READINGS IN JEWISH LITERATURE

As an onset of an ongoing investigation into the history and development of Jewish literature, we will focus on its very beginnings, as culturally understood – the Book of Genesis – and read it in light of millennia of Jewish literary commentary as lenses through which to examine currents, traditions, and trajectories of Jewish literary interpretation and history. By focusing on several distinct episodes and then tracking those episodes’ reception in the light of differing moments of interpretation, we will try to gain a sense of this seminal work’s changing role in Jewish history and culture. Familiarity with Biblical and rabbinic Hebrew not absolutely required, but strongly recommended.