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November 8, 2002
University strikes gold
Diamond lecture covers rabbinic Judaism's beginnings.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
The Norman Rothstein Theatre became a university lecture hall Oct.
26. Some 150 students-for-a-night came out to hear University of
British Columbia Prof. Rabbi Robert Daum, the school's new Diamond
chair in Jewish law and ethics, give his inaugural lecture.
In his academic address, entitled Mything the Point: The Founding
Moment of Rabbinic Judaism, Daum presented a very detailed overview
of what is considered to be the formative stage of rabbinic Judaism,
the period between the fall of the Temple in 70 CE and the defeat
of Bar Kochba in 135 CE. He set out to answer four questions with
which the founders would have been faced: Who is in charge now?
How will the law be determined? Are there limits to the authority
of the new leaders? and What will be Jerusalem's status without
the Temple?
The transition to a text-based Jewish culture able to survive without
Temple or priesthood took place mainly at the legendary rabbinic
academy of Yavneh, explained Daum. It is said to have been completed
by the sages of Yavneh, the Tannaim, however, Daum believes that
the emergence of rabbinic Judaism took several centuries after the
Tannaitic-era sages left Yavneh. He also described it as a far more
complex process than the period's texts and later sources suggest.
In response to his four questions, Daum concluded that the talmudic
sages presented themselves as the heirs to Moses. As for how laws
would be determined, Daum said the rabbis rejected an ongoing role
for prophecy and insisted on a balance between received traditions
and new insights of members of the rabbinic scholar class, with
interpretation based on precisely formulated parameters. The rabbis
agreed that local custom must be respected, said Daum, and they
stopped short of transferring the sanctity of Jerusalem to any other
location.
Prof. Phillip Harding, chair, department of classical, near eastern
and religious studies at UBC, opened the evening, thanking the Diamond
family for their "courage and foresight" in investing
in the chair. The position was co-funded by the Diamonds and the
university.
Dr. Nancy Gallini, dean, faculty of arts, UBC, also thanked the
Diamond family and then spoke of the growing relationship between
the Jewish community and UBC, mentioning the Sophie Waldman endowment
that ensures a Holocaust course is taught annually and the Zeisler
fund that brings a lecturer to UBC and the Jewish community each
year. Gallini enthusiastically praised Daum and his academic accomplishments,
saying that, upon meeting Daum, her first thought was that "UBC
had struck gold."
Betty Nitkin, adult education co-ordinator of the JCC, wrapped up
the thought-provoking evening with a few words of thanks and a preview
of upcoming UBC courses at the JCC. For more information, call UBC
at 604-822-1444.
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