Objectives : To familiarize students with the study of primary sources including written and oral texts, sound recordings and musical scores, visual art and ritual objects, both as part of the cultures of the synagogue, and in their role in Jewish life across the global Jewish diaspora.

Learning Outcomes : Students will be learning how to combine distinct methodologies in the study of the cultures of the synagogue, and how to “map” their impact on visual and performing arts.

Content : This course examines various approaches to the study of aesthetics in Judaism and Jewish cultures and explores a variety of visual and performing arts, and their connection to textuality. Its focus is on the liturgy of the synagogue as a synesthetic experience encompassing the intertwined dimensions of time/form, space/architecture, language/literature, visual culture/art, sound/music, and material culture/objects, and the confluence of diverse and often conflicting aesthetic dimensions across the global diaspora. Particular attention will be paid to how aesthetic "values" such as non-linearity, repetition, and discontinuity bear an impact on the role of art in Jewish life. The course will also include fieldwork in synagogues and museums.

Methodology : The methodology adopted includes exploring distinct methodological approaches in the study of visual, musical, and material cultures (along with related canonical and rabbinic texts), and then generating a platform to research their synesthetic interactions in the realms of the synagogue and broader Jewish life. The course will blend lecture, seminar-style discussion, and fieldwork (in synagogues and museums) formats.

Means of Evaluation : Evaluation will be based on a combined class presentation and research paper.