REFLECTIONS ON STUDYING JEWISH TEXTS

BY DR. DAVID M. GORDIS

What sets human beings apart from other forms of life is not intelligence alone; other intelligent beings exist and scientists are learning more about them all the time. Nor can we claim uniqueness in our use of language; other life forms appear to communicate using at least rudimentary forms of language. Our uniqueness lies in our ability to reflect upon the experience of living and to use language to describe, interpret and communicate that experience.

The written record of a community's interpretation of human experience constitutes the core of its culture. A people's view of the experience of being human is embodied in its literature. And that explains the centrality of the study of text in education generally and the emphasis on text in Jewish education in particular, because the goal of Jewish education is to sustain the continuity of Jewish life by shaping a community at home in its culture and civilization.

This view of text—as the cornerstone of culture, as the vehicle for transmitting the Jewish people's understanding of human experience and the community's value system, and as the distillation of our people's history of shaping their responses to the challenges of living—informs programs of study at Hebrew College in theory and in practice. The study of Bible, rabbinics, Jewish thought, liturgy, classical Jewish commentaries, history, Hebrew language and literature, and contemporary Jewish life is either focused on text study or relies on texts to ground discussions and explorations solidly.

As we are shaped by this encounter with our people's texts, forming our identity as individuals and collectively, we, in turn, continue to shape and reshape that record for future generations.

The study of classical Jewish texts, preferably in their original languages—hearing them as they were conceived without the inevitable distortion of translation—introduces students to the diversity of Jewish personalities reacting and responding to life's experiences. Text study also conveys the ways that our community developed its system of values, expressed its understanding of the origins of the world and human existence, articulated a theology and shaped its hopes and expectations, both for the individual and for the community. The study of core texts is a critical instrument for creating citizens of the Jewish world who are prepared to be informed participants in the life of the community.

But study at Hebrew College must be sensitive to aspects of text study that go well beyond the cognitive realm of acquiring information about the Jewish past. Students come to Hebrew College to acquire the wherewithal to shape themselves as multidimensional human beings. They are on a path toward understanding and forming their own identity, clarifying their beliefs and attitudes and coming to terms with life's possibilities and limits.

The term spirituality is widely if somewhat imprecisely used to describe dimensions of human experience that transcend the everyday—dimensions that are often difficult or impossible to convey in ordinary language. More poetic than prosaic, these elusive dimensions deal with issues of meaning rather than mere information. They tap into people's age-old search to access and articulate the presence of the transcendent in their lives. Poetry, prophecy, psalm and liturgy convey more than information—they serve as literary guides along the path, both noble and tragic, toward perhaps unattainable access to the transcendent.

Students exploring texts at Hebrew College are sensitized to the richness of these facets of text—without compromising the rigorous examination of literary genre, language, syntax and historical background. Rather than competitive or antithetical, these "spiritual" and intellectual modes of study are complementary, each strengthening and enhancing the other.

Central to Hebrew College's approach is this dialogical mode of text study. It continues the tradition of the reflexive nature of text study in the Jewish experience. Jewish literature represents an anthology of our people's encounter with all aspects of life. In reading this literature with sensitivity to life's multiple dimensions, we join that complex, challenging but exciting process of adding richness and depth to our lives—drawing from the record of our people's experience and creative response to it. As we are shaped by this encounter with our people's texts, forming our identity as individuals and collectively, we, in turn, continue to shape and reshape that record for future generations.

In preparing our students to participate in this process—and guiding them, in turn, to introduce those whom they will teach and lead into this text-based conversation with Jewish tradition and culture—we bring depth and substance to the experience of being human through Judaism today and equip the Jewish community to continue on this path for the future.

Dr. David M. Gordis is President of Hebrew College
and Professor of Rabbinics.

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