Courses
For beginning students and those with rudimentary training in Hebrew. The course stresses reading, writing, and speaking by involving students in situations that concretely express the concepts of the language.
Credits: 4
An exploration of the relationship between Judaism and other religions and cultures in the ancient Mediterranean world. Students will study the historical development of and religious innovation within Judaism in the context of intercultural and interreligious contact in the Greco-Roman period
Credits: 4
Explores the ancient civilizations of the Middle East, including those of Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. Students examine cultural, social, and political movements using texts as well as archaeology as sources.
Credits: 4
Examines how early Jewish interactions with various cultures affected the development of Judaism. Interactions with Mesopotamian, Greek, Roman, Christian, and Muslim cultures are explored. Topics include conflicts with external powers, exile, and diaspora.
Credits: 4
An exploration of the many religious cults that populated the ancient world from Greece to Egypt to the near East. Students will study the history and development of counter-cultural movements like the Greek cults of Asclepios and Isis, the Jewish sect of Essenes, the messianic Jesus movement, and Roman Mithraism. Students will also examine the distinction between a “religion” and a “cult”.
Credits: 4
Students will learn about the place and development of music in Jewish culture and liturgy from ancient times to the modern, with a particular focus on Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and New York. The course will discuss Ashkenazi and Sephardic compositions, male and female composers, important genres and styles within classical music, and exchanges with Christian culture in each era.
Credits: 4
Jewish individuals have had a major impact on modern music, including musical theatre, jazz, pop, rock, and more. The course covers a wide array of music from Drake to Bob Dylan to Sondheim and explores some of the most important musical innovations in North American music. By tracing historical trajectories that brought Jewish approaches to music from Europe to America in the twentieth century, we will examine the complexities of Jewish culture as a case study in the formation of modern American identity and how these identities are reflected in music. The ability to read music is welcome but not required for this course.
Credits: 4
How was the Holocaust possible in the 20th century? This course responds to the question by examining specific issues: German anti-Semitism; Hitler’s rise to power; the genocide process; responses to Nazism and the news of the Holocaust in Jewish and international communities; resistance and collaboration; and theological and moral questions.
Credits: 4
Considers the profound influence Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have exerted on the social, cultural, and political history of the East and the West. This course examines the historical developments, tenets, and scriptures of the three religions.
Credits: 3
Examines the relationships among Jews, Muslims and Christians in North Africa and the Middle East in the period of British and French colonialism. From Morocco to Egypt to Lebanon, explore first-person memories of shared food, music, languages, and religious practices that emerged from centuries of migration. The course also examines the conclusion of the colonial era.
Credits: 4
Explores the history of American Jewry from its beginnings to the present, touching on such topics as integration into American society, formation of Jewish identity, anti-Semitism, evolving religious traditions, cultural clashes, cultural issues involving various waves of immigration, the evolving role of women, Jews and entertainment, and economic and political issues.
Credits: 4
An exploration of the peoples, religions, cultures, places, and monuments of the land of Israel. Home to three major world religions, the land has been embraced, fought over, and conquered repeatedly throughout history. Why? Students explore the reasons for Israel’s prominence and discover how its position and importance in the worldview is constantly being reinvented.
Credits: 4
The historicity of the Hebrew Bible is explored, from the protohistory of the Israelites as related through the Pentateuch and early prophetic works, through the period of the Monarchies, to the 6th-century B.C. exile, the birth of early Judaism, and the books of prophets and writings. Issues relating to historiography and biblical criticism are essential elements in this course.
Credits: 4
Explores important works of ancient literature in conversation with important Enlightenment texts and ideas. Students will read selections from the Bible and Greek literature and study the reception of their ideas and ideals in the work and thought of prominent Enlightenment authors.
Credits: 4
Explores the relationship between politics and archaeology. Topics include who owns antiquities; fakes, forgeries, and the manipulating of history; presentations of archaeology to the public; buying, selling, and auctioning of antiquities; and archaeology in wartime. The geographic range of topics includes Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Syria, and other countries in region, as well as Greece and Rome.
Credits: 4
This course examines the history of jazz in conjunction U.S. history, with a focus on American racial politics. We will read, listen, watch, and discuss examples of jazz performance, exploring how historical context shaped the music and how jazz can help us to better understand the history, culture, and politics of race in the twentieth and twenty-first century United States.
Credits: 4
Students learn how the Bible is the essential foundation for Judaic and Christian cultures, and how it has impacted world history. The course starts with Genesis, the Old Testament, and ends with Revelations, New Testament. Students do close readings of the Bible’s remarkable collection of stories, poems, proverbs and more, all in an historical context.
Credits: 4
Examining fiction, poetry, film and art, students explore how Jewish Americans engaged in America’s cultural development in the post-World War II era. Writers and poets include Isaac Asimov, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Grace Paley, James McBride, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Adrienne Rich, and Leonard Cohen. Movies include works by Steven Spielberg and the Coen Brothers.
Credits: 4
Focuses on a variety of writings (memoirs, letters, fiction, poetry), theatre, and films depicting the Yiddish world of the Lower East Side, home to more than two million Eastern European Jewish immigrants between 1880 and 1920. Readings include selections from the work of a variety of authors, from Yiddish newspapers, films, and other cultural materials.
Credits: 4