Fall 2025 Undergraduate Courses
Jewish Studies 100.002
Introduction to Jewish Religion, Culture, and People: Jews and Their Neighbors
Instructor: Sarah Levin
CN# 26417
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Morgan 109
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 Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
- This is the program's core class and counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor.
Jewish Studies 120A.001
Pack Light: Traversing Translation & Hebrew Literature
Instructor: Yael Segalovitz
CN# 26389
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Social Sciences 80
Units: 4
Nothing could be easier than translating, it seems; a quick use of Google Translate or an AI chat and you’re good to go. Why, then, does the result so often fall flat or sound off, especially when it comes to complex literary works? In this course, we’ll trace the footprints of literary translation—the cultural, geo-political, theological, and linguistic knowledge embedded in every utterance we produce, and the acute challenges that arise when carrying these elements across languages. Taking on the viewpoints of writers, translators, and readers, we’ll tackle questions like: How should a translator handle an idiom with no equivalent in the target language (like “barking up the wrong tree”)? Is a translation’s job to capture the original’s unique flavor or to read smoothly to its new audience? And what’s the experience of reading someone else’s words filtered through a translator’s sensibility? Hebrew literature—born from a people in constant movement and containing echoes of multiple languages—presents a particularly fertile ground for exploring translation. We’ll follow the work in and about translation by celebrated modern Hebrew writers such as Yehuda Amichai, Shimon Adaf, and Maya Arad, as well as Sayed Kashua, whose writings sophisticatedly navigate the boundaries between Hebrew and Arabic; We will engage in hands-on translation exercises accommodating students with or without second language proficiency. We’ll peek into translators’ behind-the-scenes accounts, including Robert Alter’s work on Bible translation; And grapple with theoretical perspectives from Walter Benjamin through Jacques Derrida to Naomi Seidman on translation’s ethical and political implications. As a special component of the course: some of these writers and thinkers will join us for live class discussions! Translation, as many who practice it will tell you, is reading at its most intense. By semester’s end, you’ll not only better understand the intricacies of translation and gain insights into Modern Hebrew literature but also sharpen analytical skills that extend far beyond this course. Bring your passport—we’ll be crossing linguistic borders together.
- Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 120A.002
"Jewish Humor"
Instructor: Miriam Borden
CN# 33734
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Online
Units: 4
This course will trace the history of humor among Jews in Europe and beyond, from the earliest instance of Yiddish writing in 1272 to Yiddish on Duolingo in 2025. This inquiry will take us back to Eastern Europe, where Yiddish-speaking Jews evolved their own distinct concept of themselves and the world around them. We will also collect jokes and analyze a variety of humorous genres (short fiction, film, stand-up, jokes, music) using a variety of analytical perspectives (historical, psychological, ethnographic, queer, and literary). We will examine how laughter has served in the Jewish tradition as both a coping mechanism and an instrument of self-defense.
- Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 121B
Mizrahim in Israel: History and Culture
Instructor: Yifat Moas
CN# 33820
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Evans 41
Units: 4
While Jews are often imagined as having European roots, a significant portion of Israel’s Jewish population descends from once-thriving communities in Arab and Islamic countries. Their culture, and the ethnic relations between Mizrahi Jews (i.e., Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin) and Ashkenazi Jews (with roots in Europe), have fundamentally shaped Israeli society. This course explores the history, culture, and evolving identity of Mizrahi Jews—from their historical experience in Arab and Islamic lands, through their immigration and struggles in Israel, to their cultural revival and growing political influence. These historical and cultural dynamics offer insights into the diverse forces that have shaped Israeli society, both past and present.
- Meets International Studies, L&S Breadth
- Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 122B
The Jews Between Ancient Empires
Instructor: Duncan MacRae
CN# 33819
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Wheeler 104
Units: 4
This course is an investigation of two histories: the history of the Jewish people in Greek and Roman antiquity and the history of ancient imperialism. We will seek to understand how each of these histories can illuminate the other. From the sixth century BCE through to the fifth century CE, Jewish populations lived in the shadow of ancient empires (Persian, Hellenistic Greek, Roman). We will look at how this experience shaped Jewish identity, religion and cultural life. At the same time, the rich record for ancient Jewish history can help us understand how subject peoples experienced and shaped imperial rule. The course will involve readings from Jewish and non-Jewish ancient texts in translation (including from the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, other apocryphal texts, Josephus, Tacitus, Roman imperial laws) and introductions to the archaeological and documentary evidence for ancient Jewish communities.
- Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 123A
Muslim-Jewish Encounters: From the Beginnings of Islam to Today
Instructor: Ethan Katz
CN# 24637
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Wheeler 108
Units: 4
The course takes us far beyond contemporary tensions between Muslims and Jews, and deep into a more complicated history that spans the Mediterranean and beyond. We move through topics that include the earliest encounters between Muslims and Jews during the years of the rise of Islam; the historical impact and legacy of the dhimmi (the system of rights and restrictions that defined Jews’ status for centuries under Islamic rule); the culturally fruitful shared experience of Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain and the Ottoman Empire; the effects of French, British, and Italian colonialism in the modern Middle East; and the important conflicts over Zionism and Arab nationalism during the past century.
- Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 175E
History and Sociology of Modern Israel
Instructor: Ethan Katz
CN# 33821
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Dwinelle 189
Units: 4
In recent years—and especially since the October 7th massacre and the subsequent war between Israel and Hamas—global discourse around Israel has become increasingly polarized, often reduced to simplistic labels of "pro-" or "anti-" Israel. Yet many remain unfamiliar with the complex history and social fabric of the country. This course surveys the historical events, social transformations, and cultural dynamics that have shaped Israeli society—from the emergence of the Zionist movement and the founding of the state to the present day—offering students a multidimensional understanding of Israel in both historical and contemporary contexts.
- Meets Historical Studies, L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor