Stern College for Women

Tehillim - Spring 2010

Rabbi Dr. Richard Hidary

Spring 2010, T Th 10:30-11:45AM

תהלים

This course of study will comprise an in-depth study of Sefer Tehillim. We will approach the Mizmorim using a variety of different methodologies and incorporate the approaches and opinions of a wide range of commentators both ancient and modern in an effort to arrive at the best understanding of this book. This study will be a collaborative effort on the part of everyone in the class and will require all of us to share whatever skills we has acquired in past studies and any insights we have as we proceed on this exciting learning experience.

In this course, we will analyze a selected group of psalms, some of which are from the siddur and others which are not. We will analyze each Mizmor verse by verse making sure to understand the vocabulary, grammar, syntax, poetic devices such as alliteration, imagery and use of parallelism, and references to other parts of the Bible. We will then step back and look for the structure of the psalm, its key themes, its main purpose or central message, and the ways in which its use of poetic devices and structure come together to create an integrated unity. The course will also focus on developing these skills so that students can perform this analysis on their own and write their own comprehensive commentary on a Mizmor.

Requirements:

(1) Exams: A midterm (30%) and a final (30%) will assess your grasp and retention of material as well as give the class an opportunity to review and notice patterns that recur through many psalms.

(2) Attendance: Attendance, prompt arrival and class participation are assumed. Anything more than two absences or three lates will lower your grade.

(3) Preparation: Each student will choose one traditional and one modern commentary (see below) and prepare the assigned Mizmor with that commentary. Since everyone in the class will be preparing different commentaries we be able to discuss many different opinions in class for a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding. All students will be responsible for the assigned readings as well and also must read their fellow students' response papers prior to class.

(4) Response Papers (15%): Each student will be required to write three response papers over the course of the semester. These papers are meant to help the writer and her fellow students prepare the Mizmor to be discussed in the upcoming class. They must be completed by 6PM the day before class and emailed to the class at 201001-12691@lists.yu.edu the rest of the class can have a chance to read it before class. Each paper should be about 3 pages and present either what the commentaries you chose say about the Mizmor, or your own thoughts on its meaning, or something interesting about the grammar, poetic devices, or structure of the Mizmor. Try to vary the type of methodology you use for each response paper.

(5) Final project (25%): Choose one Mizmor that we have not studied in class and write your own commentary on it using the methods we have developed in class. The goal is to write a comprehensive analysis of a Mizmor. It should include the following sections:

Introduction to general theme

Verse by Verse translation and commentary

            Issues regarding the nusah

            Lexicography and grammar

            Parallelism and other poetic devices

Form Criticism

            Structure

            Historical Setting

Placement in the Book of Psalms - surrounding and related psalms

Parallels to other parts of Tanakh or ANE literature

Hazal/Rishonim

Modern Commentators

Your own thoughts/ themes, ideas and significance

Summary or a lesson plan for a high school or adult ed. class

The project will be due in stages:

Stage 1 (due February 11) – Choose a Mizmor. Analyze words/phrases that are difficult (for verbs indicate root, binyan, tense, gender and number; cite other verses that can help explicate the connotation of the word). Compare different translations. Analyze parallelism and other poetic devices in each pasuk.

Stage 2 (due March 23) – Your own thoughts on the Mizmor and analysis of the Rishonim. Bibliography of books and articles.

Stage 3 (due April 8) - Survey of Modern commentaries. Issues of nusah, structure, form criticism, historical setting, literary context, parallels.

Final Stage (due April 22) – Lesson Plan and/or Summary

Depending on the quality or your research and writing, I may ask you to present your paper to the class and/or permission to post it online.

Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 3:00-4:00PM or by appointment in Room 523. Please email rhidary@yu.edu anytime with any concerns or questions.

Required Texts:

Tanakh – bring to every class.

Nahum Sarna. On the Book of Psalms: Exploring the Prayers of Ancient Israel. New York: Schocken Books, 1985. Available at Barnes and Noble.

Course Reader available at Tower Copy East, 370 3rd Ave & 27^th.

Schedule:

Unit 1 - Introductions - Slides

January 19, 21, 26

            Authorship

Sarna, On the Book of Psalms, Introduction, pp. 3-23.

Abraham Ibn Ezra, Two Introductions, in Uriel Simon, Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms From Saadiah Gaon to Abrahm Ibn Ezra. SUNY, 1991.

Nahum Sarna, "Psalms," Encyclopedia Judaica

            Structure of the Sefer

Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: An Translation with Commentary, Norton 2007. Introduction.

"Psalms," Anchor Bible Dictionary

David C. Mitchel, The Message of the Psalter, pp. 15-65.

            Parallelism, Psalm 136

Adele Berlin, "Reading Biblical Poetry" in The Jewish Study Bible, JPS 2004, 2097-2104.

Robert Alter, "The Dynamics of Parallelism," in The Art of Biblical Poetry. Basic Books: New York, 1985, pp. 3-26.

James Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry, 1-57, 287-292

Suggested Reading:  Jonas Greenfield, "Hebrew Bible and Canaanite Literature," in The Literary Guide to the Bible, Harvard 1987, pp. 545-560.

Moshe David Cassuto, Sifrut Miqra'it ve-sifrut Kena'anit, Magnes, 1972, 20-90.

Unit 2 – Torah: Psalm 1 (Slides), Psalm 19 (Slides)

January 28, February 2, 4, 9, 11,

Readings:

Sarna, On the Book of Psalms, chapters 1 and 3, pp. 25-47, 69-96.

Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry, pp. 111-118.

Suggested Readings:

Weiss, Meir. The Bible From Within. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984, pp. 135-163, 248-251. (Reserve BS476 .W4313 1984). PDF of all readings from this book.

----------. מקראות ככוונתם. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1987, pp. 111-134. (Reserve BS1192.W43 1987). PDF of all readings from this book.

Clines, D.J.A., “The Tree of Knowledge and the Law of YHWH (Psalm XIX)”, Vetus Testamentum 24 (1974).

Unit 3 – Creation: Psalm 8 (Slides), Psalm 104 (Slides)

February  16, 18

Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry, pp. 118-121.

Sarna, On the Book of Psalms, chapter 2, pp. 49-67.

Shamah, Moshe. “On the Linkage Between Psalm 104 and Genesis 1.”

Suggested Readings:

Weiss, Meir. The Bible From Within, pp. 78-93, 293-297.

----------. מקראות ככוונתם, pp. 152-173, 214-251.

Unit 4 – Bnei Korah Psalms

 Death and Afterlife: Psalm 49

February 23

Reading: Simcha Raphael, Jewish Views of Afterlife. Northvale: Aronson, 1996, pp. 41-76.

Midterm Review Sheet

Midterm – March 2

Unit 5 – Ethics & Sacrifices: Psalm 15, Psalm 24 (Slides), Psalm 50 (Slides, music)

March 4 and 9

Guest Lecturer: Ronald Benun

Reading: Sarna, On the Book of Psalms, chapter 4, pp. 97-135.

 Suggested Readings:

Weiss, Meir.  מקראות ככוונתם. , pp. 144-152.

Unit 6 – Inter-related Psalms: Psalms 111-112 (Slides)

March  11

Analyze these psalms carefully and see if and how they are related.

Unit 7 – Hallel (Slides), Psalm 114 (Slides)

March 16

Reading: Zeitlin, Solomon. “The Hallel: A Historical Study of the Canonization of Hebrew Liturgy.” Jewish Quarterly Review 53:1 (1962), pp. 22-29.

Suggested Readings:

Stevens, Elliot. “Singing God’s Praises: The Translation and Liturgical Uses of Hallel Psalms 113 and 114,” in H.W. Attridge and M.E. Fassler, Psalms in Community (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003), 365-372.

מלצר, פיבל. פני ספר תהלים. ירושלים: מוסד הרב קוק, 1982, 315-320.

Weiss, Meir. The Bible From Within, pp. 93-100; 352-378.

______. מקראות ככוונתם, pp. 252-262.

Unit 8 - Pesukei Dezimrah (Slides), Psalm 145 (Slides)

March 18

Reading: Berlin, Adele. “The Rhetoric of Psalm 145,” in A. Kort and S. Morschauser, Biblical and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1985) 17-22.

Kimelman, Reuven. “Psalms 145:Theme, Structure, and Impact.” JBL 113 (1994) 37-58.

Suggested Readings:

Weiss, Meir, מקראות ככוונתם, pp. 263-292.

Unit 9 – Acrostics

Psalms 9 and 10 (Slides)

April 8, 13

Psalm 37 (Slides)

April 15

Readings:

Benun, Ronald. “Evil and the Disruption of Order: A Structural Analysis of the Acrostics in the First Book of Psalms.” The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 6 (2006). PDF, PDF with color.

 Gordis, Robert. “Psalms 9-10 – A Textual and Exegetical Study,” Jewish Quarterly Review, 48 (1957), 104-112.

Final Review Sheet

Final – Sunday May 16^th at 10:00AM

 Recitation with Ta`amim - 1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 19, 24, 37, 104, 114, 136, 145, 150

Traditional Commentaries:

תרגום, רש"י, ר' אברהם אבן עזרא, רד"ק, מאירי, ר' ישעיה מטראני

כולם נדפסים ב מקראות גדולות הכתר: תהלים א'-ב' (אוניברסיות בר-אילן, תשס"ג).

סעדיה גאון: תהלים עם תרגום ופרוש הגאון רב סעדיה, תרגם לעברית הרב יוסף קאפח (ירושלים, תשכ"ו).

מדרש תהלים

מלבי"ם נדפס במקראות גדולות וגם כאן.

Critical editions: Mayer Gruber, Rashi's Commentary on Psalms. Brill, 2004. (Reference BS1516 .R3813 2004)

Norman Strickman, Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra's Commentary on the First Book of Psalms, Academic Studies Press, 2006. (Reference BS1516 .I2613 2009)

i------. Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra's Commentary on the Second Book of Psalms, Academic Studies Press, 2009.

Modern Commentaries:

Alter, Robert, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary. Norton, 2007.

Briggs, Charles. The Book of Psalms. ICC. New York, 1907. Volume 2, Pss. 51-150

Cheyne, T.K., The Book of Psalms. London, 1888. Vol. 2 of 1904 edition.

Dahood, Mitchell. The Anchor Bible: Psalms. 3 vols.(New York, 1965-70.

Delitzsch, F. Psalms. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1883. Volume 1, Pss. 1-35

Gerstenberger, Erhard. The Forms of the Old Testament Literature, Vols. XIV-XV: Psalms (Grand Rapids, 1988 and 2001).

Kirkpatrick, A. F. The Book of Psalms. 3 Vols. Cambridge 1906.

Kraus, H. J. Psalms 1-59. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993).

Word Biblical Commentary (On Reserve)

            Craigie, Peter. Psalms 1-50 (Waco, 1983, revised in 2004)

            Tate, Marvin. Psalms 51-100 (Dallas, 1990)

            Allen, Leslie. Psalms 101-150 (Waco, 1983 revised in 2002)

פיבל מלצר, פני ספר תהלים. ירושלים 1983.

חכם, עמוס. דעת מקרא: ספר תהלים. (ירושלים, תשל"ט).

עולם התנ"ך: תהלים. (תל-אביב: תשנ"ד).