The Benita and Sigmund Stahl Lecture Program in Jewish Studies
Inaugural Program - Spring 2008
Outside the Text: Non-Textual Sources of Meaning in Rabbinic Civilization
Inaugural Stahl Lecturer
Prof. Michael D. Swartz
(The Ohio State University)
April 9, 20085:30pm
Screening Room, King Juan Carlos Center
53 Washington Square South (between Sullivan and Thompson Streets) The Signifying Creator: Alternative Creation Myths in Rabbinic and Synagogue Literatures
The first lecture in this series will explore alternative creation
myths in Jewish interpretation (Midrash) and synagogue poetry (Piyyut).
Whereas in the classical rabbinic myth the Torah was used as a model
for the creation of the world, some sources state that the sacrificial
rituals, the Tabernacle, and the Jerusalem Temple were created before
the world and serve as the focal point for the act of creation. This
myth then yields a more general teleological conception of creation, in
which each created thing has a purpose in future history.
April 14, 20085:30pm
Lecture Hall, room 102
19 University Place (at 8th street) The Semiotics of the Priestly Vestments in Ancient Judaism
The second lecture will explore how the elaborate golden and jeweled
vestments worn by the High Priest in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem
served as the subject of an intricate semiotic system in Midrash and
liturgical poetry. This system attaches moral and cosmological
symbolism to each article of clothing. According to this method of
interpretation, each garment symbolizes an Israelite tribe or an
episode in biblical history and at the same time serves as an active
instrument in achieving the ritual goals of the sacrifice.
April 16, 20085:30pm
Screening Room, King Juan Carlos Center
53 Washington Square South (between Sullivan and Thompson Streets) Divination and Its Discontents: Generating Meaning in Talmudic and Esoteric JudaismThe final lecture of the series will concern the ancient art of divination in Jewish culture and how the rabbinic class in late antiquity participated in it and responded to it. Some historians have argued that divination was the first form of hermeneutics. Divination systems involve such activities as scrutinizing the natural world for signs of signification, developing techniques for generating random results, and reading personal significance into such disparate events as the chanting of children in a schoolhouse and the arrival of barges at a riverbank. In this lecture these techniques will be explored, along with related legends in which animals, stars, the earth, and other elements of nature are sentient and communicate the divine will.
All lectures are free and open to the public, but RSVP is requested. Please call (212) 998-8981 or email gsas.hebrewjudaic@nyu.edu to secure your place at the lectures.
Stahl Graduate Seminar Series
Dr. Swartz will also be hosting a series of three graduate seminars for the student in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic studies. These are open to members of the academic community (students and faculty) but due to space limitations are not open to the general public.
April 9
12:30 - 1:45pm
53 Washington Square South, Room 428
Topic: Biblical interpretation in piyyut and prayer
introduction by Prof. Jeffrey Rubenstein (NYU)
April 14
12:30 - 1:45pm
53 Washington Square South, Room 428
Topic: How To Read a Magical Text
introduction by Prof. Elliot R. Wolfson (NYU)
April 15
11:00 - 1pm
53 Washington Square South, Room 428
Topic: Sacrifice and society in Yoma traditions
introduction by Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman (NYU)
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