Spring 2019
Jewish Studies 39 “Jews, Super-Heroes and Other Curiosities”
Instructor: Oren Yirmiya
Time: Mondays 3-5pm Dwinelle 243
Units: 2
CN #31880
Considering the involvement of Jewish creators and editors in the history of American comics is mesmerizing. Superman was created by Jerry Siegel (originally Segalovich) and Joe Shuster (Shusterowich), and Batman by Bill Finger and Bob Kane (Kahn). Captain America was created by Jack Kirby (Kurtzberg) with Joe Simon, and The Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, X-Men and most of the Marvel Universe were created by him with Stan Lee (Lieber). In 1980 Art Spiegelman published Maus, the first comic book to win a Pulitzer prize, and Neil Gaiman created in 1989 The Sandman, the first comic book to win a Hugo. In 2018, the notable writer Brian Michel Bendis moved from Marvel to DC, explaining his transition by saying: “I’m a little Jewish boy from Cleveland and my connection to Superman is very, very deep, genetically.”
As this list shows, Jewish creators have been a part of American comic books from its origins as a marginalized low-brow medium and into its contemporary shape as a blockbuster entertainment industry. In the coming seminar we will examine both history and fiction, following the intersection of American Jewry and comics publishing. We will learn how to approach and analyze a comic book page, and go over the different stages and developments of the medium in its 80 years of existence. We will meet and reflect on the Jewish themes and biographies that shaped the industry, and ask what happens if we read American superheroes not only as Jewish by heritage, but Jewish in nature.
Jewish Studies 98 (DECAL) “Jew-ish: An Overview of Jewish Culture and Religion, Fall Session”
Instructor: Reni Forer
Time: Thur 5-7 in Dwinelle 229
CN# 22770
Units: 2
This course will expose students to an overview of Jewish life, covering both cultural and religious topics, in addition to case studies to illuminate the content. This course will cover some key, basic concepts in Judaism, including lifecycle rituals and the Autumnal holidays, looking at multiple perspectives within each topic. This course will allow Jewish students to gain a clearer sense of how they want to personally practice Judaism, as well as expose non-Jewish students to aspects of Judaism that can be incorporated into any person’s life, while giving all students the opportunity to evolve their own spiritual or religious identity. This course is meant to not only expose students to what common Jewish rituals are, but to develop an understanding of a traditional Jewish lifestyle. This will be accomplished through weekly readings, class discussion, guest speakers, and field trips outside the classroom.
Jewish Studies 100 “Introduction to Jewish Religion, Culture, and People”*
Instructor: Ethan Katz
Time: TTH 9:30-11 in Lewis 9
Units:3
CN #25781
*JS 100 Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth &
Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
**satisfies the core requirement for the Jewish Studies Minor
This course traces many of the key developments of the Jewish religion, culture, and people over the last 1000 years. Topics of study include: the canonization of Judaism’s most sacred texts; the emergence and development of Jewish courts and legal codes; mass expulsions and migrations; religious reform; the rise of anti-Semitism and the tragedy of the Holocaust; struggles between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews over cultural identity; complex relations between Jews, Muslims, and Christians; the emergence of Zionism, Yiddishism, and other modern Jewish political and cultural movements; and the global impact of the Israeli-Arab conflict. Along the way, the class introduces students to most major fields of Jewish studies, including Jewish History, Jewish Law, Jewish Thought, Medieval Judaism, Talmud, Jewish Literature, Holocaust Studies, Sephardic Studies, and Israel Studies.
One of the world’s most important Jewish communities of the past millenium, France and the French-speaking world, offers a laboratory for exploring these themes. In the Middle Ages, France was home to the great Medieval rabbi Rashi, who wrote what remains the definitive set of commentaries and explanations on the Torah (the Five Books of Moses), and the Talmud (the Jewish oral law). During the French Revolution, France became the first country to make its Jews equal citizens. From the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of Jews across Eurasia learned to speak French and love French culture in French Jewish schools that stretched from Morocco to Iran to Russia. In the twentieth-century, France had five prime ministers of Jewish descent, and today, the country has the second-largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, with more than 300 kosher restaurants in Paris alone. This history has its darker sides as well: France witnessed some of the most important anti-Semitic thinkers and movements beginning in the late nineteenth century and saw major collaboration with the Nazis during World War II. As France’s colonies in North Africa gained their independence and became aligned with the Arab world, large and long-established Jewish communities fled from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, with most migrating to France, Israel, or Canada. France has witnessed a significant spike in anti-Jewish acts since 2000. By focusing on France and the Francophone world, we thus come to understand the broader development of the Jewish Religion, Culture, and People, and how it is that scholars have come to study them.
Jewish Studies 121* “Mapping Diasporas”
Instructor: Francesco Spagnolo
Time: Tuesday 5-7 at The Magnes Museum
Units: 4
CN #26610
*JS 121 satisfies the Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth requirement
How do we “map” cultures in motion?
Describing the interaction of places, times, languages, identities, cultural formats, dominant and marginal narratives that characterize cultures in diaspora requires a multidimensionality that traditional maps no longer meet.
In today’s world, we “map” diasporas through digital narratives, and often perform culture as archivists and curators .
In this course, students will work with the cultural objects held in The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life , including art, material culture, books, manuscripts, digital assets and data, learning to conduct collaborative research and documentation, to create maps and narratives, and to curate, perform and publish their findings inmuseum galleries and online .
Each week in the semester combines critical approaches and orienting texts with the exploration of a variety of tools and cultural practices.
Jewish Studies 122-001*”Jewish Religion in Israel: Swaying Religion and Nationality”
Instructor: Tomer Persico
Time: TTH 11-12:30 in Evans 72
Units: 3
CN #25828
*JS 122 satisfies the Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth requirement
Judaism’s entrance into modernity witnessed its rupture, transforming from a traditional ethnic community into a religion on the one hand and a nationality on the other. We shall examine modern Judaism’s manifestation in the state of Israel today, studying the tensions between religion and state, the different and differing Jewish sub-groups, the perils and promises of political theology and pressures and challenges of a tradition become nation.
Jewish Studies 122-002* “Jewish Intellectuals and the Questions of the 20thC”
Instructor: TBD
Time: MWF 9-10am in Dwinelle 250
Units: 3
CN #32886
*JS 122 satisfies the Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth requirement
From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the new millennium, human society experienced a series of great convulsions and movements that themselves birthed new ideas. Marxism, Fascism, Feminism, Liberalism and a variety of religious traditions vied with one another, both within the Jewish community and without. As Jews found themselves especially affected by these movements, Jewish intellectuals often took particularly prominent roles in the debates that would define the century. By studying the works of Isaiah Berlin, Martin Buber, Judith Butler, Ayn Rand, and others, we will explore how Jewish intellectuals navigated the universe of ideas around them. We will learn what they saw as the pressing questions of their times, and how they sought to answer them. By doing so, we will ask what it means to be Jewish or an intellectual, how these identities have been affected by the past century, and how these questions relate to our world today.
History 103B “Jews of Eastern Europe”*
Instructor: John Efron
Time: Wednesday 10-12 in Dwinelle 2303
Units: 3
CN #22581
*satisfies the elective requirement for the Jewish Studies Minor
Undergraduate Courses, Fall 2018
Jewish Studies 39 “Jews in the English Imagination”
Instructor: Shirelle Doughty
Time: Mondays 2-4
Units: 2
CN #24836
How do we make sense of the disproportionate attention Jews received in the West in the last millennium? While explanations of persecution tend to focus on political, economic, and social factors, this course will use England as a case study to focus on the symbolic role of the figure of “the Jew.” Jews were absent from England for centuries following their expulsion in 1290, yet “the Jew” continued to figure prominently in English religious and secular texts—including works by Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, and Joyce. We will consider why the image of “the Jew” retained such importance and will examine how rhetorical evocations of this figure served to shape English identities. We will also examine the impact of certain theological approaches to thinking about Jews on British (and American) attitudes towards Zionism and Israel.
Jewish Studies 98 (DECAL) “Jew-ish: An Overview of Jewish Culture and Religion, Fall Session”
Instructor: Reni Forer
Time: Mondays 5-7 Barrows 174
Units: 2
CN#21990
This course will expose students to an overview of Jewish life, covering both cultural and religious topics, in addition to case studies to illuminate the content. This course will cover some key, basic concepts in Judaism, including lifecycle rituals and the Autumnal holidays, looking at multiple perspectives within each topic. This course will allow Jewish students to gain a clearer sense of how they want to personally practice Judaism, as well as expose non-Jewish students to aspects of Judaism that can be incorporated into any person’s life, while giving all students the opportunity to evolve their own spiritual or religious identity. This course is meant to not only expose students to what common Jewish rituals are, but to develop an understanding of a traditional Jewish lifestyle. This will be accomplished through weekly readings, class discussion, guest speakers, and field trips outside the classroom.
Jewish Studies 121* “Mapping Diasporas”* rescheduled for Spring 2019 time TBA
Instructor: Francesco Spagnolo
Time:
Units: 4
CN
*JS 121 satisfies the Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth requirement
How do we “map” cultures in motion?
Describing the interaction of places, times, languages, identities, cultural formats, dominant and marginal narratives that characterize cultures in diaspora requires a multidimensionality that traditional maps no longer meet.
In today’s world, we “map” diasporas through digital narratives , and often perform culture as archivists and curators .
In this course, students will work with the cultural objects held in The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life , including art, material culture, books, manuscripts, digital assets and data, learning to conduct collaborative research and documentation, to create maps and narratives, and to curate, perform and publish their findings inmuseum galleries and online .
Each week in the semester combines critical approaches and orienting texts with the exploration of a variety of tools and cultural practices.
Jewish Studies 122* “Introduction to Jewish Mysticism”
Instructor: Tomer Persico
Time: MW 9:30-11 in EVANS 51
Units: 3
CN #32812
*JS 122 satisfies the Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth requirement
Beyond the esoteric names of the divine and the meditative practices used to draw Its graces lies the inner pulse of Jewish Mysticism. In this course we shall explore the Jewish mystical tradition, from the Bible, through the Second Temple literature, Kabbalah, Hasidism, and up to contemporary developments. Emphasizing mystical techniques, we will examine the practices through which Jews in different times sought direct connection with the divine.
History 103b “Holocaust in North Africa/Arab Lands”
Instructor: Katz
Time: TTH 11-12:30
Units: 3
CN #
While the Holocaust’s center and worst atrocities occurred in Europe, the event had an immense impact as well on Jewish and non-Jewish populations far beyond the continent, especially in North Africa and its surrounding regions. Allied and Axis armies fought across North Africa for extensive portions of World War II. The area was eventually home to more than 100 wartime labor camps, in which Jews were often singled out for particularly harsh treatment. Jews in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya faced severe restrictions on employment, property, and education comparable to those imposed in parts of Western Europe. In Algeria, all Jews were stripped of their French citizenship, and in small numbers helped lead an underground movement that played a critical role in the success of the November 1942 Allied Landing. After the war, the memory of fascism and the Holocaust played a major role in North African and Middle Eastern society, in debates over decolonization, the question of Israel-Palestine, and the broader future of Jewish-Muslim relations.
This course examines all of these aspects of the crucial importance of the Holocaust to North Africa and its surrounding areas. How, we will ask, might expanding the geographical boundaries of the Holocaust force us to rethink concepts like perpetrators, victims, and collaboration? What choices, challenges, and opportunities existed for Jews in Vichy, Italian, and Nazi-occupied North Africa that mirrored or diverged from those in Europe? We will also interrogate more broadly the significance, impact, and memory of the Holocaust in the Muslim world, as our readings take us well beyond North Africa into the Arab Middle East and even into Central Asia. Another fundamental question that we tackle from several angles is the complex relationship between colonialism and the Holocaust, both as historical phenomena and in the collective memories of various nations and groups.
History 175B “Jews in the Modern World”
Instructor: John Efron
Time: TTH 9:30-11
Units: 4
CN #32321
This course will examine the impact of modern intellectual, political, cultural, and social forces on the Jewish people since the eighteenth century. It is our aim to come to an understanding of how the Jews interpreted these forces and how and in what ways they adapted and utilized them to suit the Jewish experience. In other words, we will trace the way Jews became modern. Some of the topics to be covered include Emancipation, the Jewish Enlightenment, new Jewish religious movements, Jewish politics and culture, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel.
Hebrew 1A “Elementary Hebrew”
Instructor: Rutie Adler
Time: MoTuWeThFr 10-11am in Barrows 271
CN#21691
Hebrew 20A “Intermediate Hebrew”
Instructor: Rutie Adler
Time: TuWeTh 11-12 Mo 11-1p in Barrows 275
CN#21644
Hebrew 100A “Advanced Hebrew”
Instructor: Rutie Adler
Time: TuTh 12:30-2 in Barrows 275
CN#21691
Hebrew 104A “Modern Hebrew Literature and Culture”
Instructor: Chana Kronfeld
Time: M 2-5 in Barrows 271
CN#21645
Hebrew 106A “Elementary Biblical Hebrew”
Instructor: Chava Boyarin
Time: TuTh 9:30-11am in Barrows 275
CN#32370
Yiddish 101
Instructor: Amanda Siegel
MoTuWeThFr 11:00AM – 11:59AM Dwinelle 233
Units 5
CN#24055
Introduction to Yiddish language and literature. Attention to reading, writing, and speaking in the context of the historic Yiddish cultural environment.
NES 39A “Ancient Near Eastern Mythology”
Instructor: Ron Hendel
Time: TuTh 12:30-2p in Dwinelle 229
CN#30596
Yiddish 103
Instructor: Yael Chaver
TuTh 11:00AM – 12:29PM Dwinelle 189
Units 5
CN#24050
Sholem Aleichem’s Inner Child: Motl, the Cantor’s Son. The last bittersweet masterpiece by the great Yiddish writer addresses challenges of change and modernity in the shtetl, in the fictional voice of a young boy who has just lost his father. With Motl, we experience traumas and joys, adventures and calamities, tradition and upheaval, culminating in the great shift out of the shtetl and into the New World. Sholem Aleichem’s rich style offers his unique take on the world of childhood in 19th-century Eastern European Jewish culture.
Graduate Courses,Fall 2018
Hebrew 202A “Advanced Late Antique Hebrew Texts”
Instructor: Daniel Boyarin
Time: Tu 2-5 in Barrows 8B
CN#32876
Hebrew204A “Advanced Modern Hebrew Literature and Culture”
Instructor: Chana Kronfeld
W 2-5 in Barrows 275
CN#30593
NES 298/History 280B/285B: “Ancient Israel in Modern Western Culture”*
Instructor: John Efron
Th 3-5pm 3205 Dwinelle
*counts toward the DE in Jewish Studies
Spanning the 17th through the 20th centuries this course sets out to explore the way Europeans, Americans and Israelis have imagined and represented Biblical Israel. Among the topics we will address are: Spinoza’s heresy, the Enlightenment Bible, the politics of archaeology, histories of Ancient Israel, Christian and Jewish representations of Jesus and the Holy Land, Israelite-Sephardic authenticity and Masada and the Zionist imagination.