Passover * 2008
T, F 12:30-1:50 Mod I Dr. Susan Marks
PMC 219 smarks@ncf.edu
Office Hours: Monday 2:30-3:30pm PME 221; x 4271
Thursday 11-Noon http://faculty.ncf.edu/marks/
and by appointment
Objectives:
In this module length course we will explore a variety of traditions associated with Passover. In particular we will examine the transmission of ideas, customs, and artifacts. We will trace themes from their appearance in biblical accounts of the Exodus, to the earliest Haggadot and on into modern creative reflections. We will situate the origins of the Seder within the ongoing development of Passover meals. And we will consider copies of the Haggadah as physical books or treasures that travel through time. Finally we will reflect on the intertwining of these various modes of transmission and what they tell students of religion about the nature of living traditions.
Expectations:
Regular attendance is required. In order to facilitate review by both your peers and myself, assignments must be handed in on time. Class participation counts towards your overall evaluation. Your classmates will come to depend on your comments even as you will come to depend on theirs. If you are a person who does not readily talk in public, I encourage you to come see me during my office hours, and we can devise other ways for you to have input into class discussions.
Responsibilities:
1. Academic integrity.
2. Active participation. Since participation depends on regular attendance, more than two absences will be grounds for an unsatisfactory evaluation. Students should arrive on time, with readings in hand, having done relevant readings before class session as well as any informal writing assignments.
3. One paper that explores an aspect of the origins of the Passover seder. This paper will involve drafts and revisions.*
4. Explorations through informal writing assignments.
*An appropriately formatted hard [paper] copy of formal assignments must be handed in on-time, together with all drafts and doodles. You will be evaluated based on the energy of the original exploration as well as the development in the revision process.
Required Texts:
Adin Steinsaltz, The Passover Haggadah. 3rd rev. ed. Jerusalem: Carta, 2002.
Baruch M Bokser, The Origins Of The Seder: The Passover Rite and Early Rabbinic
Judaism. Reprint of 1984 ed.; JTS Press, 2002.
Additional readings will be available and electronic reserve [* = reserve reading]
***Please also check Library Reserve for many additional, related books***
SCHEDULE:
Hand out: Haggadah as Artifact Assignment
Fri Feb 8 Exodus and Midrash /Magid
Read: Exodus chapters 10-13
Deuteronomy 6.20-25; 16.1-12; 26.1-12
Due: Haggadah as Artifact Response
Tues Feb 12 Seder=Order/Kadesh
Read: Bokser, chapters 1-4
Fri Feb 15 Symposium/Ur’chatz*Karpas*Yahatz
Read: *Stein, 13-44
Hauptman, in Judaism 51.1 (2002) 5-18 [search e-journal, then
Bokser, chapters 5-6 EbscoHost]
Tues Feb 19 Refining on Meals/Magid
Read: *Smith, 49-65, 144-50, & notes.
Bokser, chapter 7
Hand out: Origins Assignment
Tues Feb 26 Polemical Co-emergence/Magid
Read: *Yuval, “Easter & Passover,” 98-124
*Boyarin, 1-21
Fri Feb 29 Origins/Magid
Read: *Kulp, 109-134
Tues Mar 4 Further Developments/Magid
Read: *Hoffman, “Passover Meal,” 8-26
*Hoffman, “Symbols,” 109-131
Fri Mar 7 Haggadah/ Rahtzah*Motzi Matzah
Read: *Yuval, “Passover in the Middle Ages,” 127-160
*Balin, 189-213
Tues Mar 11 Due: Draft of Origins Paper **PROMPTLY AT 12:30
[Two copies of paper w/ WRF due - Exchange with peers]
Field Trip:
˝ Group 12:40pm Tues Mar 11 (Back by 3pm)
˝ Group 12:40pm Wed Mar 12 (Back by 3pm)
Fri Mar 14 Peer Review/Maror*Korekh*Shulchan Orekh
Read: Two papers from peers
Due: PRF for each paper
WEEK 7
Tues Mar 18 The Haggadah/Tzafun*Barekh
Read: *Brooks, People of the Book, 1-24
Brooks, “The Book of Exodus: A double rescue in Sarajevo” in
the New Yorker, Dec 3, 1007; vol. 83, no. 38, start page 74
[search e-journal, then EbscoHost]
Fri Mar 21: Beginnings and Endings/Hallel*Nirtzah
Bring: Other Haggadot
Discuss: Origins
Due: Origins Paper