Course Offerings (CAS Bulletin)HEBREW LANGUAGE COURSES
The Morse Academic Plan language requirement can be fulfilled by completion of either the standard four-semester sequence of Elementary and Intermediate Hebrew (V78.0001-0004) or the three-semester sequence of Intensive Elementary Hebrew (V78.0006) followed by Intermediate Hebrew I and II (V78.0003,0004).
All students wishing to enroll in a Hebrew language course must take a placement examination whether they have studied Hebrew previously or not. Placement of students in Hebrew language courses is explained in the Academic Policies section of this bulletin under the heading “Placement Examinations.” Under no circumstances may students decide on their own in which level of Hebrew they belong.
INTRODUCTORY LANGUAGE COURSES
Elementary Hebrew I
V78.0001 Identical to V77.0301. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Active introduction to modern Hebrew as it is spoken and written in Israel today. Presents the essentials of Hebrew grammar, combining the oral-aural approach with formal grammatical concepts. Reinforces learning by reading of graded texts. Emphasizes the acquisition of idiomatic conversational vocabulary and language patterns.
Elementary Hebrew II
V78.0002 Identical to V77.0302. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Continuation of V78.0001. Open to students who have completed V78.0001 or who have been placed at this level through the placement examination. For description, see Elementary Hebrew I (V78.0001).
Intermediate Hebrew I
V78.0003 Identical to V77.0303. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Open to students who have completed V78.0002 or V78.0005, or those who have been placed at this level through the placement examination. Builds on skills acquired in Elementary Hebrew I and II and develops a deepening command of all linguistic skills. Modern literary and expository texts are read to expand vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, with conversation and composition exercises built around the texts. Introduces selections from Israeli media. Addresses the relationship between classical and modern Hebrew.
Intermediate Hebrew II
V78.0004 Identical to V77.0304. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Continuation of V78.0003. Open to students who have completed V78.0003 or who have been placed at this level through the placement examination. For description, see Intermediate Hebrew I (V78.0003).
Intensive Elementary Hebrew
V78.0005 Identical to V77.0311. Offered irregularly. 6 points.
Completes the equivalent of a full year of elementary Hebrew in one semester. For description, see Elementary Hebrew I and II (V78.0001,0002).
ADVANCED LANGUAGE COURSES
A prerequisite for all advanced language courses is V78.0004 or the equivalent.
Advanced Hebrew: Conversation and Composition
V78.0011 Offered every other year. 4 points.
Aimed at training students in exact and idiomatic Hebrew usage and at acquiring facility of expression in both conversation and writing. Reading and discussion of selections from Hebrew prose, poetry, and current periodical literature.
Advanced Hebrew: Structure of Modern Hebrew Grammar
V78.0012 Offered every other year. 4 points.
Designed to provide a thorough grounding in Hebrew grammar with special emphasis on phonology, morphology, and syntax. Concentrated study of vocalization, accentuation, declensions, conjugations, and classification of verbs.
Advanced Hebrew: Writing and Reading Contemporary Hebrew
V78.0013 Offered every other year. 4 points.
Reading and discussion of modern literary and expository works. Focuses on the many stylistic registers that modern Hebrew has developed. Intended to train students in fluent expository writing and advanced reading comprehension, concentrating on Hebrew idiom and vocabulary, emphasizing literary form and style of composition.
Intermediate Yiddish
V78.0016 Offered every summer. 4 points.
Open to students who have been placed at this level through placement examination. Builds on elementary Yiddish skills and develops a deepening command of all linguistic skills. Literary texts are read to expand vocabulary and grammatical knowledge, with written and oral exercises built around the texts. Addresses the relationship between standard and spoken Yiddish.
Intermediate Yiddish II
V78.0017 Offered every summer. 4 points.
Continuation of V78.0016. Open to students who have completed V78.0016 or who have been placed at this level through the placement examination. For description, see Intermediate Yiddish I (V78.0016).
Advanced Yiddish
V78.0026 Offered every summer. 4 points.
Aimed at training students in correct Yiddish usage, and at acquiring facility of expression in both conversation and writing. Reading and discussion of literary works and periodical literature.
Hebrew of the Israeli Communications Media
V78.0073 Offered every other year. 4 points.
Extensive selections from a representative range of Israeli media, including newspapers, magazines, and broadcasting. Stresses study of various approaches in the different media, as well as practical exercises in comprehending Israeli press styles.
MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE (IN HEBREW)
Self and Other in the Israeli Short Story
V78.0078 In Hebrew. Feldman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Developments in the perception of the “Other” from 1948 to 1978 in ideologically engaged literature.
Literature of the Holocaust
V78.0690 In Hebrew. Feldman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Examines representations of the Holocaust in Hebrew fiction/ poetry. Among issues to be explored are the differences between responses of the Jewish community in Palestine at the time of the event and later reconstruction by survivors and witnesses, and the new perspectives added since the 1980s by children of survivors, who have made the Holocaust a central topic in contemporary Israeli culture.
Advanced Readings in Modern Hebrew Literature
V78.0782 In Hebrew. Feldman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
In-depth study of selected masterpieces by 20th-century Hebrew writers. Appreciation of artistic achievements against the sociohistorical background and general cultural currents of the period. Selections include fiction, poetry, and literary criticism by and about several of the following writers: Agnon, Brenner, Gnessin, Yizhar, Alterman, Bialik, and Greenberg.
Israeli Women Writers: The Second Wave
V78.0783 Identical to V18.0735. In Hebrew. Feldman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
In 1997, books by women writers reached the top of Israel’s best-seller list for the first time ever. What made the contemporary boom in Israeli women’s fiction possible? This course explores the place of national ideologies in Israeli culture and their conflict with feminist aspirations. Readings include writings by Israeli women, with special emphasis on the so-called second wave of the 1980s and 1990s.
MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION
From Hebrew to Israeli Literature
V78.0076 Identical to V77.0713. Feldman. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Comprehensive introduction to representative works of modern Hebrew literature from the writers of the Hebrew national renaissance of the late 19th century to the present. Focuses on thematic and structural analysis of texts in light of social and intellectual movements of the period. Readings include selections from Peretz, Berdichevsky, Ahad Ha’am, Gnessin, Brenner, Agnon, Hazaz, Yehoshua, and Appelfeld.
Israel: Fact Through Fiction
V78.0780 Identical to V77.0698. Feldman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Clashes between ideology and reality in the State of Israel. Eastern and Western cultures and the human impact of different sociopolitical structures in Israel are considered primarily through translations from works by Yizhar, Yehoshua, Kahana-Carmon, Hareven, Oz, Amichai, Avidan, and Almog.
JEWISH HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION
Ancient Israel
V55.0514 Fleming, Smith. Offered every semester. 4 points.
See description under Foundations of Contemporary Culture (55).
Sex, Gender, and the Bible
V78.0019 Identical to V90.0019. Feldman. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Investigates a series of problems regarding the mutual constitution of male and female in the Hebrew Bible. Through close readings of a range of biblical texts (narrative, law, wisdom literature), we address such issues as the absence of the goddess in monotheism, the literary representation of women and men, the construction of gender ideals, and the legislation of sex and bodily purity.
Music in Jewish Life
V78.0021 Identical to V71.0066. Rapport. Offered every third year. 4 points.
A survey course exploring musical practices in Jewish communities from biblical times to the present day, with an emphasis on the modern period. Topics discussed include biblical cantillation, Jewish art music, cantorial music, Yiddish music, Israeli popular music, the klezmer revival, and recent American Jewish folk styles.
The Bible as Literature
V78.0023 Identical to V90.0023. Offered periodically. 4 points.
Over the past few decades, many readers have come to a fuller appreciation of the emotional and imaginative power of the Bible’s narratives, which still speak with remarkable clarity to our own sensibilities, leading one critic to characterize the Bible as a “full-fledged kindred spirit” of modernism. The course pursues this “kindred spirit,” using a broadly literary approach as its guide. While the focus is on narrative—the Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) and the Former Prophets (Joshua to Kings), as well as shorter narrative books (Ruth, Jonah, and Esther)—it also studies Ecclesiastes and Job as ancient precursors to modern skepticism. Finally, it studies one modernist engagement with the Bible: Kafka’s Amerika.
Jesus, Jews, and the Romans
V78.0083 Identical to V90.0083, V77.0843. Schiffman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Through study of the ancient Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman sources, this course explores the complex political, social, and cultural dimensions of Roman Palestine with a special eye on the contextualization of the career of Jesus and the rise of early Christianity.
History of Judaism: The Classical Period
V78.0100 Identical to V57.0109, V77.0680, V90.0680. Rubenstein, Schiffman. Offered every year. 4 points.
History of Judaism during its formative periods. Hellenistic Judaism, Jewish sectarianism, and the ultimate emergence of the rabbinic system of religion and law.
Modern Jewish History
V78.0103 Identical to V57.0099. Engel. Offered every year. 4 points.
Major developments in the history and culture of the Jews from the 16th to the 20th centuries, emphasizing the meanings of modernity in the Jewish context, differing paths to modern Jewish identity, and internal Jewish debates over the relative merits of modern and traditional Jewish values.
Foundations of the Christian-Jewish Argument
V78.0106 Identical to V65.0160, V90.0192. Chazan. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Illustrates the complexity of the relationship between Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages by examining both Christian and Jewish perspectives and delineating the variety of responses within each religious community to the other. The primary focus is on the European Middle Ages, but the origins of the argument a millennium earlier are also considered.
Judaism: From Medieval to Modern Times
V78.0111 Identical to V57.0098, V65.0683, V77.0680, V90.0683. Offered every year. 4 points.
Intellectual-historical examination of continuities and discontinuities between medieval and modern Judaism as revealed in selected texts produced during the last thousand years. Emphasis is placed on how the interactions of Jewish thinkers with the cultures of their surroundings affected their understandings of Judaism.
The Jews in Medieval Spain
V78.0113 Identical to V57.0549, V65.0913, V90.0113. Chazan. Offered every other year. 4 points.
The 700 years from the Muslim conquest of Spain in the eighth century to the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 saw the greatest levels of mutual toleration and coexistence among Jews, Christians, and Muslims achieved at any time during the Middle Ages. This course uses contemporary sources, from philosophical treatises to religious polemics to erotic love poetry, to introduce the history of this important Jewish community and its relationship to the Muslim and Christian societies that surrounded it. It considers economic, cultural, and religious interactions, mutual influence, and violent conflict.
Jews in the Islamic World in the Modern Period
V78.0114 Identical to V57.0521, V77.0616, V90.0610. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Presents a broad, chronologically organized survey of the history of the Jewish communities in the Middle East from the rise of the Ottoman Empire to the end of the 20th century. Topics include the organization and operation of Jewish communities; interaction between Jews and Muslims; the effects of the twin processes of modernization and Westernization on these communities; and the relocation of the vast majority of Middle Eastern Jewry to the State of Israel in the 20th century. The course concludes with a brief look at the Jewish communities that continue to live in the Middle East.
Biblical Archeology
V78.0120 Identical to V90.0120. Fleming, Smith. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Examination of the methods and conclusions of archeological research and excavation as applied to the Bible and history of Israel in antiquity. Topics include the historicity of the exodus and the Israelite conquest of Canaan, the empires of David and Solomon, and the nature of Israelite religion. The class investigates how archeology provides evidence for evaluating the biblical text and reconstructing early Israelite history. The course concentrates on the period from the exodus and conquest of the Land of Israel through the Babylonian exile.
Ancient Near Eastern Mythology
V78.0125 Identical to V77.0607. Fleming. Offered every third year. 4 points.
The myths of the ancient Near East represent the earliest literary expressions of human thought. Students in this class read myths from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, Anatolia, and Israel, studying the myths themselves as literary works as well as exploring the ideas and broader issues that shaped them. These myths, including both extensive literary masterpieces such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and shorter work such as the Flight of Etana to Heaven, offer a window into the religious mentality of the ancient Near East, which in turn laid the foundation for many elements of modern Western culture.
Modern Perspectives on the Bible
V78.0126 Identical to V77.0809, V90.0809. Fleming, Smith. Offered every year. 4 points.
Introduces students to the modern study of the Bible from historical, literary, and archeological points of view. Reading and analysis of texts in translation.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism, and Christianity
V78.0131 Identical to V90.0807, V77.0807. Schiffman. Offered every year. 4 points.
Survey of the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the history of early Judaism and Christianity. Reading and discussion of English translations of the major texts.
Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Traditions
V78.0134 Roth. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Ironically, the mummies, tombs, and pyramids that furnish most of our evidence for life in ancient Egypt can be understood only in the context of the Egyptians’ beliefs about death. The course surveys these beliefs and their evolution, examining translations of their mortuary texts and the art, artifacts, and architecture they created to deal with death. This interdisciplinary approach is then applied to the study of ancient Egyptian life and society.
The Land of Israel Through the Ages
V78.0141 Identical to V57.0540, V77.0609, V90.0609. Schiffman. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Surveys the history of the Land of Israel with special attention to its various inhabitants and cultures from prehistoric times to the present. Archeological findings receive thorough attention.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
V78.0160 Identical to V65.0025, V77.0800, V90.0102. Peters. Offered every other year. 4 points.
For course description, see under Religious Studies (90).
American Jewish History
V78.0172 Identical to V57.0689. Diner. Offered every year. 4 points.
Study of the major events and personalities in American Jewish history since colonial times: the waves of Jewish immigration and development of the American Jewish community.
Israel and American Jewry
V78.0174 Offered every other year. 4 points.
Examines the relations between the Jewish community in Israel (including Palestine before the establishment of the state) and the American Jewish community from 1914 to 1992. Considers ideological issues (especially different views of Jewish collectivity), as well as political and diplomatic developments in the relations between Israel and the American Jewish community in the generation prior to the Six-Day War of 1967. Concludes with an examination of the internal Israeli political debates that have invoked the greatest concern among American Jews: the Law of Return, the peace process, and “Who is a Jew?”
Jewish Migrations in the Modern Era
V78.0176 Identical to V57.0809. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Explores international migration as a shaping force in modern Jewish history. Since the 17th century, Jews have been involved in an ongoing process of shifting residences en masse from and within Europe as well as from the Islamic lands. They have relocated to North and South America, South Africa, and Australia, as well as to Israel. This course explores many of the issues raised by the prominence of migration as a feature of modern Jewish migrations, including the similarities and differences between Jewish and non-Jewish migrations of the same time, the causes and structures of the migrations, and the impact of migration on the various aspects of integration in the receiving societies.
Zionism and the State of Israel
V78.0180 Identical to V57.0516, V77.0696, V90.0180. Engel, Zweig. Offered every year. 4 points.
Examines the history of Zionism and as an ideology and political movement from its origins in the 19th century to the present, as reflected in the modern State of Israel. Topics include ideological foundations, the role of Herzl and the rise of political Zionism, the Balfour Declaration, early Jewish settlements in Palestine, Zionism as a cultural focus for diaspora Jewry, the Arab-Zionist encounter, modern Israeli society, and contemporary critiques of Zionism.
Ethnicity in the Jewish People in the State of Israel
V78.0181 Zweig. 4 points.
Examines the interactions and relationships between the various Jewish ethnic groups in Israel: communities from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. The roots of ethnic identity are discussed, and the influences of modernization and nationalism are examined. Issues studied include the Zionist movement’s attitudes toward “negation of the diaspora,” the “melting-pot” approach to immigrant absorption during the 1950s and 1960s, the Sephardic protest, the identity struggle, ethnic politics and the emergence of the Shas Party, and the Russian and Ethiopian immigrations.
History of Jewish Women in America
V78.0185 Identical to V57.0541. Diner. 4 points.
Explores the history of Jewish women in America. It asks how their experiences differed from those of Jewish women in Europe, from those of Jewish men in America, and from other American women. It examines the economic, religious, educational, and cultural patterns of Jewish women from the earliest settlement of Jews in America in the 17th century through recent decades.
Immigration in Israeli Society
V78.0186 Zalashik. 4 points.
Studies the waves of immigration from the period of Yishuv until the 1990s from historical, sociological, and legal perspectives. It traces the “push” and “pull” factors of each wave of immigration and emigration, the experience of immigrants in the new land, and the influence of immigration on the communities that were living in the land before and after the establishment of the State of Israel.
Women in Israeli Society
V78.0187 Zalashik. 4 points.
Studies the role of women in the Yishuv and Israeli society from the end of the 19th century until today from historical and sociological perspectives. The course examines gender inequality and concepts of gender and national identities as part of the political, cultural, collective, and personal positions of women within Israeli society. Jewish American Novel
V78.0625 Identical to V41.0165. Lambert. Offered every other semester. 4 points.
Close readings of American Jewish fiction by writers including Abe Cahan, Ludwig Lewisohn, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, and Bernard Malamud, as well as a number of less conventionally studied texts. Attention will be devoted to fictions that test the limits of the so-called "Jewish American novel," including texts composed in Yiddish, Hebrew, and German (all of which will be made available in English translations), fiction written by non-Jews about American Jews, and graphic novels.
Jewish Women in European History
V78.0653 Kaplan. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Approaches Jewish women’s history from the perspective of social history. Considers the normative role of women in Judaism. Surveys the roles of Jewish women in the Middle Ages and early modern Europe, using memoir sources and secondary literature. Most of the course focuses on Jewish women in modern Europe, analyzing their history in a variety of countries from the French Revolution through the period of Emancipa-tion, the bourgeois 19th century, World War I, the interwar years, the Nazi era, and postwar Europe.
Jewish Life in Weimar and Nazi Germany
V78.0656 Identical to V57.0165. Kaplan. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Explores the interactions of Jews and other Germans during the Weimar Republic, noting the extraordinary successes of the Jews, as well as the increase in anti-Semitism between 1918 and 1933. Examines the rise of Nazism, popular support for an opposition to the regime, the persecution of the Jews, the role of bystanders, and the ways in which the Jewish victims reacted inside Germany.
Jews and Germans from Emancipation Through World War I
V78.0657 Identical to V57.0807. Kaplan. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Explores Jewish life in 19th-century Germany, looking particularly at the ways in which Jews and Germans interacted. Describes the Jews’ quest for emancipation, their economic profile, and their social lives. Changes within the Jewish community; debates over religious reform, integration, and identity; and the growing problem of anti-Semitism are discussed.
Soviet Jewish Life Through the Prism of Literature and Film
V78.0663 Estraikh. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Examines Jewish life in the former Soviet Union, focusing on the cultural and ideological transformation of Russian Jews in the 20th century from pious Yiddish-speaking shtetl-dwellers to secular Russian-speaking urbanites. Students learn about the campaigns for Jewish republics in the Crimea and Birobidzhan in the pre-Holocaust Soviet Union. They analyze how Soviet social engineering affected traditional shtetl communities. The contemporary Russian Jewish diaspora is treated. Readings (in English) include memoirs and other works originally written in Yiddish, Russian, Hebrew, German, and English by Soviet and non-Soviet authors.
Modern Yiddish Literature and Culture
V78.0664 Estraikh. Offered every year. 4 points.
Introduction to the literary and cultural activity of modern Yiddish-speaking Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the United States from 1890 to 1950. Focuses on the distinct role that Yiddish played in modern Jewish culture during the first half of the 20th century, when the language was the vernacular of the majority of world Jewry. Examines how “Yiddish modernism” took shape in different places and spheres of activity during a period of extraordinary upheaval.
Jewish Ethnography
V78.0665 Offered every other year. 4 points.
An introduction to the ways anthropologists have studied and written about Jewish communities. Through close readings of several significant works of Jewish ethnography, we work toward a twofold goal: first, we explore the ethnographic approaches and rationales researchers have used to study Jewish communities over time. Second, we look at the ways in which ethnographers have portrayed Jewish communities to both scholarly and popular audiences.
The Holocaust: The Third Reich and the Jews
V78.0685 Identical to V57.0808. Engel. Offered every year. 4 points.
Historical investigation of the evolution of Nazi policies toward Jews; of Jewish behavior in the face of those policies; and of the attitudes of other countries, both within and outside the Nazi orbit, for the situation of Jews under the rule of the Third Reich.
Jewish Life in Post-Holocaust Europe
V78.0689 Identical to V57.0018. Estraikh. Offered every year. 4 points.
Concentrates on the social, political, and cultural forces that shaped Jewish life in post-1945 Europe. Topics include reconstruction of Jewish communities, repression and anti-Semitic campaigns in the Soviet Union and Poland, the impact of Israel, emigration and migration, Jewish-Christian relations, and assimilation and acculturation. Students also learn about various reactions to the Holocaust.
Jews and Other Minorities in Nazi Germany
V78.0720 Offered every three years. 4 points.
The destruction of European Jewry has been a focus in the study of Nazi extermination policies. This course looks at Nazi policies toward the Jewish people and examines how the “racial state” dealt with those it deemed “racially unfit” to belong to the German Volk. It considers the ways in which the Nazis sought to create a nation based on blood and race. It examines policies toward the “enemies” of the Third Reich, including Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Afro-Germans, homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled, and “asocials,” as well as how these policies interacted with each other. It also examines measures to delegitimize, isolate, rob, incarcerate, sterilize, and/or murder many of these minorities.
American Jewish Literature and Culture
V78.0779 Diner. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Explores the body of imaginative literature (novels, short stories, poetry, and drama) written by American Jews. Links these literary works to the changing position of Jews within American society.
The Gender of Peace and War
V78.0784 Feldman. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Is there a “natural” fit between the sexes and the pacifist or military impulse? This question has been at the core of the discourse about women and peace ever since its inception in the 19th-century European peace movements. This course traces the history of this debate, placing it within the general theoretical discussion over essentialism versus social and cultural constructivism (or, more commonly, “nature” versus “nurture”). Readings include fiction, poetry, and essays by activists and theorists alike, from Europe, America, and the Middle East.
JEWISH PHILOSOPHY AND THOUGHT
Modern Jewish Thought
V78.0112 Wolfson. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Comprehensive treatment of the major intellectual currents in modern Jewish thought. Emphasizes the effects of modernity on traditional Judaism. Topics include Enlightenment and the rationalistic identity; the role of ethics in religion; the emergence of Reform, neo-Orthodox, and Conservative Judaism; liberal rationalist theology and the possibility of revelation; religious and secular Zionism; the Holocaust; and the creation of the modern State of Israel.
Early History of God
V78.0116 Identical to V90.0220. Fleming, Smith. Offered every year. 4 points.
Explores evidence concerning the appearance of monotheism in ancient Israel, including the Hebrew Bible, ancient writing from Israel and its neighbors, and a range of other artifacts. The premise of the course is that Israel was not alone in ascribing priority of power to a single god, and Israel’s result is comprehensible only in the context of these wider currents.
Jewish Ethics
V78.0117 Identical to V90.0117. Rubenstein. Offered every year. 4 points.
Surveys Jewish ethical perspectives on leading moral issues, including capital punishment; business ethics; self-sacrifice, martyrdom and suicide; truth and lying; the just war; abortion; euthanasia; birth control; and politics. Explores philosophical questions concerning the nature of ethics and methodological issues related to the use of Jewish sources. Examines classical Jewish texts (Bible, Talmud, and medieval codes) pertaining to ethical issues and discusses the range of ethical positions that may be based on the sources.
Topics in Criticism: Holocaust Literature
V78.0133 Identical to V29.0133, V41.0711. Lambert. Offered every other semester. 4 points.
Considerations of the formal and ethical questions raised by authors,
filmmakers, critics, and theorists about the representation and
memorializing of the Nazi genocide of European Jews and its aftermath.
Focus on stylistically inventive literature, with some incursions into
popular media such as cinema, television, comic books, and video games,
including work by Cynthia Ozick, Edward Lewis Wallant, David Grossman,
Georges Perec, Raymond Federman, Art Spiegelman, and Quentin
Tarantino. Religion, Magic, and the Jewish Tradition
V78.0212 Identical to V90.0212. Wolfson. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Examines models for understanding the nature of magic as a phenomenon in society and then applies those models to help understand the different kinds of magic in Jewish history from biblical times to the present.
Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise and Its Aftermath
V78.0424 Prerequisite: some background in medieval Jewish philosophy or early modern philosophy is recommended, though not mandatory. Offered every other year. 4 points.
An in-depth study of Spinoza’s main political work, the Theological-Political Treatise. Among the topics to be discussed are prophecy and prophets, miracles and laws of nature, Spinoza and biblical criticism, Spinoza’s view of the Jewish Law, his political theory, and the book’s influence on the Enlightenment.
Jewish Philosophy in the Medieval World
V78.0425 Identical to V90.0106, V65.0425, V83.0426. Offered every other year. 4 points.
Readings (in translation) and analysis of representative selections from the writings of the major Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages. Emphasizes the Kuzari of Yehuda Halevi and the Guide to the Perplexed of Moses Maimonides. Special attention is paid to the cultural context in which these works were produced.
Jewish Mysticism and Hasidism
V78.0430 Identical to V65.0430, V90.0104. Wolfson. Offered every year. 4 points.
Introduction to the history of the Kabbalah and Hasidism, emphasizing the impact of these ideas on the history of Judaism.
Modern Jewish Philosophy
V78.0640 Gottlieb, Wolfson. 4 points.
Explores seminal debates about Judaism and Jewishness from the 18th century to today. Topics to be discussed include the existence of God, the authority of Jewish law, and Jewish chosenness. Special attention is paid to the impact of major historical and ideological developments, including Enlightenment and Emancipation, the Holocaust, the founding of the State of Israel, and feminism.
Gender and Judaism
V78.0718 Identical to V77.0807, V90.0815, V18.0732. Wolfson. Offered every year. 4 points.
Investigates the ways in which Jews have constructed gender during the rabbinic, medieval, and modern periods. Examines the implication of these constructions for the religious and social lives of Jewish women and men.
Jewish Responses to Modernity: Religion and Nationalism
V78.0719 Identical to V90.0470. Wolfson. Offered every third year. 4 points.
Examination of the impact of modernity on Jewish life and institutions in the 18th and 19th centuries. Readings in English from the works of Moses Mendelssohn, Theodor Herzl, Simon Dubnow, and the leading figures of the early Reform, Conservative, and neo-Orthodox movements. The convergence and divergence of nationalist and universalist sentiments are studied.
HONORS COURSES
Seminar: Issues in Jewish History
V78.0800 Offered every year. 4 points.
Focuses on a major issue in Jewish history, defined and announced by the instructor. The seminar involves students in reading both primary documents and the relevant secondary literature. It includes an original research paper.
Honors Seminar: The Bible in Jewish Culture
V78.0801 Prerequisite: admission to the departmental honors program. Offered periodically. 4 points.
Exploration of the diverse roles played by the Hebrew Bible in constructions of Jewish identity and in cultural productions by Jews throughout the centuries. The Bible is examined among other things as a literary and artistic point of reference, a component of the Jewish education curriculum, a polemical tool, a reservoir of historical paradigms, and an object of modern scholarly study, as well as a source of Jewish religious norms and expressions. Differences between traditional and modern cultural uses of the Bible are highlighted.
Honors Seminar: Jewish Representations of Christianity
V78.0802 Prerequisite: admission to the departmental honors program. Offered every three years. 4 points.
Explores the various ways that Christianity has been represented in Jewish sources from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. Particular attention is paid to the complex interface of the two traditions and the polemical attempts to draw sharp lines distinguishing them. The exploration of the status of alterity is a key factor in determining the boundaries that set the contours of identity of a given group. In this way, studying the representation of Christianity in Jewish sources discloses much about the cultural formation of Judaism.
Note: Additional honors courses are announced each year.
Independent Study
V78.0997,0998 Open to honors and nonhonors students. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Offered every semester. 1 to 6 points. |
