Jewish Studies Courses, Spring 2010

Jewish Studies is an interdisciplinary minor program, allowing students to take courses within two colleges and seven departments. Please see the minor program pages for required and optional courses. New 2009-10 courses include History of Anti-Semitism (Fall) and “Curtain Up on Cultural Judaism: Secularization through Popular Arts and Leisure” (Spring).

JWSS/HIST/HUM 111: Curtain Up on Cultural Judaism: Secularization through Popular Arts and Leisure
Mondays 6:00-8:45 PM, CL 318
Prof. Donny Inbar

What is modern Jewish identity? “Religion or ethnicity? Theology or ethics? Culture or ideology? Brooklyn or Tel Aviv?” (A. O. Scott, “Jewish History, Popcorn Included,” The New York Times, 10/4/09). How does popular Jewish culture redefine Judaism, and how did the arts serve as a powerful agent of secularization and acculturation in the modern era? Once people began to see that "Jewishness" was not necessarily determined by the fulfillment of the 613 biblical commandments or by tribal orientation, it began to be seen as an evolving culture. In this course we will explore the trend of secularization through the arts, studying cultural and national Judaism as they are manifested in the United States and Israel. The course will include film screenings, music, and reading of literature, history and theory, from “good old” modern Judaism to cutting-edge “rebooted” Jewishness.
"Curtain Up on Cultural Judaism" is funded by generous gifts from the community.

HIST/ JWSS 115 Ancient Near East
TR 12:00-1:15, DMH 163
Prof. Jonathan Roth

The course studies the great river civilizations (Nile, Tigris-Euphrates and Indus) from 3500 BC to the Roman Conquest, including the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Persians and the Hebrews. Emphasis is placed on politics, culture, religion and contributions to Greek, Roman and Christian developments.

ENG/JWSS/HUM 126: Holocaust Literature
TR 10:30-11:45, BBC 124
Prof. David Mesher

This course will survey works by writers who were victims, survivors, or witnesses of the Holocaust, the destruction of European Jewry which took place during World War II. The focus of the course will be the reading and discussion of diaries, memoirs, and fiction. Writers may include Elie Wiesel, Primo Levi, Anne Frank, Charlotte Delbo.

RELS/ JWSS 90: Bible History and Literature
TR 3:00-4:15 PM, HGH 124
Prof. Brent Walters

This introductory course on the Bible reconstructs the original context of the biblical record, covering the social setting of the Jews and early Christians in light of the cultural and religious environment that influenced the writers of these sacred writings. Discussing literal and figurative uses of language, the class studies biblical narrative, prophecy, poetry, wisdom, apocalypse, gospel, parable, and epistle.

Hebrew Courses
Prof. Rina Katzen

The Hebrew program is directed to people interested in the Bible, religious studies, archeology, linguistics, learning a foreign language, or learning about ancient and modern Israel. Hebrew courses are partially funded by grants from the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley and Temple Emanu-El's Rabbi Gitin Memorial Fund.

Hebrew 10B Elementary Hebrew
T TR 10:30-11:45

HEBR 15B Intermediate Hebrew
T TR 1:30-2:45

HEBR 102B Advanced Hebrew
T TR 3-4:15