Kursinformation

The Talmud, regarded as the Oral Torah, is the fundamental text of Rabbinic Judaism. Alongside “Halakha” (Jewish Law) the Talmud contains Jewish tales, fabels and mysterious stories, known as the “Aggadah” literature. These Stories will be at the focus of our seminar. The seminar offers a first encounter with a selection of the most mysterious stories that Rabbinic literature has to offer (in translation), stories of profound theological consequences, about love and moral, about confronting demons or travels through phantastic worlds. During the semester, we will be reading tales of jewish Aggadah in class using the method of Hevruta and thinking about them both in historical and in contemporary terms.