The Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies offers one of the most comprehensive Jewish Studies programs in North America, encompassing Hebrew language and literature as well as all facets of Jewish history and culture, from the ancient through the medieval to the modern. Courses are taught by faculty whose specialties include ancient Judaism, medieval Jewish history, modern Jewish history, Biblical studies, Middle Eastern studies, Post-biblical and Talmudic literature, Jewish mysticism, Jewish philosophy, Modern Hebrew Literature, Israel studies and related fields.
Summer 2012
Jewish Background to the New Testament
Ancient Judaism is central to the New Testament. Lying behind these 2,000-year-old documents are the religious practices, beliefs, and cultural values of Judaism in the first century C.E. In order to understand the New Testament one must understand its Jewish context. So take some time this summer and get introduced to the Jewish literary, cultural, and historical backgrounds of the New Testament, and beat the heat at the same time. You will be introduced to primary sources in translation (e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls; Rabbinic Literature; New Testament), and the world of archaeology, which helps us to understand Judaism in this period, especially where it parallels with the New Testament. Note that this course counts towards Ancient/Rabbinic requirement for majors.
HBRJD-UA.25
July 3 - August 8
Tues, Wed, Thurs
11:00am -1:00pm
Instructor: Jeffrey Garcia
Before the Arab Spring: National Revolution in the Modern Middle East
The past year has been one of momentous transformation in the Middle East. Arab nations now celebrate the toppling of regimes of that were themselves once celebrated for the expulsion of European imperial powers and their puppet regimes. The course will offer a historical survey of the Middle Eastern states that emerged over the past century and will look at the thinkers and leaders who guided Arab peoples to national independence. We will discuss the general concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ and their adaptation in the Middle East. Additionally, we will closely examine the specific cases of Egypt, Algeria, and Palestine/Israel. In addition to secondary texts, we will look at poetry, film and other media as they relate to national struggles and issues of national identity in the Middle East. The class will conclude with an examination of the ‘Arab Spring’ in historical context, and ask how our understanding of contemporary events may be mediated through historiographic analysis.
HIST-UA.565
July 3 - August 8
Tues, Wed, Thurs
11:00am -1:00pm
Instructor: Hillel Gruenberg
Fall 2012 Courses
Click here for undergraduate courses.
Click here for graduate courses.
Upcoming Events
Spring 2012 Lunchtime ColloquiaAll colloquia take place in the Library of the King Juan Carlos I Center from 12-1:45pm unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, May 3
'In the Islands of the Sea': Geography in the Religious History of the Jews of Britain
Presented by Dr. Ben Elton, Visiting Scholar
Ben Elton studied History at Queens' College Cambridge and received a PhD from Birkbeck College, London for a thesis on the British Chief Rabbinate, which was published as Britain's Chief Rabbis and the Religious Character of Anglo-Jewry 1880-1970. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Research Fellow of the London School of Jewish Studies. He is a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies for 2011-13.
