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Courses - Fall 2025
JWST
Jewish Studies Department Site
JWST230
Inventing Traditions: The Making of Rabbinic Judaism
Credits: 3
Grad Meth: Reg, P-F, Aud
GenEd: DSHS or DSHU, SCIS
Cross-listed with: HIST281, RELS230.
Credit only granted for: HIST281, JWST230, RELS219C or RELS230.
Formerly: RELS219C.
Introduces the dramatic literary and cultural (as well as political and demographic) innovations that reshaped Judaism in late antiquity. Examines the fundamental works and genres of rabbinic literature and the religious movement that produced them. Special emphasis on the rabbinic uses of "tradition" to enhance authority and legitimacy, and to foster group identity.