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Jewish Studies


The Jewish Studies program examines Jews and Judaism from the perspective of different fields in the humanities and social sciences. This approach has two objectives: first, to train students in understanding various aspects of Jewish culture and society; and second, to guide students in exploring these topics by means of different disciplines and methodologies, such as history, religious studies, language and linguistics, literature, theology, political science, and anthropology. The program offers an excellent avenue for any student interested in a broad liberal arts education emphasizing evidence-based research, critical analysis, and writing. In addition, the major also provides an excellent foundation for those students who would like to pursue graduate-level work in Jewish Studies, a profession in the Jewish community, or any career suited to a knowledge of different cultures, societies, and historical eras. In an increasingly multicultural society, exposure to the global historical Jewish experience prepares students to pursue an active and informed place in the world, whatever their chosen career or life path. 

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Concentrations

Faculty

Chair
Hazel Gold
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Ellie Schainker
Core

Courses

JS 100-Level Courses

This course introduces students to the various questions, texts, methodologies, and perspectives that constitute the broad field of Jewish Studies. It presumes no prior knowledge of Jewish history, religion or culture.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 107
  • REL 121

Readings (in English) of major works from Biblical narrative to modern Hebrew, Yiddish, and Jewish fiction. Class discussions deal with topics such as Jewish identity, exile, humor, and satire. Satisfies GER IV.A.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 125

Jewish history in the last two centuries. Emphasizes Jewish development, emancipation, assimilation, identity, and changing status in Europe, America, the Islamic world, and Palestine/Israel.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 170


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Variety of subjects pertaining to Jewish studies at the introductory level. Content will vary. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Variety of subjects pertaining to Jewish studies at the introductory level. Content will vary. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Designed to engage first-year students in aspects of inquiry and research into areas of Jewish religion, culture, history, or language. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
3
GER
FS
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

JS 200-Level Courses

The Hebrew scriptures ("Old Testament"), in translation, examined in their historical setting, and in their roles as sacred texts in Judaism and Christianity.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 205

This course will explore classic religious texts in depth, developing skills to interpret sacred, philosophical and ethical works. Social, cultural, and/or philosophical contexts at work will provide interpretive frameworks.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 210R

This course will explore classic religious texts in depth, developing skills to interpret sacred, philosophical and ethical works. Social, cultural, and/or philosophical contexts at work will provide interpretive frameworks.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HAW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 210RW

Course offers an overview of the origins, development, and outcomes of National Socialism. It covers: the rise of Nazi Party, establishment of dictatorship, emergence of racial state, life of Jews and social outsiders, road to war, WWII, occupation of Europe, resistance, euthanasia, the Holocaust.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 218
  • GER 218

Readings in translation of Eastern European and Israeli authors, focusing on short fiction by Nachman of Bratslav, Abramovitsh, Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, Agnon, Appelfeld, Amichai, and Yehoshua. In English.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 222

This course introduces students to the many political institutions, ideological visions, and demographic divisions that have driven Israeli politics from 1948 through the present day. It also gives students a broad understanding of how political institutions operate in Israel and beyond.


Credit Hours
3
GER
SS
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 223
  • POLS 223

Explores the rituals and practices of Judaism, placing them in their historical context and examining the theological concepts that underpin them.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 225

A broad introduction to the history, literature, and film of Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Europe and America. All texts in English translation.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • GER 230

A careful examination of theory and methodology related to this branch of archaeology with special emphasis on famous discoveries, important sites, and the archaeological/historical background of Biblical events.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 250
  • REL 260

This course studies the histories of Jewish-Muslim encounters in three formative periods: at the origins of Islam in 7th-century Arabia; under the medieval caliphates; and during the era of modern nationalism and colonialism.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 256
  • HIST 256

This course studies the histories of Jewish-Muslim encounters in three formative periods: at the origins of Islam in 7th-century Arabia; under the medieval caliphates; and during the era of modern nationalism and colonialism.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HAWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 256W
  • HIST 256W

"From Arab Jew to Mizrahi" tells the story of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Jewish experiences in modern times, from these communities' lives in Islamic lands through their mass migration, mostly to Israel and the creation of a new culture there.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 257
  • HIST 257

Introduction to Jewish populations and cultures within the framework of four fields of general anthropology: biological, archaeological, cultural, and linguistic.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • ANT 258
  • REL 258

Like most peoples in world history, Jews have been victims of enslavement as well as enslavers and owners of enslaved people. Students in this course will analyze Jewish sources and subjects to study slavery as a historical phenomenon in one of the pre-eminent Jewish communities of the Middle East.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 264
  • HIST 264

Like most peoples in world history, Jews have been victims of enslavement as well as enslavers and owners of enslaved people. Students in this course will analyze Jewish sources and subjects to study slavery as a historical phenomenon in one of the pre-eminent Jewish communities of the Middle East.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HAWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 264W
  • HIST 264W

Covers the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the 1880s to today. It will introduce students to early Zionist debates and the late Ottoman context before discussing the British Mandate period, the State of Israel, and the Palestinian cause on the world stage after the 1967 war.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 268
  • MESAS 268
  • POLS 268

This course offers a general overview of the history of Jews and Judaism, beginning with the Biblical period and ending with modern times.


Credit Hours
3
GER
SSE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 270
  • MESAS 275

Special Topics in Jewish History: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish History. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish History: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish History. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Religion and Culture: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish Religion and Culture. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Religion and Culture: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish Religion and Culture. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Literature: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish Literature. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Literature: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish Literature. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

The course provides an overview of the history of modern German Jewry, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, in its social and cultural context with a focus on literary and philosophical controversies on Jewish emancipation, marginalization, and accounts on Jewish life in Germany.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • GER 280

JS 300-Level Courses

A data field and not a discipline, Jewish studies is an area in many disciplines. This course explores methods for studying the data of Jewish studies: historical, exegetical, theological, feminist, legal, plus many others.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Modern Jewish history, society, and thought, with emphasis on religious and secular reformulations of Jewish self-identity.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 309

This course examines medicine in Germany from 1933 to 1945 and the extreme examples of the excesses of modern medical culture it provides.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 315
  • GER 315

This course investigates Jewish culture and society in the Middle East, with special emphasis on the modern period. The approach is interdisciplinary (history, ethnography, religious study, and linguistics).


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 320

An analysis of the sociopolitical background and the horror of the Holocaust, followed by the popular as well as the theological responses of the Jewish and Christian communities.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 324

A course dealing with the history and structure of Judaic languages such as Hebrew, Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, and Ladino.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 326
  • LING 326

Survey of American Jewish history from colonial period to present, Jewish immigration to the United States, patterns of religious and cultural adjustment, social relations and antisemitism, Jewish politics, the construction of Jewish identities.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSCE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 329

On the eve of the Holocaust, a majority of world Jewry lived in Eastern Europe (esp.Poland, USSR).This course explores the origins, dynamic growth, and near destruction of East European Jewry from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust and the challenges to Jewish life in this region in the post-WWII era.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSCE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 338

On the eve of the Holocaust, a majority of world Jewry lived in Eastern Europe (esp.Poland, USSR).This course explores the origins, dynamic growth, and near destruction of East European Jewry from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust and the challenges to Jewish life in this region in the post-WWII era.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 338W

This course explores the historical context linking Jews to commerce and finance, and how that link became a defining narrative of 'modernity.' We will use economic history to understand modern anti-Semitism, mass migration, Jewish leftist politics, and rise of international Jewish philanthropy.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSCE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 339

Background and emergence of Rabbinic Judaism in 100-500 C.E., its institutions and beliefs: study, law, chosenness, messianic doctrine of god, revelation and prayer.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 340

Intensive study of a major work on an important theme in medieval Jewish thought such as Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed, Saadia's Beliefs and Opinions, and medieval Jewish exegesis of the Bible.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 341

Intensive study of a major work, author or movement; or of an important theme in modern Jewish thought, such as Heschel, Buber, reform, religious anthropology.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 343

As the destination of immigration for half a million Holocaust survivors, Israel is the center of formation of Holocaust literature. This course is a survey of works authored by survivors (Fink, Kovner, Appelfeld, Orlev), second generation (Keret), and Israel`s most popular author, Lea Goldberg.


Credit Hours
3
GER
ETHN
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 347

As the destination of immigration for half a million Holocaust survivors, Israel is the center of formation of Holocaust literature. This course is a survey of works authored by survivors (Fink, Kovner, Appelfeld, Orlev), second generation (Keret), and Israel`s most popular author, Lea Goldberg.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 347W

This course will explore the literatures of identity and belonging in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will cover Modern Hebrew literature authored by Jewish-Israeli writers and literature produced by Arab Palestinians in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Diaspora.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAPE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 348

This course will explore the literatures of identity and belonging in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It will cover Modern Hebrew literature authored by Jewish-Israeli writers and literature produced by Arab Palestinians in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Diaspora.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 348W

Construction of gender, definitions of the roles and status of women and men in a variety of traditions; women's and men's religious lives. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 352R

Jewish mystical texts and themes, such as Zohar, Hasidism, and selected classical texts.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Analysis of methods and/or texts pertaining to ethical decision-making for individual and social problems such as race, sex/marriage, justice, war, biomedical technology, and environmental pollution. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 354R

Analysis of methods and/or texts pertaining to ethical decision-making for individual and social problems such as race, sex/marriage, justice, war, biomedical technology, and environmental pollution. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • REL 354RW

Evolution and growth of Israel. Equal emphasis on Ottoman Palestine and on the mandatory and Israeli statehood periods. Topics include Zionism, Arab-Jewish relations, the British colonial presence, Israeli domestic issues, and foreign policy.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 370

This course will focus on particular aspects of or themes in Judaism or Jewish culture and how it is practiced. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will focus on particular aspects of or themes in Judaism or Jewish culture and how it is practiced. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will focus on a specific period or dimension of Jewish history with an emphasis on the use of documents and other primary sources. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will focus on a specific period or dimension of Jewish history with an emphasis on the use of documents and other primary sources. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will explore specific themes in the development of Hebrew or other Jewish languages. Sample literature will be studied in the original language. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
IC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will explore specific themes in the development of Hebrew or other Jewish languages. Sample literature will be studied in the original language. Topics will vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
ICW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course explores how films and media shed light on the diverse ways Jews and Judaism are imagined, represented, and practiced.


Credit Hours
3 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course explores how films and media shed light on the diverse ways Jews and Judaism are imagined, represented, and practiced.


Credit Hours
3 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Seminar on special issues in Jewish writing. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 375

Seminar on special issues in Jewish writing. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HAPW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 375W


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Progression of the conflict from the 19th century to the present is reviewed in a multidisciplinary manner. Topics include political history, communal disparities, and the various wars and their diplomatic outcomes.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 383
  • POLS 383

A 10-day trip to Warsaw and Krakow to see the sites of Jewish life and culture in Poland, and learn more about Polish Jews under Nazi occupation & Soviet domination as well as post-Soviet Jewish renewal. Includes walking tours, classes, food and cultural events, and meeting Polish univ. students.


Credit Hours
1
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 388

JS 400-Level Courses

Designed especially to enable students with background in Biblical Hebrew to read modern publications in the field of Biblical studies.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HEBR 415R

Jr/Sr Colloquium. This course explores the history of Germany after 1945, paying special attention to the circumstances under which two independent German states emerged and how they developed diverging societies and independent policies during the Cold War.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 417W

This course introduces students to Judeo-Arabic, the language of the Jews in Arab lands, through the study of Judeo-Arabic texts from various periods and places.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAP
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 420R

Addresses the historical position and cultural production of Spanish and Latin American Jewry, from medieval Spain to the present. We examine how diasporic Jewish subjects have framed their identity while negotiating the pressures of exile, immigration, antisemitism, and political violence.


Credit Hours
3
GER
ETHN
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 422

Jr/Sr Colloquium. This seminar will explore gender and sexuality in modern Jewish society and culture, and ask how modernity affected marriage, love, education, and family.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 426W

Jr/Sr Colloquium. This seminar will explore continuities and innovations between the medieval and modern blood libels, especially how the modern accusation was a product of post-Enlightenment politics, fears, and conventional social knowledge.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 427W

Readings in modern Hebrew prose, poetry, and drama in the original, with emphasis on literary and social issues.


Credit Hours
3
GER
IC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HEBR 430R

Advanced study of the language used in the Israeli media; includes selections from newspapers, radio, and television broadcasts.


Credit Hours
3
GER
ICE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HEBR 435

Provides an overview of Israeli foreign policy and Palestinian attempts at global outreach before the course moves on to explore the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in various regions of the world. Student will then lead a class session on their subject of interest/final paper topic.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
Any JS or MESAS course or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 448
  • MESAS 448
  • POLS 448

Provides an overview of Israeli foreign policy and Palestinian attempts at global outreach before the course moves on to explore the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in various regions of the world. Student will then lead a class session on their subject of interest/final paper topic.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
Any JS or MESAS course or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 448W
  • MESAS 448W
  • POLS 448W

Special Topics in Jewish Religion and Culture: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish religion and culture. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Religion and Culture: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish religion and culture. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish History: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish history. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish History: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish history. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Literature: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish literature. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Jewish Literature: Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish literature. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Variety of subjects emphasizing Jewish language. Content will vary. May be repeated when the topic changes.


Credit Hours
3
GER
IC
Requisites
HEBR 302 or equivalent transfer credit as prerequisite.
Cross-Listed
None

Among the topics studied are the patriarchs and the patriarchal period, the exodus and the settlement of Canaan, and the Israelite monarchy.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 475

Among the topics studied are the patriarchs and the patriarchal period, the exodus and the settlement of Canaan, and the Israelite monarchy.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • MESAS 475W


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Selected topics in Jewish studies. Required for majors.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Selected topics in Jewish studies. Required for majors.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Independent research for senior major students selected to participate in the department's Honors Program.


Credit Hours
3 - 4
GER
XA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Independent research for senior major students selected to participate in the department's Honors Program.


Credit Hours
1 - 8
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Specific readings for each student are decided upon in consultation with a member of the faculty.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None