HJST Graduate Syllabi(click on course title for sample syllabus)American Jews and the Issue of Race G78.3520 Diner. Graduate research seminar which explores the ways in which American Jews interacted with and were shaped by American racial realities. The course will also incorporate material on the larger Jewish discourse about race which extended beyond the United States. American Judaism G78.3520 Diner. Identical to G57.1280. Rooted in both the field of modern Jewish history and the history of religion in America, this course will explore some of the key issues of the history of Judaism in America, such as the clash or connection between "Jewishness" as an ethnic identity and Judaism as a religious system, the divergence between Judaism as a rabbinic-driven, legally constituted religion and everyday practices shaped by ordinary Jews, and the emergence of popular forms of Judaic practice in America. From Zionist-Sabra to Cosmopolitan-Israeli: The Transformation of Israel's Dominant Culture G78.1517 Lazin (visiting professor). For many years Israel's secular-traditional society was a society of solidarity and vision whose main objective was the fulfillment of the Zionist dream. But a new Zeitgeist emerged in the late 1970's, which later was labeled as "post-Zionist." The conversion of values among the Jewish, veteran secular-traditional classes had a substantial impact on Israel's dominant culture. This course will address the questions of how, when and why did this occur? Jewish Communities and their Institutions over the Ages Chazan. Over the ages, Jews have developed a wide range of framworks for governing themselves. These frameworks range from "normal" and independent polities to semi-dependent satellite polities to dependent but potently grounded self-governing communities to utterly voluntaristic associations. This course will survey the wide range of arrangements through which Jews have sought to structure their coporate lives. Jews in Post World-War II America G78.2690 Diner. Identical to G57.1523. This research seminar explores the ways in which American Jews experienced the era from the end of World War II into the early 1960's, a period of time generally understood as "post-war." Issues of importance include the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust and the World War, the Cold War, the civil rights struggle, the rise of the State of Israel, and other developments in which Jews functioned as both agents of change and as reflectors of the forces around them. Medieval Jewish Bible Commentary Chazan. Medieval readers of the Book of Daniel--both Christian and Jewish--saw in this book major support for their theological positions and their views of history. This course will review the commentaries and writings on the Book of Daniel composed by a number of medieval Jewish thinkers, analyze their views on critical issues in the Book of Daniel, and compare and contrast these views. Nazi Germany, the “Racial State,” and the Persecution of Minorities G78.2689 Kaplan. Identical to G57.2689. Analysis of the Nazi attempt to “purify” its society by excluding and, ultimately, murdering all those who did not “fit”—Jews, Sinti, Roma, the disabled, homosexuals, etc. Philosophical Approaches to Biblical Interpretation G78.2112 Gottlieb. The 18th century was a watershed in the study of the Bible with historical and literary approaches competing with traditional religious study. Among the questions explored in this course are: How can the bible remain relevant in the present? Should the bible be read as history myth, law, or theology? In ligh of historical criticism, can the bible still be understood as the word of God? Problems and Methods in Hebrew and Judaic Studies G78.1005 Chazan, Engel, Schiffman. Introduces incoming graduate students to the field of Hebrew and Judaic studies, in its disciplinary, chronological, and geographic diversity. Contemporary issues and innovative approaches in the various areas of Judaic studies are explored. Sacrifice, Culture, and Gender: From Isaac and Iphigina to Contemporary Sacrificial Narratives G78.3992 Feldman. Identical to G90.2472. Explores modern responses to the moral and gender implications of two different constructions of human sacrifice that Western culture has inherited from antiquity: the Hebrew Bible and Greek myth and dramas. The Jewish Experience in Medieval Western Christendom G78.2456 Chazan. This course will study the Jewish experience in the period surrounding the end of the first Christian millennium, in which a relatively backward sector of the Western world--Roman Catholic Europe--was unexpectedly invigorated and sought to convince Jews who had long lived in European territories under Muslim control to remain and serve the needs of Christian society. |
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