Religion 275:
Winter 2013
Taught by
Prof. Marks
God and the Holocaust: Syllabus
Through drama, poetry, theology, memoir, and book-inspired films composed by
Holocaust victims and later writers, we explore how Jews have addressed the
question, “Where was God during the Holocaust?” Their answers range from
acquiescent faith to angry rejection, and to paradoxical wrestling with an
absent God. We begin with the biblical book of Job and then read a modern
interpretation of it by Elie Wiesel called “The Trial of God.” We study
traditional Jewish writings about national catastrophes and the Messiah,
including the Book of Lamentations. We then compare these ancient ideas
with our main topic of study: the ideas and experiences of modern Jews
confronting the theological problem of the Holocaust. A discussion-centered
course.
Required Books
The
Trial of God,
Elie Wiesel
Course-pack in 3 parts [CP]
Attendance of classes and informed discussion of reading
assignments –25 %
Introductions to assigned readings, on dates to be
assigned –10 %
Three 5-page papers – 45%
Final 5-page paper, due during exam week – 17%
Personal rewrite of the arguments in Act 3 of “Trial of
God” – due April 4, 3%
Meetings
and Assignments:
January
8 Introduction to the course; introduction to the Book
of Job
Questions and the Traditional Answers
10 Job 1
The Book of Job:
Read the introduction, Chapters 3-14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 31, and all the study
notes. (Analyze the speeches of Eliphaz in
Chapters 4-5, Bildad in 8:2-7,
Zophar in Chap. 11. How do they explain Job's suffering? There is more than
one explanation.
Of what does Job accuse God in Chapters 9, 16, 19, 21:7-34, and
23? What are the images that Job uses to describe God?)
[CP]
Read Psalm 73 [CP] (Compare with the problem and solutions in Book of Job.)
15 Job 2. Trial of God, part 1
Read: Book of Job 38–42:6 and study notes. (What parts of the
inanimate world appear in the speech of God, and why these things?
How do the
examples of the animals serve as a response to Job's questions? Why does Job
“yield and repent”;
what has changed?) [CP]
Read: “Answers,” Kushner [CP]
Read: Wiesel, Trial of God, Act 1
(Please don’t read the introduction by Brown until you finish.)
Read: Purim and Selections from the Book
of Esther [CP]
17 Trial 2
Read: Trial of God, Acts 2 and
3. Compare with the Book of Job.
22 The Traditional Judaic Worldview
Selections from the Jewish Prayer Book (2nd. c. C.E.): Sh’ma and Amidah; Aleinu; two prayers of
gratitude [CP]
Selections from The Way of Torah,
Neusner [CP]
Bible passages about the covenant [CP]
24 Traditional Biblical and Judaic responses to national
catastrophe
Book of Lamentations (Chaps. 1, 2,
and 5); also read introduction and study notes [CP]
Tahanun: prayers of supplication
[CP]
The Crusade Chronicle of Solomon bar
Simeon (11th c.) [CP]
29 Paper 1 due. Class discussion.
The Death of God
31 Two atheist memoirs, two poems
Primo Levi, excerpts from Survival in
Auschwitz [CP]
Two poems by Primo Levi: “Shema” “For
Adolph Eichmann” [CP]
Excerpts from Shattered faith by
Leon Weliczker [CP]
February
5 View “Fateless” –based on a novel by Imre Kertész
(Nobel Prize winner, Hungary, b.1929), screenplay by Kertész,
directed by Lajos Koltai; Hungarian, 2002, 140 min. Watch at TMC.
Read: Excerpts from the novel by Kertész
[CP]
7 Poetry of Denial, 1 [CP]
Hirsh Glick (Lithuania, 1922-44):
“Silence and…” “Never Say”
Simcha Bunim Shayevistch (Poland,
1907-1944): “from Spring 1942”
“The Threnodist and the Threnody of the
Holocaust” (on Katzenelson)
Yitzhak Katenelson (Lithuania, 1886-1944): “from the
Song of the Murdered Jewish People”
12 Poetry of Denial, 2 [CP]
Jacob Glatstein (Poland/USA, 1896–1971): “God is a sad…” “Without Jews” “Lament
for the Souls…” “Smoke” “Cloud-Jew” “Nightsong”
Uri Zvi Greenberg (Galicia/Israel, 1896-1981): “Song to the Earth,” “To the
Mound…” “To God in Europe” (I, II, IV)
14 The Death of God in Jewish theology
Richard Rubenstein, “The Making of a
Rabbi,” “Symposium on Jewish Belief” (1966) [CP]
The Faith and Doubt of Holocaust
Survivors,
pp. 85-104, 109-118 (atheist responses)
26 View “The Pawnbroker” –based on a novel by Edward Lewis
Wallant (1926-62, American), screenplay by Morton Fine,
directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Rod Steiger and
Jaime Sánchez,
1965, 110 min. Watch at TMC
Read:
Excerpts from The Pawnbroker [CP]
28 Paper 2 due. Class discussion.
Sparks of Faith
March
5 Theology 1
Skim: G. Greenberg, “Between Holocaust
and Redemption” (Traditional Orthodox interpretations)
Read: Martin Buber, “The Dialogue Between
Heaven and Earth” (1952)
Abraham Joshua Heschel, “The Meaning of
This Hour” (1967)
7 Poems of pain and hope
Aaron Zeitlin (Poland/USA, 1898-1973),
Selected poems
Nelly Sachs (Germany/Sweden, 1891-1970),
Selected poems
12 Theology 2
Eliezer Berkovits, “Faith after the
Holocaust” (1973)
Irving Greenberg, from “Cloud of Smoke,
Pillar of Fire” (1977)
19 Four short texts from Elie Wiesel and an interview
“The Death of my Father” and “Yom Kippur”
and “Stories”
“Ani Maamin”
Berenbaum, on Wiesel’s “Ani Maamin,” from
Vision of the Void
“Wrestling with God,” an interview
21 Theology 3
Harold Kushner, “Answers,” pp. 188-202
[CP-1]
Melissa Raphael, from The Female Face
of God in Auschwitz (2003)
26 View “The Quarrel” – screenplay by David Brandes based
loosely on a story by Chaim Grade (Lithuania/USA, 1910-82);
Canadian, 1990, 90 min. View at TMC
Read excerpts from the screenplay by
David Landes [CP]
Read The Faith and Doubt of Holocaust
Survivors, pp. 104-107, 118-125, 212-25 [CP-2]
28 Paper 3 due. Class discussion.
April
2 Meet with instructor to discuss your final paper.
4 “Trial of God” Revisited
Review Trial of
God
Students present revisions of the trial
in class.