BIBL1609E: Book of Devarim Advanced

Abstract

The rabbinic nickname of Sefer Devarim is Mishneh Torah, from where the English nickname Deuteronomy, or Second Law/Repetition of Law, is derived. This course will examine how Sefer Devarim retells and modifies narratives and laws that were mentioned earlier in the Torah. We will also consider the unique ways the Book of Devarim addresses a generation of Bnei Yisrael that did not experience the Revelation at Sinai or the Exodus and is about to enter the Promised Land without Moshe. Learning will be based on the Biblical text as well as classical and modern commentaries.