Fall 2024 Undergraduate Courses
Jewish Studies 100.002
Jews and Their Neighbors(link is external)
Instructor: Sarah Levin
CN# 27300
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Social Sciences Bldg
Units: 4
This course introduces students to the diversity of Jewish communities across time and geographies through a survey of literatures, histories, and cultures. Jewish cultures have always been co-produced in interaction with their non-Jewish neighbors. Through this study of Jewish cultural pluralism throughout history, we will investigate complex issues of identity and layers of belonging. Students from all majors and backgrounds are welcome. No previous knowledge of Judaism or Jewish Studies is necessary.
– Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
– Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 103 - CLASS CANCELLED
Advanced Judeo-Spanish Seminar: Ibero-Jewish Voices from the Margins(link is external)
Instructor: Adam Mahler
CN# 33558
Meeting Time: Wednesdays 12:00-3:00pm
Location: Online
Units: 4
The literary production of medieval Spain and Portugal took place, by and large, in Hebrew. The Sephardic diaspora that began in the fourteenth century and peaked in the late fifteenth century— following edicts of expulsion and mass conversion—gave rise to a Jewish-voiced Romance language literature. Even so, the pressures of belletristic taste and religious doctrine meant that the Sephardic diaspora wrote many of its most intellectually significant works in Hebrew or other prestige languages. Meanwhile, Judeo-Spanish writers cultivated a hyper-literary style that betrays distinct cultural anxieties and does not always offer an affecting glimpse into the everyday lives of diasporic communities in the Levant.
In the face of such circumstances, how do we recover authentic Jewish voices from the literary record? How can we productively speculate on Jewish lives through Christian writers’ impersonations? And what broader social insights can we glean from the elite Sephardic literature
of later years?
Conducted in Judeo-Spanish, this course attempts to answer these and other questions by interrogating primary sources that span the twelfth to twentieth centuries. Course authors include: Ibn Ezra, Yudah Harizi, Gil Vicente, Antón Montoro, Shem Tov ibn Isaac Ardutiel, Moshe Arragel, Sabbtai Tsvi, Samuel Usque, Viktor Levi, Sa’adi A-Levi, and Emma Lazarus. In addition to Judeo- Spanish materials, the course will also incorporate readings from the Old Spanish, Judeo-
Portuguese, and early modern Castilian and Portuguese literary traditions, with English translations provided when necessary or as an interpretive aid.
PREREQUISITE: Jewish Studies 102/Spanish 135 or equivalent. Please contact the instructor if you have questions regarding preparedness.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 120.002
Powerlessness and Superpowers: Comic Books & Jewish Identity(link is external)
Instructor: Louis Schubert
CN# 26230
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 3:30-5:00pm
Location: Evans 31
Units: 3
Coming from exclusion and powerlessness, Jewish creators invented the modern comic book. Comics are where Jewish stories get told, from the Holocaust to daily life. The superhero genre, mostly invented by Jews, narrates core Jewish ethical concepts such as Responsibility to the Other. We will read lots of comics and focus on the overlapping themes of Jewish history, identity, and faith.
– Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 120A.001
Crossing Borders, or, How to Translate Hebrew Literature?(link is external)
Instructor: Yael Segalovitz
CN# 27271
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Dwinelle 283
Units: 4
At first glance, translation may seem straightforward—merely transferring words from one language to another. Yet, beneath this surface simplicity lies a labyrinth of challenges: How do we translate idioms unique to one language, or convey rhythm and rhyme, or handle culturally specific humor and slang? When we read a work in translation, are we truly engaging with any “original,” or are we encountering something entirely different?
This course engages these complex questions, using Hebrew Literature and its translations into English as our primary lens. We'll explore the nature of translation by following the same Hebrew text in different English forms, by reading translators' reflections, by unpacking theoretical texts on translation, by analyzing works by Palestinian writers that navigate the spaces between languages and cultures, and through hands-on experiences with “translation” between different registers of English.
Translation, many practitioners claim, is the most rigorous form of reading. By the end of this course, then, you will not only gain insight into the complexities of translation and broaden your knowledge of Modern Hebrew and Israeli literature but will also—perhaps mostly—sharpen your analytical skills applicable far beyond the material of this specific course. Join Yael Segalovitz in this transnational, translinguistic, and transcultural journey!
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 121A.002
Jews in the Modern World(link is external)
Instructor: John Efron
CN# 33572
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Wheeler 200
Units: 4
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, immigration, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel.
– Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 122A.001
Literature and History in the Hebrew Bible(link is external)
Instructor: Jenna Stover
CN# 33594
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Evans 55
Units: 4
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, immigration, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the state of Israel.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 122B - CLASS CANCELLED
Pre-Modern Judaism: Constructing Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Instructor: Madeline Wyse
CN# 34336
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 3:30-5:00pm
Location: Social Sciences Bldg 80
Units: 4
Jewish Sufis! Torah-Observant Christians! What did it mean to be a pre-modern Jew (or Muslim or Christian) and who got to decide?
This course will examine the long process of defining and contesting the category of "Judaism" from the Second Temple Period through the Islamic Middle Ages. We will start with the “births” of “Christianity,” “Judaism,” and “Islam and focus on the ways proponents of these emerging categories attempted to define themselves and one another. We will then explore the ways these categories continued to be reinforced, blurred or redefined in the medieval Islamic world. We will examine a variety of case studies and weigh the usefulness of different conceptual models like co-production, influence, cross-pollination, and symbiosis in making sense of the social and religious dynamics we encounter in the sources.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 122.001
Gender, Religion, and Law: The Case of Israel(link is external)
Instructor: Masua Sagiv
CN# 23776
Meeting Time: Mondays 2:00-5:00pm
Location: Valley Life Sciences Bldg 2030
Units: 4
The course will explore the intersection of gender, religion, and law in Israel, as manifested in social movement activism through law and society. Incorporating existing law with current discourse and issues around the suggested legal reforms and the fragility of Israeli democracy, the course will illustrate and reflect upon different strategies and spheres for promoting social change, by examining core issues involving gender, religion and law in Israel: religious marriage and divorce, gender equality in the religious establishment, free exercise of religion (at the Western Wall and Temple Mount), and gender segregation in public places and in academia. Spheres of activism to be covered include parliament, state courts, alternative private initiatives and courts, and social protests.
– Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
– Meets International Studies, L&S Breadth
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 175E
History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time
Instructor: Ethan Katz
CN# 34112
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Giannini 141
Units: 4
This course will at once offer a long-term historical view and be particularly valuable for placing the events of the present in context. Throughout, we emphasize the importance of two topics that challenged the Zionist project from its early years: the “Arab question” and the issue of the place of religion in a modern Jewish state. Subsequent lessons will trace the Zionists’ complex relationship to the British empire; attitudes of Zionism toward the native Arabs of Palestine; the building of the Yishuv; the creation of modern Hebrew culture in realms from language to the arts; the rise of both Labor and Revisionist Zionism; the impact of antisemitism and the Holocaust in Europe; and the Arab resistance to Zionism that exploded in the 1929 riots, the 1936 Great Arab Revolt, and the 1948 War and refugee crisis. The portion of the class that deals with the years of the state addresses the consequences of Israel’s founding for the Jewish and Arab inhabitants of Palestine; the institutionalization of state socialism and the military as the strongest institutions in Israel; the waves of Jewish migration from surrounding Arab and Muslim countries and Israel’s changing ethnic makeup; a series of military conflicts; the way that the Israeli victory of 1967 dramatically transformed the region and unleashed new political and cultural forces within Israeli society; the emergence of the Occupation in the West Bank and Gaza and the rise of the settlement movement and the Israeli right; the rise of the Palestinian nationalist movement; the rise and fall of the Peace Process; the “economic miracle” of the early twenty-first century; and the new hegemony of the Israeli religious Right. We will conclude the course by discussing October 7 and the current war in historical context.
– Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
– Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Other Fall 2024 Undergraduate Classes That Count Toward the Minor
Hebrew 1A
Instructor: Chava Boyarin
CN# 21606
Meeting Time: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10:00-11:00am
Location: Social Sciences 252
Units: 5
This course is the first semester of the elementary level of Modern Hebrew and is meant for students who have no or little experience with the Hebrew language. Students will learn to read and write the Hebrew alphabet (both print and cursive) as well as gain proficiency in speaking and listening. Students will develop a foundational vocabulary, allowing them to communicate in basic sentences. Together with the second semester of Elementary Hebrew, students will be prepared to engage with the Hebrew language in routine contexts.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Hebrew 106A
Instructor: Jenna Kemp
CN# 27149
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Social Sciences 271
Units: 3
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Hebrew 20A
Instructor: Chava Boyarin
CN# 33780
Meeting Time: Monday, Tuesday 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Social Sciences 275
Meeting Time: Wednesday, Thursday 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Social Sciences 8B
Units: 5
This course is the first semester of the intermediate level of Modern Hebrew. The course continues where Elementary Hebrew 1B left off and further cultivates the student's speaking, reading, listening, and writing proficiencies in Modern Hebrew. It expands on vocabulary and expressions, allowing students to hold colloquial conversations as well as establishing a foundation to discuss more sophisticated topics.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Yiddish 101A
Instructor: Noa Tsaushu
CN# 26329
Meeting Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:00-2:00pm
Location: Online
Units: 4
In this beginners' course students will learn to speak, read, and write Yiddish, the original language of East European Jews. Using the communicative method and the new textbook In Eynem, students will focus in class on speaking by playing out short dialogues. Grammar will be taught inductively, through examples. The course will introduce Yiddish culture through a variety of songs, stories, film clips, and illustrations.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Yiddish 104
History of Yiddish Civilization
Instructor: Noa Tsaushu
CN# 33741
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Online
Units: 4
This course will trace the development of Yiddish civilization down to today from the first settlement of Jews in German lands, roughly a thousand years ago. At its peak, Yiddish was spoken over a larger European territory than any language except Russian. In fact, long before Yiddish culture came to be centered in Eastern Europe, many of the best works of Old Yiddish literature were written in Renaissance Italy. Because Jews were a highly mobile population in contact with many different peoples, Yiddish was everywhere influenced by neighboring languages and became the prototypical fusion language.
– Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor