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MA Honors 2014/15 | Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities

MA Honors 2014/15

Veronik  Avissar

Veronik Avissar

Philosophy

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Subject: Are we obligated to forgive the people we love?

Supervisor: Dr. Sharon Krishek

Abstract: I am writing my thesis on a question that has been bothering me for quite some time, the question whether or not we are obligated to forgive the people we love? or, to put it somewhat differently, can we truly love someone and at the same time hold a negative attitude towards that person, believing that he wronged us?

 This is a complex question, which requires clarifying the basic terms with which it is concerns, namely forgiveness and love. In addition, it is also not clear what kind of obligation is in question. While every person on the street can understand the question asked, since it concerns two of the most basic concepts of human life, a closer look would reveal that it is far from easy to precisely define them.

 Given the complexity and width of the topic, I shall begin my discussion from the question whether or not we are ever obligated to forgive, regardless of our attitude towards the offender. Since our initial intuition is that an obligation to forgive belongs to the moral sphere, the first step would be ascertaining whether or not there could be a moral obligation to forgive.

 After concluding, through the discussion of the secondary literature on the subject, that in the moral sphere forgiveness is always supererogatory and never an obligation; I turn to a discussion of forgiveness as a religious duty, asking if forgiveness can be a moral prerogative and a religious duty. In this discussion I shall turn to Kierkegaard's conception of forgiveness, as presented in "Works of Love". His view is a view that binds forgiveness and love together.

 Yet deferring to Kierkegaard's view would entail accepting his religious framework, which many of us have trouble accepting. Trying to avoid an obligation to a religious-Christian framework, I shall check other models of love, in an attempt to ascertain whether there could be an obligation to forgive loved ones that is not of a religious nature. This inquiry will be based on the assumption that love does not necessarily belong to the moral domain. This will be the final step, after which I hope to offer a comprehensive answer to the question.

 

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Shraga  Bick

Shraga Bick

Comparative Religion

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Subject: 'But I am Prayer:' Voice, Body and the Anthropology of the Praying Self in Rabbinic and Syriac-Christian Literature

Supervisor: Prof. Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

Abstract: My work explores the complex relations between voice and silence, in regard to how prayer was designed and constructed in Rabbinic and Syriac-Christian literature in Late Antiquity. In the Thesis I examine the interplay between Rabbinic and Syriac literature regarding perceptions of body and language, and from that I continue on to explore the different attitudes towards silent and bodily prayer.

The work focuses on the works of Aphrahat, Ephrem, the Book of Steps and John of Apamea - all Syrian writings of the fourth and fifth centuries, and on rabbinic literature from roughly the same period.

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Mara  Friedman

Mara Friedman

Jewish History & Contemporary Judaism

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Subject: Conservative Judaism in Israel

Supervisor:  Prof. Eli Lederhendler

Abstract: The establishment and development of the Conservative Movement, as founded and promoted by American olim, and how it has had to adjust to the realities and desires of Israeli society. 

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Yona Gonopolsky

Yona Gonopolsky

Classical studies and Comparative Religion

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Subject: The Transition from The Upper Palaeolithic To the Epipalaeolithic In the Southern Levant And the Development of The Microlithic Technology.

Supervisor: Nigel Goring-Morris

Abstract: The doctoral dissertation focuses on one of the important developments in the of ancient hunting methods in the southern Levant. This change took place during the transition between the transition from the Upper Paleolithic to the Epipaleolithic periods (some 25,000 years ago), due to the development of microlithic tools (small stone tools, carefully designed in standard shapes, used to form composite projectile tools).
The study examines stone tool assemblages from several sites in the southern Levant from the end of the Upper Paleolithic and the beginning of the Epipaleolithic. By combine three different methods to analyze stone tool production (attribute analysis, experimental knapping and core refitting) the study aims to trace the source of this change and its evolution in terms of chronology, technology and style.
 

Bio: I have a BA and MA from the Classics Department of the Hebrew University. My PhD study deals with the verbal conceptualization of nonverbal cues in Ancient Greek. I am also interested in Greek phraseology in general, Greek sociolinguistics, representation of interpersonal communicative conventions in classical literature and characterization techniques in Greek literature. Also, I teach Greek and Latin and write and translate poetry (in and into Hebrew).

Publications:

From Jonah to Jesus and back: three Ways of Characterization and their Reverse Application (Paper in proccess)

President Stipend 2018/19

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Nir Idan

Nir Idan

History

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Subject: Charlatans in 17th Century Paris

Supervisor: Moshe Slohovsky

Abstract: My research deals with charlatans, medicine sellers who worked on stages in the market squares and streets, in 17th century Paris. Using texts documenting the performances of the most successful and well known duo of charlatans at the time I seek to position the phenomena in its context in terms of both history of medicine and history of theater. My goal is to understand how and why charlatans fashioned their unique style of performance, and what about it was appealing for their audience and customers.

Bio: I did my B.A. and M.A. in history in the Hebrew University. Co-editor of the journal “Hayo Haya – Young Forum for History”.

Presidential stipend 2016/17

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Ohad Kayam

Ohad Kayam

Arabic Language and Literature

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Subject: The Qurʼānic rhymed prose

Supervisor: Professor Simon Hopkins

 

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Eliana Kessler

Eliana Kessler

Department of Linguistics

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Subject: Valency Patterns and Alignment in Middle Persian

Supervisor: Dr. Eitan Grossman

Abstract: Middle Persian is a southwestern Iranian language, documented from the second century BCE to the ninth century CE. In my thesis I will use a large Middle Persian corpus to examine the valency patterns of approximately 70 verbs and describe the argument structure properties of different valency patterns in Middle Persian.

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Ariel Livneh

Ariel Livneh

Jewish Thought

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Subject: 'Original Sin' and the Reasons for Human Mortality in the Works of Rabbi Hillel of Verona

Supervisor: Dr. Caterina Rigo

Abstract: The purpose of my research is to analyze R. Hillel of Verona's unique approach to the topic of 'Original Sin', which is influenced both by Christian Scholasticism and Aristotelian rationalism in 13th century Italy. It appears that R. Hillel was the first Jewish philosopher who dedicated a separate and lengthy philosophical treatise to the idea of 'Original Sin' and to the question whether such sin is the cause of human mortality. In my research I aim to show, based on a philological-historical analysis, that R. Hillel created a unique interpretation to the idea of 'Original Sin', which combines both Aristotelian and Neoplatonic philosophies, and which is framed as a constant dialogue with the writings of his contemporary: the Christian scholar Thomans Aquinas. Furthermore, I will suggest that R. Hillel's course of discussion within a broader reference to Christian beliefs, reflects an important aspect of Jewish-Christian debate in 13th century Italy, not yet discussed academically. As part of my research, I will also prepare a critical edition to R. Hillel's treatise on 'Original Sin'.

 

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Adi Shiran

Adi Shiran

Arabic Language and Literature

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Subject: Al-Qirqisānī’s Commentary on Genesis 3

Supervisor: Miriam Goldstein

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Liora  Tamir

Liora Tamir

Islam and Middle-eastern studies 

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Subject: Irano-Islamic elements in Shahin Shirazi’s ‘Joseph and Zulaykha'

Supervisor: Dr. Julia Rubanovich 

Abstract: 

The goal of my thesis is to prepare an edition of a section of the work of Shahin Shirazi, the 14th century Jewish Persian poet, dedicated to the story of Joseph and Zulaykha (Potiphar's wife), in his lyrical epic work "Bereshit-Name" ("Book of Genesis"), in order to identify the influence of the Irano-Islamic tradition on his work. Shahin was a Jewish poet, living in a Persian and Muslim environment, writing in the Judeo-Persian dialect, deeply informed by and in conversation with the epic Persian tradition, as well as by Muslim sources, which also report a version of the story. The thesis will contribute to the still under researched but fascinating cross-cultural exchange at this place and time

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Shifra  Weiss

Shifra Weiss

Archaeology and the Ancient Near East

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Subject: The Judean Shephelah after the Assyrina Distruction: A view from Lachish

Supervisor: Prof. Yosef Garfinkel

Abstract: In 701 BCE, an Assyrian conquest lead by King Sennacherib reached Judah and brought destruction upon the settlements of the Judean Foothills. The common conception in research is that the Judean settlement in the Shephelah did not recover after this conquest. Recent excavations at Tel Lachish challange these conceptions regarding the extent of the Judean city in the 7th century BCE. Since Lachish was the cheif centre of the Shephelah, the extent of its resettlement reflects on this process in the entire region. The settlement pattern of the Judean Shephelah during this period is thus also reconsidered. 

The current project aims at a balanced picture of the settlement pattern in the Judean Foothills after the Assyrian conquest. The main issues that are explored are: when, where and how the Judean presence in the Shephelah recovered during the seventh century BC. This paper is a product of interdisciplinary research using evidence from archeological excavations, archaeological surveys, historical geography, Biblical sources, and other ancient historical records. The focal point of research is Lachish.

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