2009 Student Seminar: Jewish Thought and Enduring Human Questions > Seminar

2009 Student Seminar: Jewish Thought and Enduring Human Questions

The seminar on Jewish Thought and Enduring Human Questions is an ongoing two-week intensive summer workshop for undergraduate students on Jewish texts, Jewish thought, and Jewish perspectives on the great questions of human life. In August 2009, the seminar was led by David Novak (University of Toronto), Leora Batnitzky (Princeton University), and Suzanne Last Stone (Cardozo School of Law). Fifty two students from North America, Great Britain, and Israel explored Biblical texts; Jewish perspectives on great themes such as hope, beauty, justice, and mercy; and issues with a unique resonance for Judaism such as written and oral Torah, the nature of covenant, the tension between reason and revelation, and the underpinnings of Zionism. Instruction took the form of lectures and discussion by senior faculty, small-group discussion for students, and seminars on foundational texts.

Lecture Notes and Recorded Audio:

Faculty for the 2009 seminar:
Allan Arkush, SUNY, Binghamton
Asher Biemann, University of Virginia
Ronna Burger, Tulane University
Arye Edrei, Tel Aviv University
Michael Fishbane, University of Chicago
David Gelernter, Yale University
Hillel Halkin, Independent Author and Scholar
Leon Kass, University of Chicago
Menachem Kellner, University of Haifa
Jon Levenson, Harvard University
Alan Mittleman, Jewish Theological Seminary
Hindy Najman, University of Toronto
David Nirenberg, University of Chicago
Daniel Rynhold, Yeshiva University
Chaim Saiman, Villanova School of Law
Abe Socher, Oberlin College
Meir Soloveichik, Princeton University
Steven Smith, Yale University
Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study
Joseph Weiler, New York University
Ruth Wisse, Harvard University