Fall 2026 Undergraduate Courses
Jewish Studies 100
Jews and Their Neighbors
Instructor: Sarah Levin
CN# 25970
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 3:30-5:00pm
Location: Undergrad Academic Bldg 225
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. This is a core class towards the Jewish Studies Minor.
- Meets Arts & Literature L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & ValuesL&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 110/ComLit 155
On the Move: Modern Yiddish Literatures in Global Migration
Instructor: Roni Masel
CN# 34228
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 9:30-11:00am
Location: Dwinelle 250
Units: 4
Diaspora, migration, displacement, globalization, and translation – in recent years these phenomena have become the prime focus of studies across the humanities. Modern Yiddish literature, a literature in constant global movement, opens up the opportunity to investigate these themes across a diverse range of historical and geographical contexts. In this course we will learn about the culture and history of Yiddish-speaking, Eastern European Jews through works of literature and art that focus on movement. We will follow a far-reaching global itinerary – from the Russian Empire’s Pale of Jewish Settlement to New York City’s Lower East Side, and from remote colonies in the Soviet Far East to Western European capitals, to Palestine, Latin America, the US South, South Africa, and beyond – to see what the world looks like from the Yiddish perspective. Reading across the Yiddish literary canon (as well as some less well-known works), we will be particularly interested in the following questions: How do works of literature make sense of the world, nation-state, collective, assimilation, belonging and estrangement? How do they make sense of different experiences of movement – displacement, domestic migration, back-and-forth diasporic movement, or a hopeful immigration to a promised land? How are gender and race transformed in global migration, in the encounter with new cultures? And how is a loss of languages, or acquiring of new languages, affect literary production? (Readings will be provided in the original and in English translation.)
- Meets Arts & Literature L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 120A/ComLit 100A
Sleep With Me: Literature, Rest and the Politics of Wakefulness
Instructor: Yael Segalovitz
CN# 26033
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Dwinelle 205
Units: 4
What does it mean to remain awake? In an age marked by burnout, digital overstimulation, political crisis, anxiety, and the increasing demand for perpetual productivity, questions of rest and sleeplessness have become newly urgent. This course explores these questions through a wide range of literary, philosophical, and psychoanalytic texts, with particular attention to Hebrew and Jewish literary traditions (in translation - no language skills needed), which have long been intensely preoccupied with the tensions between wakefulness and sleep. Moving between biblical scenes of dreaming and revelation, modern Jewish political movements organized around the rhetoric of “national awakening,” and modern Hebrew literature, we will examine how writers have imagined sleep, fatigue, and reverie as sites of imaginative and relational possibility.
Our readings will include, among others, texts by Virginia Woolf, Clarice Lispector, Ronit Matalon, Amalia Kahana-Carmon, and Dahlia Ravikovitch, alongside thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Sigmund Freud, Wilfred Bion, Jonathan Crary, and scholars associated with Critical Rest Studies, we will ask why literature persistently returns to states of sleep and withdrawal, and what forms of knowledge might emerge from them. While dreams have occupied a central place in philosophy and psychoanalysis, sleep itself has often remained in the background. We will ask, then, what might emerge if we take sleep seriously not merely as the container of dreams, but as a mode of being, relation, and thought. Along the way, we will consider whether literature itself produces altered states of attention that unsettle the opposition between wakefulness and sleep, and whether reading may at times resemble forms of drifting and surrender.
- Meets Arts & Literature L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 121A / HISTORY 175B
Jews in the Modern World
Instructor: John Efron
CN# 24199
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 9:30-11:00am
Location: Dwinelle 223
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.
In this class, modern Jewish history means the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It is the period in which Jewish culture became more diversified than ever before. Jews became more secular, more political, as well as more linguistically and religiously diversified than ever before. As ancient as Judaism is as a religious culture, the modern period gave birth to entirely new and now fully established forms of religious expression. During the period we’ll be studying, Hasidism, Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox Judaism all emerged for the first time. From the standpoint of language, some Jews adopted vernacular languages for daily communication while others continued to speak Jewish languages. This happened among Ashkenazim as well as among Sephardim. Similarly, politics came to shape modern Jewish culture and with this development, the Jewish world split further in myriad ways. Among the topics we will examine are popular culture, religion, politics, language choice, urbanization, immigration, class stratification, religious experience, gender roles, war, the Holocaust, and the birth of Israel. Assigned readings will include a history of the Jews and many primary sources, which are first-person narratives written at the time events unfolded. Course requirements include one analysis of an object housed at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Culture in Berkeley (the class will visit the museum), two midterm exams, and a cumulative exam during finals week.
- Meets Historical Studies L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values L&S Breadth
- Meets Social & Behavioral Sciences L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 121B / MELC 134.002
Mizrahim in Israel: History and Culture
Instructor: Yifat Moas
CN# 34077
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Undergrad Academic Bldg 225
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 toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 175E.001 / MELC 134.002
Protest and Activism in Israeli Society: A Study of Social Movements
Instructor: Yifat Moas
CN# 34078
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Social Sciences Building 104
Units: 4
Israeli society has consistently drawn global attention, primarily in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet many remain unaware of the vibrant and intensely contested public debates within Israel itself, and of the diverse social struggles that shape its internal dynamics.
This course explores the development of protest movements and social activism in Israel—from left-wing movements calling to end the occupation to right-wing mobilizations seeking to reinforce it, as well as religious- and ethnic-based campaigns, struggles over social equality, gender and sexual identity, and the relationship between religion and state. Through these case studies, the course situates Israeli activism within broader theoretical perspectives on social movements—particularly the cultural approach, which highlights collective identity, meaning-making, and the emotional dimensions of political action.
- Meets Philosophy & Values L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Jewish Studies 175E.002/ HISTORY 175E
History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time
Instructor: Yoni Furas
CN# 33852
Meeting Time: Monday/Wednesday 5:00-6:30pm
Location: Latimer 105
Units: 4
The class explores the history of the Zionist movement and the State of Israel in all its complexity and contradictions. What is Zionism? What are its roots? Is it a liberation movement? A religious cause? A colonial ideology? A set of state policies? And what is the relationship between Zionism and the modern State of Israel? How do Zionism and Israel look different when considered from the standpoint of Jewish, Palestinian, European, or Middle Eastern history? Exploring Zionism and Israel from its roots in the nineteenth century to the present, this class offers in-depth knowledge and discussion on all of these topics and more.
- Meets Historical Studies L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
YIDDISH 101A
History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time
Instructor: Sara Feldman
CN# 22516
Meeting Time: Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Dwinelle 104
Units: 4
This introductory language course will provide you with foundational skills in reading, writing, listening to, and speaking Yiddish - and connect you to a culturally diverse, global community of Yiddish speakers. In class we will playfully explore music, film, religious texts, pop culture, games, and learn about each other’s lives. Even if you have never learned to speak another language before, this course will help you develop confidence and develop an understanding of the process. Through active engagement in a supportive classroom environment, you will learn to assess your own progress as a Yiddish speaker and build towards creative projects driven by your interests.
- Satisfies the L&S Language Requirement
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
More Fall 2026 Undergraduate Courses that Count Towards the JS Minor*
Hebrew 1A
Elementary Hebrew
Instructor: Dalit Gvirtsman
CN# 22142
Meeting Time: Monday-Thurs 10:00-11:00am
Location: Social Sciences Building 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.
* Does not count toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Hebrew 20A
Intermediate Hebrew
Instructor: Dalit Gvirtsman
CN# 33417
Meeting Time: Monday-Thurs 11:00am-12:00pm
Location: Social Sciences Building 252
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.
- Meets International Studies L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
Hebrew 106A
Elementary Biblical Hebrew
Instructor: Jenna Kemp
CN# 25906
Meeting Time: Tuesday/Thursday 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Valley Life Sciences Building 30
Units: 3
An introduction to the language of the Hebrew Bible.
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
History 100M
Marriage in the Middle East
Instructor: Dzovinar Derderian
CN# 32240
Meeting Time: Tuesday/Thursday 12:30-2:00pm
Location: Social Sciences Building 252
Units: 4
In this course we will explore the history of the multi-ethnic (i.e., Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Palestinians, Persians, Turks) and multi-religious (i.e., Christians, Muslims, Jews) Middle East through the lens of marriage. We will ask how political, ethno-religious, ideological and economic factors in the wider Middle East transformed marriage practices, laws, cultural and political conceptions of marriage over the course of 500 years. We will examine how the institution of marriage and the cultural imaginations of marriage have been shaped by laws, norms of gender and sexuality, interethnic and interreligious relations, international relations, class relations and economic networks. We will examine how marriage has served as a tool of power for empires and for settler-colonialism.
The overarching goal of this course is to familiarize students with the history of the Middle East from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century, while getting them to think critically about the institution of marriage on a historical spectrum. The lens of marriage will allow students to grasp the multi-ethnic and multi-religious dynamics of the Middle East, while comparing marriage practices, laws, and traditions across different polities, religious and confessional communities.
Students do not need to have taken a prior course on the Middle East. Lectures in class will provide a historical background to the assigned readings. Students will be asked to read scholarly works from the disciplines of history, anthropology and literature, watch documentaries and films, and provide critical analysis of the textual and visual materials both in classroom discussions, writing assignments and in a podcast recording project, as well as undertake a writing assignment on marriage based on interviews that students will conduct with a family member.
- Meets Historical Studies L&S Breadth
- Meets Arts & Literature L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
MELC 34
Hebrew Bible in Translation: Disentangling Scripture, Discovering Literature
Instructor: Joseph Cross
CN# 33637
Meeting Time: Tuesday/Thursday 3:30-5:00pm
Location: Wheeler 30
Units: 4
This course is an introduction to the Hebrew Bible as literature through a series of curated encounters. We will disentangle the ways that the sacred lore and religious teachings of the Jewish scriptures followed (and transformed) literary conventions of their time, and profoundly influenced literature in their wake. All texts will be read in English translation. There are no prerequisites for this course.
- Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
- Meets Philosophy & Values, L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor
POLI SCI 124A
War!
Instructor: Ron Hassner
CN# 23861
Meeting Time: Tuesday/Thursday 2:00-3:30pm
Location: Hearst Field Annex A1
Units: 4
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Is this necessarily true? Wars are brutal and horrific events, but are they all necessarily the result of miscalculation, accident, or fanaticism? Can war serve a rational purpose? Are wars governed by rules and do states care about these rules? This course is designed for upper-level undergraduate students.
- Meets Historical Studies L&S Breadth
- Meets International Studies L&S Breadth
- Meets Social & Behavorial Sciences L&S Breadth
- Counts toward the Jewish Studies Minor