THINKING LIKE RABBIS: LAW, POLITICS, AND TRUTH-FINDING IN THE TALMUD

Winter 2005

GTU Intersession 2005

January 3-7, 2005

The Jewish tradition purports to be a way of carrying out God’s will—but how are we supposed to come to know that will? And in our current world, where God and politics are increasingly converging, what can we learn from the talmudic Rabbis not only about the intersection between God, law, politics, and truth—but about how to think and what it means to be a human being? We will spend the week learning a sugya from the first chapter of B. Eruvin, as well as selections from Rambam, along with contemporary critical scholarship on the Talmud. The development of talmudic text skills will be emphasized.