![[Fuchsberg Logo.png|200]] # Guidelines for Independent Study **For Jewish Thought Comprehensive - Tuvia Rabbinical Program at the Seminario Rabbinico / Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem** ## Overview Faculty: Dr. Shaiya Rothberg: [email protected] / 054-642-0006 Study for the Jewish Thought Comprehensive Exam for the Rabbinical Program will follow the course ***Maḥshevet Yisrael*: Constructing a Jewish Theology** offered at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem this year ([[Jewish Thought|Link to Coursebook]]) in addition to independent study and one-on-one meetings during the course of the year. We are still working out exactly what the independent study needs to cover in order to prepare students from the comprehensive exam which will be administered by the Seminario Rabbinico. We will figure this out together with the participating students and with the Seminario. Below you will find information on the Jewish Thought Comprehensive Exam. The CY Jewish Thought Course is designed to cover some of this material (the rest will be covered through the independent study). ## Seminario's Overview of *Bekiut Mahshevet Yisrael* MACHSHEVET ISRAEL (Jewish Thought): Temporality and Commitment Objective: The candidate must master the chronology of Jewish thought and the traceability of its major themes, culminating in a modern interpretation that sustains their rabbinic mission. 1. Temporality and Thematic Traceability The student must demonstrate the ability to historically locate and conceptually connect the following milestones: ● Biblical and Hellenistic Thought: The concept of the Covenant (Brit) and the encounter with Greek philosophy (Philo). ● Rabbinic and Medieval Thought: The theology of the Sages, Maimonidean rationalism (faith vs. reason), and the mysticism of Judah Halevi (Kuzari). ● Modernity and Emancipation: Responses to the Enlightenment (Mendelssohn), the emergence of modern denominations, and the Wissenschaft des Judentums. ● Thematic Traceability: The candidate must be able to track a specific theme (e.g., suffering, the nature of God, or the mission of Israel) through these distinct eras. 2. Heschelian Hashkafa: Modernity as a Response The core of this Bekiyut is the mastery of Abraham J. Heschel’s thought: ● Prophetic Theology: Understanding "apathy" as the ultimate sin and "radical amazement" as the foundation of faith. ● God in Search of Man: The concept of a God who "needs" the human being to complete the work of creation. ● The Architecture of Time: The concept of Shabbat and the sanctification of existence. 3. The Interpretation of Marshall T. Meyer As a pillar of the Seminary, the candidate must integrate the reading of Heschel that Marshall T. Meyer established in the Latin American context: ● The Rabbi as Social Prophet: Applying Heschel’s thought to the struggle for Human Rights and social justice. ● Theology in Action: How Meyer’s "re-reading" transformed textual study into an active ethical commitment toward political and social reality. Standards for the Beit Din ● Chronological Defense: The candidate will present the evolution of a theological theme from the Middle Ages to modernity. ● Comparative Analysis: Contrasting a classical thinker (e.g., Maimonides) with Heschel’s existential proposal regarding a specific theological concept. ● Hermeneutics of Leadership: Explaining how the synthesis of Heschel and Meyer guides their own vision of the contemporary rabbinate. Equivalency (Homologation): This area fulfills the 18 mandatory credits of the MAJ (Machshevet Israel I to IV) area, covering Medieval Thought, Modern Thinkers, Mysticism, and the Abraham J. Heschel course. The requirements for temporal traceability and personal theology satisfy the objectives of elective courses in this field, ensuring the candidate possesses the Seminary's institutional Hashkafa ## Detailed Seminario Description ### Bekiut de Machshevet Yisrael (Comprehensive Examination in Jewish Thought) The student must be able to present, lucidly and clearly, the history of Jewish thought from its biblical origins to the present. To this end, the student may begin preparing for the *Bekiut* through a careful and systematic reading of an introductory work on Jewish philosophy, such as *The Philosophies of Judaism* by Julius Guttmann or *The Evolution of Jewish Thought* by Jacob Agus. We likewise recommend a thorough study of the video course on YouTube, "Introduction to Jewish Thought," given in Hebrew by Moshe Halbertal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIl_PzvZb0&list=PL14FoMZyFJXNtilp6TpIg2X7BaHZEPPxb&ab_channel=TheOpenUniversity ## General reference works For going beyond Jacob Agus's book: 1. **Biblical thought** — the works of Yehezkel Kaufmann and Umberto Cassuto. 2. **Rabbinic thought** — the works of George Foot Moore, Menahem Stern, Ephraim Urbach, Louis Finkelstein, Solomon Schechter, Max Kadushin. 3. **Medieval Jewish thought** — *A History of Medieval Jewish Philosophy* by Isaac Husik. 4. **Modern Jewish thought** — *Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought* by Cohen & Mendes-Flohr. ## The four periods 1. The biblical period (1750 BCE – 586 BCE) 2. The post-biblical period (586 BCE – 500 CE) 3. The medieval period (500 CE – 1750 CE) 4. The modern and contemporary period (1750 CE – present) ## Background in Western philosophy As a foundation for understanding Jewish philosophy, the student must demonstrate familiarity with the history of Western philosophy and its principal branches: logic; epistemology; ethics and politics; aesthetics; philosophy of religion; etc. For students not yet familiar with philosophy, we recommend the YouTube channel "Estamos Filosofando" as a vehicle for self-directed study of Western philosophy: https://youtube.com/c/Estamosfilosofand In principle, one must become familiar with Greek philosophy and its major movements and exponents: the Pre-Socratics; the Sophists; Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; Stoicism and Epicureanism; Neoplatonism. Reading the central works of the Greek philosophers is indispensable. The following video — besides being very clear, orderly and schematic — has excellent and very precise bibliographic references and recommendations, and will serve as an introduction: https://youtu.be/tlXUGFXUrjY ## Biblical and rabbinic thought The student must be able to explain schematically the principal categories and ideas that constitute biblical thought and rabbinic thought, in their respective geographical and historical contexts, with regard to the following themes: creation; revelation, covenant, commandments; reward and punishment; this world and the world-to-come; the Messiah and the messianic age; good and evil; justice and injustice; worship — sacrifices, prayers, etc.; the people of Israel and the concept of the chosen people; forms of leadership; redemption; etc. The thought of the first Jewish philosophical thinker must be studied and presented: **Philo of Alexandria** (25 BCE – 50 CE). ## Medieval Jewish philosophy The student must be able to explain the broad features of medieval Jewish philosophical thought in its historical context, and to relate it to Greek philosophy and to the influences of Islam and Christianity in the Middle Ages. The student must be able to introduce, lucidly and clearly, the great Jewish thinkers of the Middle Ages; to situate them in their exact geographical and historical context; and to name and explain their principal philosophical works. He must be able to explain each thinker's central ideas and contributions to Jewish thought on the great themes of Jewish philosophy: God, the world and the human being; Revelation, the Covenant, the commandments (their constituting foundation and their purpose); prophecy; the relation between faith and reason; the concept of the chosen people and its relation to humanity; reward and punishment; good and evil; redemption; this world and the world-to-come; study and education; etc. The following are the medieval Jewish thinkers and the works that must be known, read, and/or studied: | Thinker | Dates | Work | | --- | --- | --- | | Saadia Gaon | 882–942 | *Sefer Emunot ve-De'ot* | | Shlomo ibn Gabirol | 1021–1058 | *Mekor Chaim* (Fons Vitae) | | Bachya ibn Pakuda | c. 1040 – c. 1110 | *Sefer Chovot ha-Levavot* | | Yehuda Halevi | 1074–1141 | *Sefer ha-Kuzari* | | Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam, Maimonides) | 1135–1204 | *Sefer Moreh Nevuchim* | | Levi ben Gershom (Ralbag, Gersonides) | 1288–1344 | *Sefer Milchamot ha-Shem* | | Chasdai Crescas | 1340–1410 | *Or Adonai* | | Yosef Albo | 1380–1444 | *Sefer ha-Ikarim* | ## Modernity The student must be able to explain the rise of modernity in the West and its fundamental components, such as: secularism, reason and progress, humanism, the relation to "the other," the preeminence of the individual, etc. He must have some familiarity with the most important non-Jewish thinkers of modernity, such as: Bacon, Spinoza, Descartes, Hume, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Husserl, Heidegger, etc. ### Modern Jewish thinkers To be studied — reading about their lives and reading something of their works in order to understand their thought: - Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) - Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) - Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) - Hermann Cohen (1842–1918) - Leo Baeck (1873–1956) - Martin Buber (1878–1965) - Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929) - Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983) - Abraham J. Heschel (1907–1972) - Joseph Soloveitchik (1909–1993) - David Hartman (1931–2013) - Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903–1994) ### Thinkers of the Conservative movement The student must also be familiar with: - Zecharias Frankel (1801–1875) - Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891) - Seymour Siegel (1927–1988) - Robert Gordis (1908–1992) - Neil Gillman (b. 1933) - Elliott Dorff (b. 1943) - Gordon Tucker ## Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah The student must likewise be familiar with Jewish mystical thought and Kabbalah, from its origins to modernity, as well as with the foundations of Hasidic thought. He must be able to explain in broad outline the contributions of the great scholars of the field, such as Gershom Scholem, Yosef Dan, Rachel Elior, Moshe Idel, and others. - Gershom Scholem (1897–1982): *Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism* ## Bibliography All page references are to: Agus, Jacob Bernard, *La Evolución del Pensamiento Judío*, Editorial Paidós, Buenos Aires, 1969. | Topic | Pages | | --- | --- | | Biblical thought | 13–42 | | Rabbinic thought | 43–71 | | Hellenism and Philo of Alexandria | 72–93 | | Rationalism in the Middle Ages (Saadia Gaon, Bachya ibn Pakuda, Maimonides, Gersonides, etc.) | 146–195 | | The decline of rationalism in the Middle Ages (Chasdai Crescas, Yosef Albo, etc.) | 196–229 | | The "romantic movement" in the Middle Ages (Ibn Gabirol and Yehuda Halevi) | 231–252 | | Kabbalah and Hasidism | 253–266, 289–339 | | The Modern Age | 267–288, 340–361 |