JUDS 1571: The Individual in Society: Capital Punishment, Torture, Testimony

Abstract

Course Purposes: This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the varied approaches in the history and literature of Jewish Law to issues in Social and Political ethics, and their contemporary application. This will be achieved through the study of selected, illustrative topics from their earliest ancient legal roots, through medieval elaboration and codification, to contemporary judicial decisions. The course shall also serve as an introduction to the history and literature of Jewish Law. The dynamic elements of the legal system will be systematically investigated. The first few sessions will be devoted to a survey of the legal and literary sources of Jewish Law based on the four volume work by Menachem Elon, Jewish Law, J.P.S., Phila., 1994. The topics to be studied are: Capital Punishment, and Torture, and Testimony Against Fellow Jews in Non- Jewish Courts