AP/JWST 3831 3.00

Torah and Tradition: Jewish Religious Expressions from Antiquity to the Present

This course offers an exploration of Jewish beliefs, institutions, and bodies of literature, emphasizing continuities and changes in religious expression within and across different places, circumstances, and times. Themes covered include God, the Jewish people, Torah and its interpretation, the land of Israel; the commandments (mitzvot) and their legal (halakhic) expressions; the Sabbath; daily and calendrical cycles of holiness; rites of passage, and messianic teachings. Particular attention will be paid to the varieties of Jewish religious denominations in modern times.