EAJS Conference Grant Program in Jewish Studies
Report
Winter School: Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics
December 12-14, 2023
Catholic Academy Berlin in cooperation with the University of Lille and the University of Potsdam
Summary:
The Winter School on Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics is an annual event dedicated to strengthen the research and teaching in Europe on modern forms of intellectual engagements with the talmudic corpus and tradition. The Winter School seeks to achieve this goal by bringing together an international faculty of senior scholars in Jewish Studies, who specialize in both historical and hermeneutical aspects of modern talmudic cultures, to teach a group of graduate students and postdocs/early-career scholars. The program combines frontal presentations, close-reading sessions, plenary and small group discussions, public evening lecture, as well as student presentations. The special methodology of the Winter School is designed to enable non-faculty participants to gain not just historical perspectives on modern talmudic ways of learning, but also basic tools for understanding, studying and conducting further research on the hermeneutical aspects of modern talmudism.
Event Rationale:
There is a profound paradox in contemporary Jewish Studies in general and especially in Europe: the talmudic intellectual discourse, which has historically been at the center of Jewish intellectual tradition, and is still intellectually central for many modern and contemporary currents of Jewish thought, orthodox but also conservative and also reform, is almost completely absent from academic scholarship on modern Jewish thought. In comparison to Kabbalah, Hassidut and modern Jewish philosophy, modern forms of the talmudic intellectual engagements play a very marginal role in university teaching and research, not only on modern Jewish thought, but also on modern and contemporary Jewish history, cultures and literatures. The absence of modern talmudic hermeneutics as an area from contemporary Jewish Studies is a real lacuna, which not only generates and perpetuates a distance between academic Jewish Studies and actual Jewish culture, but also generates a distance within contemporary Jewish culture from central aspects of its heritage. This Winter School aims at changing this situation. Introducing modern talmudic into contemporary scholarship may also help introducing modern scholarship into contemporary talmudism, and generate new conversations between talmudic and non-talmudic thought.
In Ashkenaz and then in Eastern Europe talmudic hermeneutics was a central issue, and hermeneutical schools were involved in Jewish political understanding within the culture of Western Christianity. Its influence cannot be detached from the emergence of Jewish Enlightenment (as shown by Elchanan Reiner). Accordingly, a program on modern talmudic hermeneutics is especially suitable as a basis for new networking within contemporary European Jewish Studies, which will reconnect with historical centers of Jewish learning all across Europe, both in Western and in Eastern Europe, and not only as a Jewish but as a European cultural heritage.
How the goals were achieved:
One of the great challenges in introducing modern talmudic hermeneutics into scholarship in Jewish Studies arises from the specific knowledge and set of skills necessary for engagement with the talmudic discourse and the current lack of proper training, also within the specific field of rabbinics, in modern concepts, methods and schools of talmudism and above all their significance with the broader context of modern and contemporary thought. In recent years, the new punctuated, translated, annotated and even online and open editions of the talmudic corpus opened up new possibilities for developing direct and individual modes of access, also for researchers who did not receive traditional yeshiva training. The Winter School used this new opportunity in a new methodological approach, which combines individual and group online work on texts prior to the in-person meetings, with in-depth textual work during the Winter School, combined with sessions on historical perspectives.
The Winter School on Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics already had two editions, in 2021 and in 2022, in which its basic concept and methodology have been tested and developed. For information on the previous editions, including the participants, please visit: Winter School 2021 and Winter School 2022. The experience from these first two editions provided the organizers of the 2023 edition with valuable input on how to optimize the Winter School structure, program and methodology (see below), so as to better fulfill its goals.
The faculty of the 2023 Winter School on Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics consisted of leading international scholars on both historical and hermeneutical as well as theoretical aspects of modern and contemporary Jewish and talmudic intellectual culture. Faculty includes European scholars, as well as professors from Israel and North America. Two permanent members of the faculty, teaching core seminars, were Elchanan Reiner (Tel Aviv University, emer.), who was leading sessions on the history of modern talmudic learning, and Oded Schechter (Makhloykes Center Berlin), who was leading session on philosophical aspects of modern talmudic hermeneutics. Faculty of the Winter Schools in 2021 and 2022 also included Yaacob Dweck (Princeton University), Marc-Alain Ouaknin (Bar Ilan University and Centre de recherches et d’études juives in Paris), Elliot Wolfson (University of Santa Barbara) and Hannah Tzuberi (Freie Universität Berlin). The 2023 Winter School featured Vivian Liska (University of Antwerp), Elad Lapidot (University of Lille), Chiara Caradonna (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Hagai Dagan (Sapir College).
Such as in previous editions, the 2023 Winter School convened non-faculty participants who were doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from various universities in Europe, Israel and the US. More specifically, the 2023 Winter School included 15 participants, of whom 13 PhD students and 2 postdoctoral researchers. 10 participants were affiliated with European universities (Lund University, University of Lille, LLM Munich, University of Frankfurt, Potsdam University, University of Würzburg, Freie Unviersität Berlin and the University of Frankfurt), 4 participants with US universities (Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, Brown University and NYU) and 1 participant with an Israeli university (Hebrew University of Jerusalem). For more information see here.
The funding from the European Association for Jewish Studies enabled the organizers to improve and optimize the Winter School’s program, both in terms of funding of travel and stay, and in terms of offering preparatory study sessions in advance of the in-person Winter Schools sessions. This improvement increased the impact of the Winter School.
The Winter School on Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics is based on and enhances academic excellence, with the aim of fostering network building in Jewish Studies across Europe. The development and existing structure of the Winter School is already based on an international and inter-European cooperation, and the focus on modern talmudic hermeneutics enhances new forms of interdisciplinary cooperation and networking between scholars of Jewish history, rabbinics, Jewish thought and Jewish culture studies. The Winter School offers an outstanding opportunity for graduate students and early-career scholars from different European countries to meet face to face and to engage with an international team of teaching scholars, in a context that is not only transmitting existing knowledge, but generating a new field within contemporary Jewish Studies.
Berlin presents itself as an ideal location for this Winter School. In the last two decades the city has renewed its historical central significance and has become the current center of Jewish Studies in continental Europe. Existing institutions include the department of Jewish Studies, the School of Jewish Theology and the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European Jewish Studies in Potsdam, the Institute of Judaistik at the Freie Universität Berlin and the Chair for Diasporic Jewish Culture Studies and the Humboldt University, which since 2013 are federated as the Selma Stern Center for Jewish Studies in Berlin and Brandenburg. Other Jewish Studies institutions at close distance to Berlin include the new chair in Jewish Studies of the University of Leipzig and the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture at Leipzig, as well the Department of Jewish Studies of the Halle University and the Maimonides Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Hamburg. Berlin is perfectly located as a hub connecting Western Europe with Northern Europe and with Eastern Europe.
The Catholic Academy in Berlin is currently conducting a multiannual project on “diasporic” for of religious traditions, “The Berlin Center for Intellectual Diaspora”, and in this framework it has made available rooms, administration services and funding for the Winter School on Modern Talmudic Hermeneutics, which has been supporting the first two editions of the program.
Overview of Structure and Presentations:
Non-faculty participants in the Winter School were recruited through an international call released in the month of May and addressing PhD students and postdocs/early-career scholars in relevant fields of Jewish Studies. The program was explicitly open to researchers also in fields beyond rabbinics, and scholars in other areas of Jewish thought, philosophy, hermeneutics, literature, religion, history or culture were encouraged to and did apply. The recruitment process focused on European universities, but also admitted applications from candidates in universities outside of Europe. 9 participants were invited from outside of Berlin, received partial travel stipend and were provided with accommodation in Berlin for the duration of the Winter School. 6 additional participants were from the Berlin area. All participants were provided with meals throughout the Winter School, including kosher, vegetarian and vegan options.
The preparatory phase of the Winter School began in November, as the participants received the texts that were the basis of the Winter School’s core sessions, consisting of historical articles and of primary sources of modern talmudic hermeneutics. In the weeks leading to the Winter School, the organizers offered the participants two online sessions, in which they received the opportunity to engage in a preliminary study of the modern sources, and to get acquainted with the sugiya and the various traditional rabbinic sources to which the modern text refers in deploying its hermeneutical operations. The preparatory sessions consisted in close and slow reading of the various traditional rabbinic sources, and were led by a junior faculty, Mr. Eliyahu Raful. These sessions prepared the participants for the encounter and engagement with the hermeneutical innovations that were introduced during the principal phase of the Winter School. All the texts for the workshop were provided to the participants in the original and with a translation that was specially prepared for this occasion by Mr. Avinoam Stillman.
The principal phase of the Winter School took in the month of December as an in-person 3-day event hosted by the Catholic Academy in Berlin. The Winter School was divided into five types of sessions:
(1) Three daily 2-hour textual work with in-depth analysis of hermeneutical innovations by modern talmudists, based on the preparatory study done by the participants in the months prior to the Winter School; the hermeneutical sessions will be led by Oded Schechter. The 2023 sessions focused on the hermeneutics of R. Shimon Shkop (1860-1939). The readings were of passages from R. Shkop’s Hiddushei Bava Metzia, Section 20, dealing with bT Bava Metzia 21b, the sugiya of “unconscious despair”.
(2) Three daily 2-hour lectures concerning historical aspects of the development of modern talmudic forms of study, based on texts and articles sent to the participants in the preparatory phase; the historical sessions were led by Elchanan Reiner. The 2023 sessions focused on R. Solomon Luria (Maharshal, 1510-1573)’s Introduction to Yam Shel Shlomo, as well as R. Aryeh Leib Heller (1745-1812) Ketsot ha-Hoshen, The Laws of Messengers (Shulhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 182:1).
(3) One 2-hour class delivered by Elad Lapidot on the relations between talmudic literature and modern philosophy; the 2023 class focused on the hermeneutics developed by the French Jewish Emmanuel Levinas in his Talmudic readings from 1960 to 1989.
(4) One 2-hour class delivered by Vivian Liska on the relations between rabbinic literature and modern literature; the 2023 class focused on midrashic passages in the work of Franz Kafka.
(5) One 2-hour public lecture delivered by Vivian Liska on “A Talmudic Disputation Before the Law: Kafka, Benjamin, Derrida”, with responses from Chiara Caradonna and Hagai Dagan.
(6) Two 1-hour sessions of textual work small groups (hevrutas);
(7) Two 2-hour sessions of open discussion among the participants and the faculty on the various issues raised in the different classes.
(8) Two 1-hour evening sessions in which 3 non-faculty participants (Yaakov Kroizer, Gilad Shenhav and Zvi Kunshtat) presented their own research projects, which were then discussed in the group.
Summary of most significant and productive threads:
Modern talmudic hermeneutics sessions led by Oded Schechter: throughout these sessions, one significant thread was the question of “gzerat ha-katuv”, i.e. the decree of the written text, which features centrally in the hermeneutics of R. Shimon Shkop. Oded Schechter led the participants in various reflections on the meaning of this hermeneutical principle, connecting it to various motifs in modern thought, among others the concepts of natural law in the work of Spinoza.
History of modern talmudic learning sessions led by Elchanan Reiner: in these sessions, a central significant concern was the self-positioning of modern talmudic learning, such as in the work of R. Solomon Luria (Maharshal) vis-à-vis the post-Babylonian traditions of rabbinic talmudism, such as Maimonides, Rashi and both Sephardi and Ashkenazi medieval commentators. Reiner presented a complex dynamic whereby the modern learner expresses at the same time a claim of fundamental fidelity to tradition and a gesture of radical innovation.
Talmudic literature and modern philosophy session led by Elad Lapidot: this session problematized the hermeneutical approach of Emmanuel Levinas to the Talmud, indicating contradicting conceptions in Levinas’s understanding of the Talmud and of the philosophical engagement with the Talmud. Among others, the class showed how Levinas’s talmudic readings feature three different models of hermeneutics: Philonian, Paulinian and midrashic.
Rabbinic literature and modern literature, session and lecture delivered by Vivian Liska: these sessions raised questions concerning the ways in which modern Jewish literature, exemplified by Franz Kafka, draws on rabbinic literature, both talmudic and kabbalistic. One significant thread concerned various interpretations of central motifs in Kafka, such as the Law, by contemporary authors, from Benjamin and Scholem to Agamben and Derrida.
Engagement with the public:
One event of the Winter School 2023 was opened for the public, namely Vivian Liska’s lecture on “A Talmudic Disputation Before the Law: Kafka, Benjamin, Derrida”, with responses from Chiara Caradonna and Hagai Dagan. The lecture was well attended, with a public of approx. 50 participants.
Liska’s lecture showed how Kafka’s writings repeatedly refer to the law, but its nature, function and value have given rise to numerous and radically contradictory interpretations. This indeterminacy inspired important debates among 20th century thinkers such as Walter Benjamin and Gershom Scholem and, more recently, Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben. The lecture and following discussion examined the relationship between law and narrative and its connection with Talmudic approaches to the interaction between halakha and aggadah.
Expected outcome:
The Winter School on modern Talmudic hermeneutics is expected to result in a deeper understanding of the principles and methodologies involved in interpreting and applying Talmudic texts in contemporary contexts. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, and hands-on exercises, participants are likely to gain a more nuanced understanding of the historical and cultural contexts in which Talmudic texts were written, as well as the various approaches and tools used to analyze and interpret these texts. Additionally, participants will be encouraged to explore the relevance of Talmudic hermeneutics in their own research projects and as well as in their teaching pertaining to current issues and debates within Jewish thought and practice.
Expected outputs:
The expected output of the Winter School on modern Talmudic hermeneutics includes a range of tangible and intangible outcomes. Tangible outputs include written analyses of Talmudic texts, group presentations on specific topics or themes, and potentially collaborative research projects developed over the course of the school. Intangible outputs include increased intellectual curiosity and engagement, enhanced critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and a greater appreciation for the complexity and richness of Talmudic literature. Ultimately, the success of the Winter School should be measured not so much by the specific outputs it generates, but also by the ways in which it inspires and empowers participants to continue exploring Talmudic hermeneutics beyond the confines of the school itself.