In this reading exercise, we shall read together an assortment of early kabbalistic texts, from a wide range of authors, styles, genres, and themes, originating in the first two centuries to the emergence of the Kabbalah, mostly from southwestern Europe, from Sefer ha-Bahir and Provencal kabbalists to the literature of late thirteenth and early fourteenth Iberian Kabbalah. The organizing theme of the exercise will be "Shi'ur Komah", that is the varied appearances of the human body, in all its different conceptualizations and visualizations, in the Kabbalistic literature. Our joint reading will introduce us to different representations of the divine and its structures; to discussions of the relation of the divine to the structures in the lower worldly realms, and especially that of the concrete human body. We shall study together both theoretical, theosophical texts, and practical ones; both discussions characterized with ease towards anthropomorphic portrayals and such that tend to philosophical abstraction.

At the heart of the exercise stands the close reading in the primary texts. The exercise aims to provide students with reading skills that will allow them to approach these medieval texts, both in terms of their language, terminologies and style, and in terms of the contents and contexts, allowing their comprehension. In addition, we shall learn analytical and philological skills, to allow us to bind our readings to current scholarly discourse over these texts and their meaning. Each session will include an in-depth reading of one or two primary texts, accompanied with a scholarly article.

Requirments of the Course: Active participation, two small assignments during the semester and a final assignment, at its end.