Course Offerings (GSAS Bulletin)Two-Part Courses: A hyphen indicates a full-year course with credit granted only for completing both terms. A comma indicates credit is granted for completing each term.
REQUIRED COURSES FOR INCOMING GRADUATE STUDENTS
Problems and Methods in Hebrew and Judaic Studies
G78.1005 Chazan, Engel, Schiffman. 3 points.
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.
Academic Hebrew
G78.1318, 1319 Required of all students who do not pass the departmental Hebrew reading comprehension examination upon matriculation. Kamelhar. 3 points.
Intensive study of the language of Hebrew academic discourse. Students study primary source material in their area of specialization and secondary critical material.
INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES
Representations of Christianity in Judaism Throughout History
G78.3320 Identical to G90.3320. Wolfson. 3 points.
Exploration of the various ways that Christianity has been represented in Jewish sources from late antiquity through the Middle Ages, with particular interest on the complex interface of the two traditions and the polemical attempts to draw sharp lines distinguishing them.
The Bible in Jewish Culture
G78.3324 Identical to G90.3324. Engel. 3 points.
Exploration of the diverse roles played by the Hebrew Bible in constructions of Jewish identity and in cultural productions by Jews through the centuries.
Gender and Judaism
G78.2462 Wolfson. 3 points.
BIBLICAL AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
Historical Grammar of Classical Hebrew
G78.1060 Smith. 3 points.
Traces the major features of phonology and morphology from the Canaanite language (ca. 1200) to the various stages of biblical Hebrew and then to Hebrew and Mishnah. Includes readings from different states of biblical and inscriptional Hebrew from the Iron, Persian, and Hellenistic periods, as well as Hebrew texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls and later Jewish literature.
Akkadian I, II
G78.1101, 1102 Identical to G77.1361, 1362. Fleming. 3 points per term.
Introduction to cuneiform script and to the Akkadian language, with emphasis on grammatical structure.
Akkadian III, IV
G78.1103, 1104 Identical to G77.1363, 1364. Prerequisite: G78.1102 or the equivalent. Fleming. 3 points per term.
Reading of Akkadian literature.
Ancient Egyptian I, II
G78.1111, 1112 Identical to G77.1359, 1360. Goelet. 3 points per term.
Introduction to hieroglyphics; readings in ancient Egyptian texts.
Ugaritic I, II
G78.1115, 1116 Identical to G77.1378, 1379. Fleming, Smith. 3 points per term.
Introduction to the Ugaritic language and texts, providing important background for further study in the Semitic languages.
Aramaic I: Biblical Aramaic
G78.1117 Identical to G77.1378. Prerequisite: one year of classical Hebrew or the equivalent. Smith. 3 points.
Introduction to the various phases of Aramaic. Readings are selected from early and imperial documents, including Elephantine and inscriptions.
Aramaic II: Qumran Aramaic
G78.1118 Identical to G77.1379. Students are encouraged but not required to take Aramaic I prior to enrolling in Aramaic II. Schiffman. 3 points.
Introduction to Aramaic documents found at Qumran and contemporary sites. This represents the intermediate phase of Aramaic and Bar Kokhba texts.
Aramaic III: Syriac Aramaic
G78.1119 Schiffman. 3 points.
Introduction to sources preserved by the early Christian communities of the ancient and medieval Near East in Syriac.
Aramaic IV: Talmudic Aramaic
G78.1120 Schiffman. 3 points.
Introduction to Galilean and Babylonian Jewish Aramaic and related texts.
Pentateuch
G78.1160 Fleming, Smith. 3 points.
Examination of modern source-critical theories regarding the composition of the Pentateuch. Close study of the language and historical background of the texts.
History of Israelite Religion
G78.1215 Fleming, Smith. 3 points.
Treats the biblical, archaeological, and comparative ancient Near Eastern evidence for Israelite religion in its origins, change, and conflict. Emphasis is on questions of definition and focus.
Seminar: Genizah Studies
G78.1316 Schiffman. 3 points.
Trains students in the use and analysis of the manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah, which provide a vast treasure trove of information for virtually every aspect of Jewish civilization, history, and culture in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the early modern period. Emphasizes the technical aspects of genizah research. Students select research projects in their own specific fields of interest and pursue them through the semester, culminating in a public presentation and a written paper.
Archaeology of Israel
G78.2105 Identical to G77.1601. Fleming. 3 points.
Study of the archaeology of the land of Israel in antiquity. Emphasis is on discoveries that illuminate the background of the Bible.
Northwest Semitic Inscriptions
G78.2107 Identical to G77.1381. Prerequisite: one year of classical Hebrew or the equivalent. Fleming. 3 points.
Reading and analysis of Canaanite, Phoenician, Hebrew, and Aramaic inscriptions, with emphasis on philological problems and the importance of these texts for the history of the ancient Near East.
The Bible and Literary Criticism
G78.2115 Identical to G65.2112, G90.2115, and G41.1115. Feldman. 3 points.
Selected problems in current literary criticism are examined and applied to biblical narrative. Various “modernist” approaches to Scripture are emphasized: structuralism and poststructuralism; feminism and psychoanalysis; translation theory; phenomenology of reading; and historical poetics.
Seminar: History of the Ancient Near East
G78.2601 Identical to G77.1600 and G27.2601. Fleming, Smith. 3 points.
History of Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia, and the relevance of this history to the emergence of ancient Israel.
Topics in Ancient Near Eastern Literature
G78.3305 Fleming, Smith. 3 points.
Study of a selected literary category that is found in both the Bible and other ancient Near Eastern writings, with attention to distinctive character and interconnections.
Topics in the Bible
G78.3311 Fleming, Smith. 3 points.
Study of a selected biblical book, with careful attention to literary and historical problems.
SECOND TEMPLE AND RABBINIC LITERATURE AND HISTORY
Biblical Interpretation in Late Antiquity
G78.1235 Schiffman. 3 points.
Traces the interpretation of a central biblical text or theme in the literature of ancient Jewish exegesis. Commen-taries are placed in the context of ancient Jewish thought and the history of Jewish biblical interpretation.
Rabbinic Texts
G78.2140 Rubenstein, Schiffman. 3 points.
Study of the interrelationships of the Mishnah, Tosefta, and Talmuds with one another and the midrashic corpus. Emphasizes the issues that arise from Rabbinic intertexuality from both literary and historical points of view.
Apocryphal Literature
G78.2210 Identical to G77.3319. Schiffman, Smith. 3 points.
Selected Hebrew and Aramaic texts from the Apocrypha. Emphasis is on the biblical background and the place of this literature in the early history of Judaism.
Seminar: Dead Sea Scrolls
G78.2230 Identical to G77.1313. Schiffman. 3 points.
Selected texts are read and analyzed in order to reconstruct the Judaism of the Qumran sect and other groups of Second Temple period Jews. Students are trained in the use of Qumran manuscript sources and paleography.
Seminar: Geonic Literature
G78.2370 Rubenstein. 3 points.
Survey of critical methodologies, including form criticism, source criticism, and literary criticism, with special attention to manuscript and textual variants.
Readings in the Babylonian Talmud
G78.2371 Identical to G77.3314. Rubenstein, Schiffman. 3 points.
Study of a selected chapter of the Babylonian Talmud, paying attention to textual, linguistic, and historical matters. Emphasis is on the reconstruction of the history of the traditions preserved in the Talmud.
Palestinian Talmud
G78.2375 Schiffman. 3 points.
Study of a selected chapter of the Palestinian Talmud emphasizing literary history, use of traditional and modern commentaries, and history of Jewish law.
Seminar in Tannaitic Midrash
G78.2379 Identical to G77.3312. Rubenstein, Schiffman. 3 points.
Examination of selected texts from midrashic literature. Texts are placed in the context of rabbinic literature and the history of Jewish biblical interpretation.
Seminar in Amoraic Midrash
G78.2380 Rubenstein, Schiffman. 3 points.
Focuses on the midrashim Genesis Rabbah, the classic exegetical midrash, and Leviticus Rabbah, the classical midrash homiletical. Close textual study is combined with theoretical issues such as defining midrash, intertextuality, form-criticism, hermeneutics, the documentary approach, and the social context of midrash.
History of Judaism in Late Antiquity
G78.2623 Identical to G77.1692 and G90.1800. Schiffman. 3 points.
Study of the history of Jewish thought, literature, law, and ritual in the formative years in which the classical tradition was coming to fruition in Talmudic literature. Emphasizes the development of the major ideas and institutions of Judaism in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods and the factors, both internal and external, that contributed to it.
History of Jews in Babylonia
G78.3323 Schiffman. 4 points.
History of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia from the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles through the Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanian eras and up through the Islamic conquest. Draws on Jewish, Babylonian, Iranian, and Arabic sources and emphasizes the interplay between Jewish history and that of the surrounding cultures of ancient Iraq.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH HISTORY
Colloquium in Jewish History
G78.2447 Chazan. 3 points.
Examination of scholarly literature on a selected problem in Jewish history, including (but not limited to) histories and theories of anti-Semitism, the Jewish family, Jewish migrations, and the history of Jewish women.
Medieval Hebrew Historical Texts
G78.2450 Chazan. 3 points.
Reading and analysis of medieval Hebrew narrative accounts of historical events.
Medieval Hebrew Polemical Texts
G78.2451 Chazan. 3 points.
Reading and analysis of medieval Hebrew texts that defined Jewish policy and practices and the beliefs and practices of opponent faiths.
The Medieval Church and the Jews
G78.2455 Identical to G65.2455 and G90.2455. Chazan. 3 points.
Investigates the diverse impingements of the Church on medieval Jewish life; the evolution of Church thinking, doctrine, and popular impact; and the responses of medieval Jews to their circumstances.
The Medieval Jewish Experience
G78.2456 Identical to G65.2456. Chazan. 3 points.
Begins by sketching the broad chronological outlines of the medieval Jewish experience; then focuses on a set of key challenges faced by medieval Jews and by the major lines of Jewish response to these challenges.
History of Medieval Ashkenazic Jewry
G78.2642 Chazan. 3 points.
Focuses on the Jewry of medieval northern Europe from the 10th through the 15th centuries.
History of Medieval Sephardic Jewry
G78.2643 Identical to G57.2643. Chazan. 3 points.
Focuses on the history of the Jews on the Iberian peninsula from antiquity through the expulsions of the 1490s.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH THOUGHT AND LITERATURE
Early Jewish Mystical Literature
G78.2402 Wolfson. 3 points.
Readings in Hekhalot and Merkavah texts, emphasizing historical links with Second Temple and Rabbinic traditions, as well as the role of this literature in the medieval Jewish mystical tradition.
Medieval Hebrew Poetry—The Classics
G78.2410 Feldman. 3 points.
Works of the four luminaries of the classical golden age in Spain—Shmuel HaNagid, Shlomo Ibn Gabirol, Yehuda Halevi, and Moshe Ibn Ezra—are studied against the background of their sociohistorical context and poetics of Arabic literature of the time. Some selections of the rhymed prose (Makamot) by Alharizi are also read for instruction and pleasure.
Medieval Biblical Commentaries
G78.2412 Chazan. 3 points.
Traces the interpretation of a central biblical text or theme in the literature of medieval Jewish exegesis. Commentaries are placed in the context of medieval Jewish thought and the history of Jewish biblical interpretation.
Maimonides’ The Guide of the Perplexed and Related Literature I
G78.2441 Ivry. 3 points.
Intensive study of the sources of Maimonides’ thought in both the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. Analysis of part I of The Guide from this perspective.
Maimonides’ The Guide of the Perplexed and Related Literature II
G78.2442 Ivry. 3 points.
Study of parts II and III of The Guide as well as related Maimonidean writings dealing with metaphysical and political teachings.
Late Medieval Jewish Philosophy
G78.2445 Ivry. 3 points.
Responses to Maimonides and new themes in Jewish thought as developed by Gersonides, Crescas, Narboni, and Abravanel.
Sefer Yetsirah and Its Philosophical and Mystical Commentaries
G78.2454 Wolfson. 3 points.
Analysis of the ancient Jewish cosmological text Sefer Yetsirah and its impact on medieval Jewish philosophical and mystical literature. Discussion focuses on the interrelationship of philosophy and mysticism as intellectual trends in medieval Jewish culture.
Medieval Hebrew Mystical Literature
G78.2467 Identical to G90.2467. Wolfson. 3 points.
Examination of the esoteric theosophy and mystical practices of the Rhineland Jewish Pietists of the 12th and 13th centuries, with particular attention to the place of the Pietists in the history of ancient and medieval Jewish mysticism.
Contemplative Union and Ecstasy in Medieval Jewish Mysticism
G78.2468 Wolfson. 3 points.
Exploration of two typologies of contemplative union and ecstasy in medieval Jewish mysticism: the Neoplatonic typology evident in the theosophic kabbalah of Isaac the Blind and his Geronese disciples, Ezra, Azriel, and Jacob ben Sheshet, and the Aristotelian typology of the ecstatic kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia and other members of his school, Shem Tov ibn Gaon, Isaac ben Samuel of Acre, and the anonymous author of Sha’are Zedeq.
Readings in Zohar
G78.2469 Wolfson. 3 points.
Intensive study of selections from the classic text of medieval Spanish kabbalah, the Zohar. Attention to hermeneutical and exegetical methods employed by the author of the Zohar.
The Mystical Heresy of Sabbatai Sevi and the Sabbatean Movement
G78.2470 Wolfson. 3 points.
Focuses on the mystical heresy surrounding Sabbatai Sevi in the 17th century, which Gershom Scholem referred to as the “largest and most momentous messianic movement in Jewish history subsequent to the destruction of the Temple and the Bar Kokhba Revolt.”
The Circle of the Ba’al Shem: Readings in Hasidism
G78.2471 Wolfson. 3 points.
Intensive study of the main concepts of East European Hasidism through a close reading of the works of the main disciples of the Ba’al Shem Tov R. Dov Baer of Miedzyrzec and R. Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye. Topics discussed: mystical communion and religious leadership; gender and the social-political formation of community; ascetic eroticism and the cultivation of erotic asceticism; magic, theurgy, and the pietistic ideal.
Readings in Lurianic Kabbalah
G78.2472 Wolfson. 3 points.
Study of the main texts of Lurianic kabbalah through a close reading of the works of R. Isaac Luria and his two disciples, R. Hayyim Vital and R. Israel Saruq.
Topics in Medieval Philosophy
G78.3460 Identical to G65.3460 and G77.3460. Ivry. 3 points.
Analysis of major texts and issues in medieval Jewish philosophy. Topic changes annually.
MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT
Modern Jewish Thought
G78.1601 Ivry. 3 points.
Philosophical themes in the writings of Mendelssohn, Cohen, Rosenzweig, Buber, Soloveitchik, Fackenheim, and Levinas.
Mystical Elements of 20th-Century Jewish Philosophy
G78.1810 Wolfson. 3 points.
Examination of kabbalistic and/or Hasidic elements reflected in the thought of modern Jewish existentialists and postmodern philosophers. Thinkers discussed include Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Jacques Derrida, and Emmanuel Levinas.
MODERN JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE
Modern Responsa Literature
G78.1314 Schiffman. 3 points.
Study of important texts from modern rabbinic responsa, emphasizing their response to the challenge of modernity as well as the internal development of Jewish law.
Yiddishism in the 20th Century
G78.1320 Estraikh. 3 points.
Examination of the origin and development of Yiddishism as an international cultural movement and an ingredient of Jewish subcurrents in socialism, anarchism, folkism, and communism.
History of Contemporary Israel
G78.1693 Identical to G57.1525, G65.1681, and G77.1693. Hertzberg. 4 points.
Study of the ideological origins of the State of Israel, its political history, and the formation of its institutions.
Germans and Jews/Jews and Germans from the French Revolution Through World War I
G78.2673 Identical to G57.2673 and G65.2673. Kaplan. 4 points.
Explores the complex interactions of Jews and Germans and their perceptions of each other in Imperial Germany (1871-1918), exposing some of the internal social dynamics in Jewish history and in German history. Begins with era of emancipation and examines the developments among German Jews.
History of the Jews in Poland and Russia
G78.2675 Identical to G65.1531. Engel. 4 points.
The history of Russo-Polish Jewry from earliest times to the present, with a focus on modern conditions and problems.
Jews and Germans in Weimar and Nazi Germany
G78.2676 Identical to G57.2676. Kaplan. 4 points.
This course begins with the cataclysmic end of World War I, the feelings of hurt nationalism and revenge, and examines the political, economic, and social changes in German society as well as parallel developments among German Jews. Readings on the Weimar Republic discuss increasing German-Jewish involvement in culture and society as well as the increasing issue of anti-Semitism. The course focuses on the rise of Nazism, the social insiders and outsiders in Nazi Germany, the persecution and reactions of Jews within Germany, and the role of bystanders.
Jews and Germans in Postwar Germany: Conflicting Memories, Contentious Relations, 1945-2000
G78.2677 Identical to G57.2677 and G65.2677. Kaplan. 4 points.
Analysis of the evolving and contradictory ways in which Jews and non-Jews viewed the Holocaust and their ongoing interactions.
Jewish Historiography: The Modern Period
G78.2682 Engel. 4 points.
Examination of major figures, works, and trends in the academic study of modern Jewish history in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Musical Diasporas: Blacks and Jews
G78.2683 Identical to G71.2170. Cohen. 4 points.
The creative responses to exile, memory, and identity within and between the communities of African and Jewish diasporas in the United States. Discusses the implied affinity to a common heritage and ancestry, often related to a specific geographic location.
Historical Perspectives on the Jewish Community
G78.2685 Identical to G57.2685 and G65.2684. Chazan, Diner. 4 points.
Graduate seminar examining the history of the Jewish community in America, focusing on the formal institutions that constituted the communal infrastructure. Considers the development of these institutions from the middle of the 17th century through the present era.
Colloquium in American Jewish History
G78.2686 Diner. 3 points.
Focuses on the social history of the Jewish people in America, broadly exploring the impact of immigration and the particular cultural and economic conditions of America in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Memoirs and Diaries in Modern European Jewish History
G78.2688 Identical to G57.2688. Kaplan. 4 points.
Readings of memoirs and diaries written by European Jewish women and men from the 18th century through the Holocaust.
Nazi Germany, the “Racial State” and the Persecution of Minorities
G78.2689 Identical to G57.2689. Kaplan. 4 points.
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.
Major Issues and Problems in Modern Jewish History
G78.2690 Identical to G65.1521. Diner, Engel. 4 points.
Explores a general topic in modern Jewish history on a comparative basis across a broad range of geographical contexts.
The Mandate System in the Middle East
G78.2754 Zweig. 3 points.
Examines the evolution of the League of Nations Mandates system in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and Transjordan and the reasons for the system’s demise.
Texts in Modern Jewish Intellectual History
G78.2787 Engel. 3 points.
Close reading of primary texts in Hebrew related to central debates in modern Jewish intellectual life, including those over religious reform, the nature of Jewish identity, Haskalah, nationalism, and the role of general humanistic ideas in modern Jewish thought.
Jewish Folklore and Ethnology
G78.2835 Identical to H42.2814. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. 4 points.
Discussion of key works in the history of Jewish folklore and ethnography dealing with Christian Hebraists and Jewish ceremonial; Wissenschaft des Judentums in areas of Statistik, Altertumkunde, Sittengeschichte, and Volksliteratur; ethnographic expeditions among the Jews of Eastern Europe; Jewish Volkskunde as a discipline; anthropological studies of Jews from Efron’s work on gesture to recent studies of contemporary Jewish life in the United States, Europe, and Israel.
The Jewish Community: Classical Institutions and Perspectives
G78.3224 Schiffman. 3 points.
Discussion of the fundamental institutions of Jewish community and social organization as expressed in Jewish thought and as evidenced in Jewish history in all periods, up to the present. Emphasis is on primary sources regarding varying conceptions of group solidarity and mechanisms for attaining it, including the role of the individual, the family, the community, the state, and the Jewish people as a whole.
Seminar in the History of the Yishuv and Israel
G78.3522 Engel, Zweig. 4 points.
In-depth study of a specific problem related to the development of the Jewish settlement in Palestine from the 1880s to the present. Problems may include illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine, the origin and reception of the partition plan, the Zionist movement and the Arabs, political change in the State of Israel, and Israeli foreign policy.
Topics in Holocaust Studies
G78.3530 Engel. 4 points.
In-depth study of a specific problem related to the history of the Jews under Nazi impact, with emphasis on training in research methods. Topics may include examination of the history of a specific Jewish community under Nazi rule, the evolution of Nazi Jewish policy, the Jewish councils, armed resistance, relations between Jews and non-Jews under Nazi occupation, the Allied governments and the Holocaust, and free-world Jewry and the Holocaust.
Topics in East European Jewish History
G78.3535 Engel. 4 points.
Exploration of a selected problem in the history of the Jews in Eastern Europe, emphasizing primarily, but not necessarily limited to, Russia and Poland.
MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE
Hebrew Literary Texts: Poets, Critics, and Revolutionaries
G78.1317 Feldman. 3 points.
Study of 20th-century Hebrew poetry as a sociocultural phenomenon. Focus is on the interaction among generational rifts, attempts at modernization, foreign models, and gender differences.
Topics in Literary Theory: Gender, Otherness, and Difference
G78.2453 Identical to G29.2453, G41.2958, G65.2453, and G90.2453. Feldman. 4 points.
Examines the cross-Atlantic dialogue on gender from the perspective of one of the major “casualties” of postmodernism—the binarism of self and other. The resulting reconceptualization of “otherness” as “difference” is traced in major feminist signposts, from Woolf and Beauvoir to Irigaray and Kristeva, Rich and Showalter, Chodorow, Moi, and Gayatry Spivak (selections subject to change).
Readings in Contemporary Hebrew Literature: The Holocaust
G78.2517 Feldman. 3 points.
Thematic approach to the formal, psychological, and ideological aspects of the construction of the Holocaust in Israeli drama, fiction, and poetry, with attention to “second generation” literature.
Gender and Culture in Fictional Autobiography: Israeli, European, and American
G78.2540 Identical to G29.1591, G41.2911, and G65.1522. Taught in English. Feldman. 3 points.
Probes the claims of culturalist and essentialist definitions of “gender” and “the subject”; demonstrates the tension between history and textuality; and questions traditional dichotomies such as self and society, the private and the collective, and the autonomous and the relational.
Israeli Women Writers: Feminism and Its Discontents
G78.2545 Feldman. 3 points.
The recent tradition of Israeli women writers is studied in light of the problematic reception of feminist ideas by Israeli culture. Emphasis is on the divergence between fiction and poetry and its relation to gender differences.
Topics in Modern Hebrew Literature
G78.3502 Feldman. 3 points.
Advanced seminar on specialized topics that change annually (e.g., major authors; critical and theoretical surveys).
Topics in Modern Hebrew Poetry
G78.3506 Feldman. 3 points.
Advanced seminar on specialized topics that change annually (e.g., major poets; critical and theoretical issues).
RESEARCH
Master’s Thesis Research
G78.2901, 2902 1-4 points per term.
Directed Study in Jewish History
G78.3791, 3792 1-4 points per term.
Directed Study in Hebrew Literature
G78.3793, 3794 1-4 points per term.
Directed Study in Hebrew Manuscripts
G78.3795, 3796 1-4 points per term.
Directed Study in Jewish Thought
G78.3797, 3798 1-4 points per term.
Directed Study in Semitic Languages
G78.3799, 3800 1-4 points per term.
Dissertation Research
G78.3801-3802 1-4 points per term. |
