Yoel H. Kahn, Ph.D.

Visiting Asst. Professor,

Center for Jewish Studies

Graduate Theological Union

Berkeley, California

Hrra 4915 Spring 2000 

Prayer and Performance: The History of the Passover Seder

Monday, 9:40 - 12:30

Hedco Room, 2465 LeConte Street, 2nd Fl.

Office: CJS, 2450 LeConte, 510-649-2482

Office Hours: Monday afternoons (by appointment)

E-mail: yoelkahn@alum.calberkeley.org

Course Description: The Passover Seder is among the most widely known and practiced rituals of Judaism. The Passover Haggadah is a highly edited compilation of classic texts; its ritualized study of rabbinic midrash has always functioned on multiple levels of interpretation. This class will involve a close reading of the classical sources of the Haggadah, exploring how they function in their original settings and in their liturgical contexts. The major portions of the Seder will be traced to their historical roots. Contemporary practice will be used as a model for exploring theories and methodologies in ritual and performance. The class will help plan & lead a CJS/GTU community Seder on the 2nd night of Passover.

Section I: All texts in translation.

Section II: Hebrew texts: Torah, Mishnah & rabbinic sources, scholarly aritcles in modern Hebrew

Time and reading list for Hebrew section tba.

Class requirements and grading:

  1. Critical reading of assigned readings before class; this is essential for…

  2. Active participation in class discussion (10%)

  3. Written precis and discussion questions of one or two of the assigned readings, due in class the week before the class discussion (15 % and, more importantly, your classmates are counting on you!)

  4. Oral presentation of a critical review of a modern edition of the Haggadah (15%)

  5. Take home final exam, distributed May 12, 2000(25%)

  6. Term paper, due December 16, 1999. (30%), consisting of a 1) an original arrangement of the Haggadah (or major section of it), including an explanation of the goals of the project and the considerations that informed their realization; OR 2) a critical comparison of at least two editions of the Haggadah, one of which should be primarily the "traditional" text and one or more "modern" editions; OR 3) a research paper on a relevant topic related to the course. Topics must be approved in advance by the instructor.

Required Texts

1) Students should acquire a copy of the traditional Hagggadah. Any edition with the complete text will do. Used copies are available at many local bookstores. Cody’s has the largest selection. A text with a good contemporary translation is also helpful; the Rabbinical Assembly edition is recommended for this purpose.

2) Most readings will be found in a course reader, which will include…

3) Baruch Bokser, Origins of the Seder, (Univ. of Calif. Press) [o.p.]

GTU book store should have…

4) Passover and Easter : origin and history to modern times / edited by Paul F. Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman (Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, 1999)

AT GTU library on reserve :

5) Introduction to : Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim, Haggadah and history : a panorama in facsimile of five centuries of the printed Haggadah from the collections of Harvard University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America [Philadelphia : Jewish Publication Society of America, 1976].

Hebrew section: E. Daniel Goldschmidt, The Passover Haggadah: Its Sources and History (Mosad Bialik: Jerusalem, 1977) & additional readings tba; primary rabbinic sources.

Topics and readings - Assignments below should be read before each class

1/31 Topic: Introduction; Meaning of meanings; Biblical origins; periodization & timelines; Mishnah

Haggadah rubric:: Structure; the medieval mnemonic

for a summary of the biblical material, see "Passover" Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 13, 169-171.

2/7 Topic: Rabbinic Transformation from Sacrifice to Seminar;

4 questions – ritualization of innovation; problems of recovery?

Haggadah rubric:: Ha lachma anya; the matzah

Tabory, Joseph., "The Passover eve ceremony : an historical survey " Immanuel No 12 (Spr 1981), p. 32-43.

Stein, S., "The Influence of Symposia Literature on the Literary Form of the Pesach Haggadah" JJS 8 (1957), pp. 13-44

Hoffman, Lawrence, "A Symbol of Salvation in the Passover Seder" Passover and Easter: The Symbolic Structuing of Sacred Seasons [Two Liturgical Traditions, vol. 6] Notre Dame, Ind. Notre Dame Unversity Press, 1999

2/14 Topic: Midrashic composition

Haggadah rubric:: The four children; The four questions

Francis, Fred O., "The baraita of the four sons : [from the Passover Haggadah]" Journal of the American Academy of Religion 42: 1974

[HEBREW] Halivni, David W., "Comments on "the four questions"" Studies in Aggadah, Targum, and Jewish liturgy in memory of Joseph Heinemann.. Jerusalem : Magnes Press, 1981. p. 67-74

2/28 Topic: Passover and Eucharist – last supper and Passover?

Petuchowski, Jakob J., "Do this in remembrance of me' (1 Cor 11:24)" Journal of Biblical Literature 76 (D 1957), p. 293-298.

Bokser, Baruch M.: "Was the Last Supper a Passover Seder?" Bible Review 3,2 (1987) 24-33.

Giuseppe Ghiberti," Jesus’ Passover Meal "SIDIC XXX:1 [1997], 8 12.

[For those wanting to read more, see appropriate sections in Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, Bokser, Baruch M., The Origins of the Seder : The Passover Rite and Early Rabbinic Judaism [Berkeley : Univ of California Pr, 1984. Chap. 1,2, 5.

Hoffman, Lawrence, Beyond the Text: A Holistic Approach to Liturgy [Bloomington, Ind.] Chap. 1 & 2

3/6 Topic: essential rabbinic narrative

Haggadah rubric:: The maggid and its various introductions

Hoffman, Beyong the Text, Chap. 3 & 5

Bokser, Origins of the Seder, 6 & 7

3/13 Topic: Symbols of the Seder

Haggadah rubric:: Symbols; Seder plate; Hillel sandwich

Douglas, Mary, "Deciphering a Meal" Daedalus w 72

Schaffer Arthur. "The History of Horseradish as the Bitter Herb of Passover" Gesher 8 1981

Bokser, Baruch M., "Ritualizing the Seder" Journal of the American Academy of Religion . 56 (Fall 1988), p. 443-471.

Fredman, Ruth Gruber, The Passover Seder: Afikomen in Exile [Philadelphia: U. Penn Press, 1981] Chapter 8, " The Summarizing Plate" & Chapter 9, "The Paradox Continues, " pp. 129 – 157.

3/20 Topic: Medieval insertions ; Holy Week and Shabbat Ha-Gadol

Haggadah rubric:: Elijah; piyyutim; cast out your wrath?

Gutmann J, "The Messiah at the Seder," Studies in Jewish history presented to R Mahler

Debora Reed Blank, "Sh'fokh Hamatkha and Eliyahu in the Haggadah: Ideology in Liturgy" Conservative Judaism 40/2 (1987)

Ricks, Stephen D., "The appearance of Elijah and Moses in the Kirtland Temple and the Jewish assover" Brigham Young University Studies . 23 (Fall 1983), p. 483-486.

4/30 Topic: Modern attempts for meaning 1 Thematic vs.meaning approaches; Christian seders

Haggadah rubric:: sample liturgies

Senn, Frank, "Should Chirstians Celebrate Passover" Passover and Easter: The Symbolic Structuing of Sacred Seasons [Two Liturgical Traditions, vol. 6] Notre Dame, Ind. Notre Dame Unversity Press, 1999

Dow Marmur, "Should Christians Celebrate the Seder?" SIDIC XXX:1 [1997], 13-14.

J. Frank Henderson, "Jesus and the Seder," SIDIC XXX:1 [1997], 15-16.

"Guidelines: Christians and the Passover Seder Meal" SIDIC XXX:1 [1997], 17-19.

[On reserve at GTU library:---for you to look at]

Stallings, Joseph., Rediscovering Passover : A Complete Guide for Christians [San Jose : Re Pubns, 1988. iv, 352 p.]

And other publications tba

Field trip to Cody’s ?

4/10 Topic: Contemporary Haggadah assembly/editing (planning for community Seder)

Yerushalmi, Yosef Hayim, Haggadah and history [Philadelphia: JPS, 1976]

Gutmann, J., "Haggadah Art" Passover and Easter: The Symbolic Structuing of Sacred Seasons [Two Liturgical Traditions, vol. 6] Notre Dame, Ind. Notre Dame Unversity Press, 1999

Eugene Mihaly, The Passover Haggadah as PaRaDiSe" JCCAR 13:5 [1966] 3-27.

4/17 Topic: Performance considerations

Haggadah rubric:: Songs of the Seder

Werner Eric, "The Tunes of The Haggadah" Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 7 1965

4/19 Passover begins 4/23 Easter

4/24 Topic: Reflections; observations; reporting – meaning categories

Frankel, "Structures of the Seder: An Analysis of Persistence, Context and Meaning" American Behavioral Scientist 23/4 1980

Woocher, Jonathan S., "In every generation : the Seder as a ritual of anti-structure" Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 45 (D 1977), p. 503.

5/1 Topic: Performance theory

Readings; TBA

5/8 Topic: Social Context

Katz, Nathan. Goldberg, Ellen S., "Asceticism and caste in the Passover observances of the Cochin Jews" Journal of the American Academy of Religion 57 (Spr 1989), p. 53-82.

Sarna, Jonathan D., "Passover raisin wine, the American Temperance Movement, and Mordecai Noah : a 19th century American Jewish religious practice" Hebrew Union College annual, vol 59, 1988. Cincinnati : Hebrew Union College, 1988. (Hebrew Union College Annual ; 59). p. 269-288

"Shabbat ha-Gadol and Lent" Passover vol. 5.

5/15 Topic: Conclusion