Course Offerings
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COURSES FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2009-2010
FALL 2009
JUDS 0050A Believers, Agnostics, and Atheists in Contemporary Fiction - David Jacobson
Contemporary Society is divided over issues of religious faith. In recent decades there has been Resurgence of religious faith, while at the same time many have been skeptical and even hostile to religious belief and practice. Others are just not sure what to believe. In this seminar, we will read and discuss contemporary short stories and novels that explore the ways that these ongoing differences over spiritual matters affect people. These works portray a variety of human situations: the affirmation and rejection of religious faith, confusion over the existence and nature of God, and positive and negative views of religious institutions and the clergy who lead them. Writers of both Christian and Jewish background will be studied. First Year Seminar
JUDS 0092 Philosophers, Messiahs, and Mystics: Early Modern Judaism - Anne Albert
No longer medieval and not yet modern, the early modern period (1492-1750) was a time of rapid cultural transformation for Europe's Jews. This course surveys the Iberian expulsion and the creation of “New Christian” and “crypto-Jewish” religiosity and the Sephardi diaspora; the impact on Jewish thought of print, scientific advances, revolutionary philosophies, and geographic discoveries; Jewish structures of authority, gender roles, and self-differentiation from the surrounding culture; Jewish mysticism and messianism; and the beginnings of Hasidism and the Jewish enlightenment. We will examine the Jewish relationship to “tradition” as the middle ages gradually gave way to modernity.
JUDS 0110 Elementary Hebrew - Ruth Adler Ben-Yehuda
An introduction to the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in contemporary Israeli Hebrew. Students also read Hebrew texts adapted for their level of Hebrew based on biblical, rabbinic and modern Hebrew literature, which introduces them to the approaches of Hebrew writers in various periods and to a variety of cultural issues. Enrollment limited to 20. If Unable to enroll because of closed registration, please contact the Professor and a wait list will be created. This is the first half of a year-long course whose first semester grade is normally a temporary one. Neither semester may be elected independently without special written permission. The final grade at the end of the course work in JUDS 0120 covers the entire year and is recorded as the final grade for both semesters.
JUDS 0130 Intermediate Hebrew - Ruth Adler Ben-Yehuda
Develops the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in contemporary Israeli Hebrew at the intermediate level and of reading Hebrew texts of the biblical, rabbinic, and modern periods (biblical stories, rabbinic legends, Modern Hebrew poems, stories, essays, and newspaper articles). Discussions and compositions focus on the psychological, cultural, political, and social issues reflected in the Hebrew sources that we study. Prerequisite: JUDS0120 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 20. If unable to enroll because of closed registration please contact the Professor and a waitlist will be created.
JUDS 0150 Writing and Speaking Hebrew - Ruth Adler Ben-Yehuda
Enables students to improve their skills in speaking and writing Hebrew on a variety of topics. Features advanced work on language structure and active language practice in the classroom. Class discussions of Israeli current events draw on Israeli stories, poems, television programs, and films and on the Israeli press. Students also compose essays and stories in Hebrew. Prerequisites: JUDS 0140 or equivalent.
JUDS 0170 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew - Jennifer Singletary
An intensive introduction to the fundamentals of biblical Hebrew grammar and vocabulary intended to prepare students to read biblical texts in the original language. For students with little or no prior knowledge of Hebrew.
JUDS 0320* Israelite Religion - Saul Olyan
*Interested students must register for RELS 0320.
The origins and development of ancient Israel's religious beliefs, rituals and cultic institutions will be considered from an historical and contextual (i.e., wider West Asian) perspective. Topics include method in reconstructing religion; myth, epic and history; the identity of Yahweh, Israel's national god; covenant; Yahweh and other deities (monolatry and monotheism; angels; a consort of Yahweh?); temples, their iconography and ideologies; festivals and sacrifice; purity; death and afterlife; religious specialists (priests, prophets, mediums, professional mourners). No prerequisites.
JUDS 0
410 Talmud - Michael Satlow
Written from the first - seventh centuries CE, the Talmud (which runs to 20 volumes) contains law, lore, theological speculation, and complex argumentation. We will read a selection in depth and examine both traditional and modern critical (e.g. historical and literary) approaches to this fundamental text. No prerequisites; all texts in English translation.
JUDS 0650 History of Zionism and the Birth of Israel - Maud Mandel
Examines the history of the Zionist movement within the context of the history of European nationalism and as one of numerous Jewish political responses to rising antisemitism. Explores the ideological and political foundations of the Zionist movement until Israel's establishment as well as broader concerns of Jewish politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
JUDS 0980B God and Poetry - David Jacobson
Throughout recorded history, poetry has expressed a variety of religious experiences. In this seminar we read selections from the Hebrew poetic tradition (in English translation), including the biblical psalms, medieval sacred poetry, and modern poetry, and explore how the language of poetry can serve as a means to convey the nature of relations between humanity and God. Enrollment limited to 20.
JUDS 0980T The Ethics of the Neighbor - Michael Gottsegen
We are enjoined to “love thy neighbor as thyself,” but who is my neighbor? Neither brother nor stranger, nor friend nor enemy, my neighbor is encountered between the family and the polis. This seminar will investigate the figure of the “neighbor” and the religious, ethical and political problematics that have encircled this figure from its biblical beginnings, through its post-biblical religious development, to its reinterpretations, both secular and religious, in the modern and contemporary period.
JUDS 1011* Media and Memory: Representing the Holocaust - Lynn Joyrich
*Interested students must register for MCM 1502U. The Holocaust has been described as unimaginable, at the limits of representation. Yet there have been numerous attempts to imagine and represent it, across media (film, television, graphic novels), genres (documentary, melodrama, comedy, fantasy), and modalities (through history and memory, "high" and "low" culture, fiction and nonfiction, reporting and marketing). Considering such attempts to represent the unrepresentable and "mediate" the immediacy of trauma, this course will explore media texts and theoretical/philosophical reflections on the Holocaust. Enrollment limited to 20. Prerequisite: one of the following: MCM 0100, MCM 0150, MCM 0230, MCM 0240, MCM 0250, MCM 0260, MCM 1110. Preferences given to juniors, seniors, and graduate students. All others seek permission from the instructor.
JUDS 1390 The Archeology of Jerusalem - Katharina Galor
Jerusalem constitutes one of the most important archaeological sites connected to the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Early Islam. In this class we will explore the material remains of the city beginning with David's conquest in ca. 1000 BC through the Crusaders' defeat in 1187 CE. The contemporary literary sources as well as the more recent scholarly debates and discoveries help us understand the material remains of the relevant periods.
JUDS 1971* Memoirs and Memory: The Individual Experience of Modern Jewish Life - Maud Mandel
*Interested students must register for HIST 1971Z. By comparing memoirs from the early modern period through contemporary times and from widely diverging geographical settings such as eastern, central and western Europe, North Africa, the U.S., and Palestine/ Israel, this course considers how Jews in different historical settings have understood their Jewishness and their relationship to their past, as well as the historian's view in this relationship. Enrollment limited to 20.
JUDS 1981B Debating Secularization and its Theories - Michael Gottsegen
This course surveys the modern debate concerning the specific nature of secularization and its religious, philosophical and political significance, and the current controversy concerning the adequacy of the secularization thesis. The focus will be on European thought since Spinoza, with reference to scientific rationalism’s critique of Western monotheism and the political critique of religious absolutism. Jewish responses to secularization and secularism will be considered. Readings include: Spinoza, Marx, Weber, Schmitt, Strauss, Blumenberg, and Taylor.
JUDS 1981C* Minority News: Radical Reporting and Reading - Marcy Brink-Danan
*Interested students must register for HMAN 1970L. By reading historical and contemporary accounts of minority newspapers, journalists and readerships, this course offers a comparative view of how small communities envision their role in the public sphere and how they create counterpublics. In addition to our focus on traditional news media, we examine the role new media play in transforming minority representation. Students in this course also engage in original research into the state of today's minority presses, their rhetorics and audiences.
SPRING 2010
JUDS 0019* Death and Afterlife in the Biblical Tradition - Saul Olyan
*Interested students must register for RELS 0020. A close analysis of the development of ideas about death and the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible and in the literatures of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Topics: life and death in Israel and ancient West Asia; the abode of the dead and its denizens; from Sheol to Heaven, Hell, and the final judgment; religious specialists, rituals, and the literature of death: necromancy; burial and mourning rites; cults of the dead ancestor. No prerequisites.
JUDS 0080 Jewish Art and Architecture from Antiquity to Modernity - Katharina Galor
This course is divided thematically and chronologically and overviews ancient, medieval, and modern through contemporary times. The last session will be devoted to the Jewish lifecycle. Artifacts and monuments will be examined from a stylistic esthetic and visual point of view. They will be placed into their historical context and evaluated critically from a social, religious and if applicable political point of view.
JUDS 0120 Elementary Hebrew - Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda
This is the second half of a year long course, an introduction to the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in contemporary Israeli Hebrew. Students also read Hebrew texts adapted for their level of Hebrew based on biblical, rabbinic and modern Hebrew literature, which introduces them to the approaches of Hebrew writers in various periods to a variety of cultural issues. Students must have taken JUDS0110 to receive credit for this course. The final grade for this course will become the final grade for JUDS0110. If JUDS0110 was taken for credit then this course must be taken for credit; if taken as an audit, this course must also be taken as an audit. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by both the academic department and the Committee on Academic Standing. Enrollment limited to 20. If unable to enroll because of closed registration please contact the Professor and a wait list will be created.
JUDS0140 Intermediate Hebrew - Ruth Adler Ben Yehuda
Develops the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in contemporary Israeli Hebrew at the intermediate level and of reading Hebrew texts of the biblical, rabbinic, and modern periods (biblical stories, rabbinic legends, Modern Hebrew poems, stories, essays, and newspaper articles). Discussions and compositions focus on the psychological, cultural, political, and social issues reflected in the Hebrew sources that we study. Prerequisite: JUDS0120 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 20. If unable to enroll because of closed registration please contact the Professor and a waitlist will be created.
JUDS 0180 Readings in Biblical Hebrew - Jennifer Singletary
An Introduction to the reading of biblical texts in Hebrew. Reading of selected texts from narrative, law, and poetry in the Hebrew Bible, with a few texts in post-classical Hebrew (the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Mishnah) introduced late in the semester. Intended for students who have completed JUDS 0170; others should consult the instructor.
JUDS 0260 The Bible as Literature - David Jacobson
Explores how methods of literary analysis can be applied to the reading of narratives of the Hebrew Bible (in English translation). Also compares the ways that writers have transformed biblical stories into new interpretive literary works. All readings in English.
JUDS 0300 Israeli Literature in Hebrew - David Jacobson
For students interested in reading selections of Hebrew fiction, drama, and poetry. Concentrates on major issues of the State of Israel, for example: the relationship between modernity and tradition, responses to the Holocaust, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and other cultural, social, and political issues. Israeli feature films are viewed and discussed. Conducted in Hebrew. Emphasizes strengthening Hebrew reading, writing, and speaking skills. Prerequisite: JUDS0150. Students who have not taken JUDS0150 should see instructor for permission to enroll.
JUDS 0870 Israeli Society - Marcy Brink-Danan
Focuses on the social, economic, political, and immigration factors shaping the emergence of Israeli society. Traces the selective movement of the Jews to Palestine and the establishment of the state of Israel, the development of ethnic diversity, the changing Arab minority, and general patterns of socioeconomic development. Issues of ethnic-religious assimilation, social inequalities, segregation, ethnic intermarriage, social mobility, and religiosity are examined.
JUDS 0980R "Member of the Tribe?": Conversion To and From Judaism - Anne Albert
What does it mean to be a "member of the tribe"? Is Jewishness determined by birth, behavior, or beliefs? What is the status of a Jew who adopts practices from other traditions, who has been forced to convert, or who marries a non-Jew? Does Judaism welcome converts from other religions? What leads a person to undertake such an essential transformation of identity, which can affect every aspect of life, from food to spiritual fulfillment? This seminar will examine the lives of converts to and from Judaism, as well as religious and cultural attitudes toward conversion, from ancient times to the present.
JUDS 1004* Esthers of the Diaspora - Nelson Vieira
*Interested students must register for POBS 1500H.
Fiction by and/or about Jewish women from Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile, and Cuba. Evoking the image of the biblical Queen Esther who lived between two worlds, these Jewish voices will be discussed from the perspectives of feminist, hybrid, diasporic, and transcultural theories. Special attention to Brazil's Clarice Lispector. The expression of the role of women vis-à-vis the immigrant experience will also be discussed. Conducted in English.
JUDS 1530 Exilic Response to Crisis: Biblical Literature of the Sixth Century B.C.E. - Saul Olyan
The exile of Judah's elite to Babylon elicited profound and conflicting literary responses. We will undertake a literary and historical analysis of a number of the most important works produced in response to the crisis of exile, including Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Second Isaiah, Lamentations, Psalm 137, the Priestly Writing, and the work of the exilic deuteronomists.
JUDS 1980N Hannah Arendt and the Jewish Condition - Michael Gottsegen
We will consider Hannah Arendt’s analysis of the “Jewish question” in modern European history as a reflection of the crisis of the modern nation state and how her political philosophy of human plurality would “overcome” this problem and the “crisis” of modernity, more generally. We will also consider her sustained engagement with Jewish modernity, the Holocaust and Zionism.
JUDS 1980Q Jews and Muslims - Maud Mandel
This course considers interactions between Muslims and Jews in various historical settings from early modern and modern Europe to the contemporary Middle East. The course is intended neither as a general survey nor as a country-by-country analysis. Rather, the goal is to move beyond simplistic histories of interfaith utopia, Islamic persecution, and Zionist domination to consider the complexities of ethno-religious interaction in a variety of social, cultural, economic and political contexts. One of our central questions will be to explore how a variety of historians, anthropologists, and social commentators have described and analyzed Jewish/Muslim interactions to date and to think about alternative analytic or interpretative framework that might be illuminating. Enrollment limited to 20.
JUDS 1981A One World Ready or Not: Religious and Secular Approaches to Globalization - Michael Gottsegen
Bringing secular and religious ethical conceptions to bear, we will focus on the ethics of globalization, with reference to questions of international distributive justice, human rights, global governance and sovereignty. After exploring the contours of globalization, we will consider the consequent ethical and policy challenges from the standpoint of secular theories of justice and from Jewish and Christian religious perspectives. Enrollment limited to 20.