Studying Maimonides
Jonah Katz, ‘25

One of the most intellectually challenging courses I’ve taken in the Jewish Studies program has been The Guide of the Perplexed with Professor Brock Bahler, where I engage in close readings of Maimonides’ profound philosophical work. This class has encouraged me to grapple with questions of faith and reason, and learn how Judaism can accommodate both within its framework. Maimonides addresses complex questions about God, creation, and the nature of evil, urging readers to consider faith through the lens of rational inquiry. His perspective on intellectual exploration within a religious framework has been eye-opening, showing me how Jewish thought can encourage critical inquiry alongside religious devotion.

One of the most memorable discussions we had in this class was on the topic of God’s attributes. In The Guide, Maimonides argues that God is ultimately unknowable and cannot be fully comprehended or described by human language. This idea was challenging for me, as it suggested that faith allows for mystery and an acceptance of the limits of human understanding. Instead of relying on concrete descriptions, Maimonides encourages a form of “negative theology” in which believers describe God by what God is not, rather than by what God is. This perspective challenged my assumptions about the nature of religion, showing me a model in which faith does not require all questions to have definitive answers. This approach has deeply influenced my personal understanding of Judaism, as I now appreciate the ways Jewish thought allows for both devotion and intellectual humility.

Researching Bertha Pappenheim
Basia Silverberg, ‘24

I first encountered Bertha Pappenheim in Dr. Rachel Kranson’s Gender and Jewish History course. Pappenheim was a Central-European Jewish feminist of the early twentieth century. While she is probably best known for being Freud’s patient under the name “Anna O,” in our class we focused on how she founded the League of Jewish Women in 1904.

I was initially drawn to Pappenheim’s paper “The Jewish Woman in Religious Life” because of how it challenged Jewish norms of femininity using the tools of German feminist thought. Her familiarity with both German feminism and Jewish traditions informed her activism and allowed her to call out injustice at the intersection of her identities.

As I continued to delve into Pappenheim’s life, I learned more about the differences between Jewish and non-Jewish German feminists in the early twentieth century. As a Jewish woman living in Germany, Pappenheim understood that she had to conform to both the German and Jewish expectations of being a woman. Moreover, she recognized the Jewish desire to take on many German practices in order to assimilate more smoothly into society. Many non-Jewish feminists of the time were successful in their advocacy, but Pappenheim understood that Jewish women faced somewhat different obstacles. Upon following the German feminist movement and watching its success, Pappenheim was inspired to fight for more equality for Jewish women.

One of Pappenheim’s strategies for Jewish women’s equality was to foster opportunities for women’s leadership roles. In particular, Pappenheim encouraged Jewish women to engage in philanthropic endeavors that would serve Jews and non-Jews alike. These public-facing roles, she felt, would empower Jewish women as they bettered society as a whole.