Near Eastern and Judaic Studies 156A

Near Eastern and Judaic Studies 156A

Near Eastern and Judaic Studies 156a

Modern Responsa Literature: The Sephardic Tradition

Brandeis University

Spring, 2018

Wednesday 2:00 – 4:50 PM

Professor Zvi Zohar

Course Description

From the Iron Age to Early Modern times. (i.e., for 90% of their historical timeline), Jews and Judaism were completely or overwhelmingly Middle Eastern and Mediterranean; yet today they are perceived by many – both Jews and non-Jews – as an Occidental people and culture, and their history and development are presented through Eurocentric eyes.

This focus on European Jews and Judaism is especially striking with regard to accounts of the history and development of Jewish religion and culture in modern times. The course of Judaism and Jewish culture in modern times is charted from the eighteenth century schism between Hassidim and Misnagdim through the Jewish Enlightenment of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: thence to the appearance of the Reform movement (c. 1810) and the formation of its arch-opponent, the Orthodox movement, thence to secularization, German-Jewish philosophy, Jewish socialism (e.g., the Bund), Zionism, etc. The image of Judaism becomes that of the various Ashkenazic denominations, and the study of Jewish creativity – in theology, philosophy, halakha and kabbalah – becomes the study of works produced by Ashkenazic Jews, whether in Europe or in North America.

One of the goals of this course is, to provide a counter-balance to the all-too-Eurocentric perception of modern Judaism. However, by focusing on rabbinic responses to modernity, this course can also provide illumination with regard to an issue that is part of another thread: does European Ashkenazic halakha, as it has developed from the nineteenth century to the present, represent the organic "natural" response of traditional halakhic Judaism to the challenges of modernity? Leading proponents of European Ashkenazic halakha advocated a worldview expressed concisely in the phrase: "The New is forbidden by Torah" (he-Hadash Assur min haTorah). On this view, authentic Jewish continuity can be maintained only to the extent that all Jews recognize that Ashkenazic halakhic decisors are nothing but the custodians and protectors of the original and only authentic form of Judaism.But our critical sense might bring us to wonder: Is this truly the only option for halakhic response to modern challenges? Might it not be that this response is but a particular strategy whose internal logic was intrinsically tied to a specific social-religious context? Are halakhic decisors unable to respond to socio-cultural change in a manner not based upon defensiveness and cultural-religious self-seclusion?

Rabbis and decisors living in Islamic lands in recent centuries were not part of internal Jewish-European denominational schisms. If they nevertheless independently adopted an attitude identical or similar to "The New is forbidden by Torah", this might well be taken as support for the view that such a response is intrinsically natural to halakha. However, if it transpires that Middle Eastern Sephardic-Oriental posqim did not follow such a policy, but rather applied a more open and creative approach, this may indicate that the specific cultural-religious orientation of European halakhic decisors represents but one circumscribed option within a wider range of authentic halakhic responses to socio-cultural change.

This course enables access toa wealth of halakhic and other rabbinic sources, many of which are known to only a few rabbinic scholars, fleshes out their meanings and implications within the cultural history of Judaism, andin doing so provides perspective and food for thought about the significance and potential of a major Jewish cultural resource: halakha.

Most of our class time will be devoted to joint study and discussion of primary sources, from ancient times to the present. Knowledge of the original language(s) of the halakhic texts is useful and welcome, but is not a condition for participating in the course and succeeding in it. All texts that we study and discuss in class will be in English translation(many of them personally translated by me), and no prior acquaintance with the issues under discussion is required. The scholarly articles given below will serve as valuable background material enabling understanding and appreciation of the sources studied in the classroom.

Required Texts

Zvi Zohar, Rabbinic Creativity in the Modern Middle East, Bloomsbury Academic Press, London and New York, 2013.

Student Requirements:

  1. Each student is expected to prepare assigned readings prior to class. Your class participation will constitute 25% of your grade.
  2. In consultation with the instructor, each student will write a fifteen (15) to twenty-five (25) page paper on a topic of your choosing related to the course. The paper should involve original research and can deal with the presentation and analysis of a discrete historical topic or issue; or, it can reflect more broadly on a matter of theoretical concern. The paper is due at the end of the examination period and will constitute 75% of your grade.

Academic integrity:

Each student is expected to be familiar with, and to follow, Brandeis University policy on academic integrity. Please consult Brandeis University’s Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures. All policies related to academic integrity apply to in-class presentations and final writing assignments. Students may only collaborate on assignments with permission of the instructor. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university.

Disability:

If you have a disability that requires special arrangements (e.g., note- and/or test-taking), please be in touch with me as soon as possible. Every accommodation within the guidelines set by Brandeis University will be made so as to facilitate your learning experience.

Course Plan

  1. Introduction and Course Outline
  • David Ellenson, ""Jewish Legal Interpretation: Literary, Scriptural, Social, and Ethical Perspectives," Semeia 34 (1985), pp. 93-114
  • Zvi Zohar,'Introduction',in: Rabbinic Creativity in the Modern Middle East, pp. 1-10.
  • Marc Angel, 'Models of Sephardic rabbinic leadership',Conversations 29 (2017), pp. 90-100.

Recommended:

  • Zvi Zohar, 'Sephardic Jurisprudence in the Recent Half-Millenium', in: Zion Zohar (ed.), Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Times, New York, New York University press, 2005, pp. 167-195.
  1. Technology
  • Zvi Zohar, ‘Halakhic Responses of Syrian and Egyptian Rabbinical Authorities to Social and Technological Change’, Studies in Contemporary Jewry 2, 1986, pp. 18-51.
  • Rabbinic Creativity, pp. 13-33.

Recommended:

  • Michael Broyde andHoward Jachter, 'The Use of Electricity on Shabbat and Yom Tov', 21
    Journal of Halacha andContemporary Society 21, (1991), pp. 4-47
  1. Community
  2. Membership:
  3. Karaites
  4. Rabbinic Creativity, pp. 319-351
  5. 'Karaism', in:Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Brill, Leiden, 2010, vol. 3, pp. 104-113.
  6. Beta Israel
  7. Menachem Elon, 'The Ethiopian Jews: A Case Study in the Functioning of the Jewish Legal System', New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, Vol. 19, Issue 3 (Spring 1987), pp. 535-564
  8. Education
  9. Yaron Harel, 'Rabbi Isaac Aboulafia :leader of the education revolution in Damascus 1864-1895', in: International Journal of Jewish Education Research4 (2013), pp. 5-27
  10. 'Education – Modern Period', in:Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Brill, Leiden, 2010, vol. 2, pp. 125.
  11. 'Alliance Israelite Universelle Network', in:Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Brill, Leiden, 2010, vol. 1, pp. 171-180.
  1. Family, Gender & Social Life
  • Louis Jacobs, 'The Responsa of Rabbi Joseph Hayyim of Baghdad', in: Arthur A. Chiel (ed.), Perspectives on Jews and Judaism: Essays in Honor of Wolfe Kelman, New York, 1978, pp. 189-214. Online at:
  • Transforming Identity, pp. 236-290
  • Zvi Zohar, 'Women Heroines of Torah Study', in: Nashim, 29 (2015), pp. 39-55.
  • Zvi Zohar, 'Traditional Flexibility and Modern Strictness: A Comparative Analysis of the Halakhic Positions of Rabbi Kook and Rabbi Uzziel on Women’s Suffrage', in: Harvey Goldberg (ed.), Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries: History and Culture, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1996, pp. 119-133.
  1. Synagogue, Religious Ritual & Deviance:
  • Zvi Zohar, Transforming Identity, pp. 267-299
  • Zvi Zohar, Transforming Identity, pp. 301-318
  • Harvey E. Goldberg and Claudio G. Segrè, 'Holding on to Both Ends: Religious Continuity and Change in the Libyan Jewish Community, 1860-1949', in:Maghreb Review 14, Issue 3/4, (1989), pp. 161-186.

Recommended:

  • Issachar Ben-Ami, 'Beliefs and Customs', in: Reeva S.Simon, Michael M. Laskier and Sara Reguer (eds.),The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times, New York, Columbia University Press, 2003, pp.180-204.
  1. Jews and Others:
  • Zvi Zohar, 'Should Non-Jews be Regarded as Equal? A Partial Mapping of 20th Century Rabbinic Positions with Regard to Non-Jews', in: Journal of Law, Religion and State 4 (2016) 267-292
  • Zvi Zohar and Nathan Katz, ‘The Ethics of the Pepper Marts of Malabar in the mid-19th Century: A Sephardic View’, in: Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies, number 11, 2010, pp. 121-144.
  • David Ellenson, 'Rabbi Hayim David Halevi on Christians and Christianity: An Analysis of Selected Legal Writings of an Israeli Authority', in: ibid., Jewish Meaning in a World of Choice, pp. 145-164.

Recommended:

  • Aaron Kirschenbaum and Jon Trafimow, 'The Sovereign Powerof the State: A Proposed Theory of Accommodation in Jewish Law', in:Cardozo Law Review, 12, (1990), pp. 925-940 .
  1. Zionism & Israel
  • Zvi Zohar, 'Sephardic Halakhic Tradition on Galut and Political Zionism', in: Yedida K. Stillman and Norman Stillman (eds.), From Iberia To Diaspora: Studies in Sephardic History and Culture, Leiden, Brill, 1999, pp. 223-234
  • Avinoam Rosenak, 'Repentance, Halakhah, and Secular Culture in the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Ḥazan', in:Revue des Etudes Juives168,1-2 (2009) 131-162
  • Shlomo Deshen,'Toward an Ethnography of a Mediterranean People : The Complex Culture of Southern Tunisian Jewry in the Early Twentieth Century', in: Fran Markowitz, Stephen Sharot, and Moshe Shokeid (eds.), Toward an Anthropology of Nation Building and Unbuilding in Israel, University of Nebraska Press, 2015, pp. 175-194.
  • David Ellenson, 'Jewish Legal Interpretation and Moral Values: Two Responsa by Rabbi Hayyim David Halevi on the Obligations of the Israeli Government towards Its Minority Population', CCAR Journal 48:3 (Summer, 2001), pp. 5-20.

Recommended:

  • Shlomo Fischer, 'Excursus :concerning the rulings of R. Ovadiah Yosef pertaining to the Thanksgiving Prayer, the settlement of the Land of Israel, and Middle East peace', in: Cardozo Law Review28,1 (2006), pp. 229-244 (online at:
  • 'Zionism Among Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewry', in: Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, Brill, Leiden, 2010, vol. 4, pp. 669-688.
  1. Summary and Overview
  • Rabbinic Creativity, pp. 355-369.

Recommended:

  • 'On Reviving the Halakhic Process (Correspondence between Eli Haddad and Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo)', in: Conversations 13 (2012), pp. 1-12.
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