(Or "I Pshat the Torah")
​​​​​​​Shiur with Rabbi Robert Harris  

Via Zoom: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/6552033166 

Jews and Christians generally lived in close proximity in 11th–12th century Europe, the era when biblical commentaries as we know them came into being.  Among the rabbis, we will study the commentaries of such figures as Rashi, Rashbam and R. Abraham ibn Ezra; among the churchmen, we will meet Hugh and Andrew of St. Victor, the school that fundamentally shaped the creation of the University of Paris.  On a day to day basis, Jew and Christians spoke the same languages and dressed alike, and ghettos were not yet established.  But stark differences marked their interrelationships as well.  This course introduces participants to medieval rabbinic biblical commentary, and examines the commonalities and differences between Jews and Christians in the enterprise of biblical interpretation.  We will explore the mutual influences that rabbis and church leaders had on one another and the polemics through which they often interacted.