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Temple of Solomon and the Jews”, Theologische Zeitschrift, 43 (1987), pp. 265-281

Sabbath and Sunday
Readings:
1. D.A. Carson (Ed.), From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1982
2. Gerard Rouwhorst, “The Reception of the Jewish Sabbath in Early Christianity”, in: P. Post, G. Rouwhorst, L. Tongeren & A. Scheer (Eds.), Christian Feast and Festival: The Dynamics of Western Liturgy and Culture, Peters, Leuven-Paris-Sterling, Virginia 2001, pp. 223-266