Spring 2023 Courses

Introduction to Jewish Studies
Course Number: JS 1002W
Instructor: David Price
Description: Introduction to Judaism and Jewish history through philosophical, political, social, psychological, and artistic perspectives. Biblical studies; culture, philosophy, and literature. Antiquity and the medieval world; modern and contemporary experience.
Attributes: AXLE: 1000-level W course, AXLE: International Cultures, Eligible for Religious Studies

Judaism: An Introduction
Course Number: JS 1010
Instructor: Rebecca Epstein-Levi
Description: Judaism from the ancient Near East to the present day. The Jewish life cycle. Varieties of Jewish practice throughout history. Interaction and dialogue with other religious communities, and the challenges posed by modernity in the wake of Jewish ‘enlightenment’ and political emancipation.
Attributes: AXLE: International Cultures, Eligible for Religious Studies

First-Year Writing Seminar – In a Pluralistic Age: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Spain
Course Number: JS 1111
Instructor: Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman
Description: Independent learning and inquiry in an environment in which students can express knowledge and defend opinions through intensive class discussion, oral presentations, and written expression.
Between 711 and 1492, Jews, Christians, and Muslims created one of the richest and most fertile of medieval civilizations. In this seminar, we shall evaluate the settings and conditions for this culture’s extraordinary pooling of talent and attachment to tolerance, but also evaluate the reasons for its eventual end.
Attributes: AXLE: First-Year Writing Seminar

First-Year Writing Seminar – Jews and Muslims: A Modern History
Course Number: JS 1111
Instructor: Julia Cohen
Description: Independent learning and inquiry in an environment in which students can express knowledge and defend opinions through intensive class discussion, oral presentations, and written expression.
What is the history of Muslim-Jewish relations beyond the images of violence in the Middle East flashing across our television screens? Can we think of that relationship without conjuring visions of raised guns and bombs exploding? This class seeks to answer such questions by focusing on Jewish communities indigenous to North Africa and the Middle East. In those areas, Jews and Muslims have lived as neighbors, in cooperation as well as in conflict. We will look at the co-existence of these two groups through periods of major upheaval to understand the effects of processes such as colonialism, imperialism, nationalism and decolonization on inter-communal relations across space and time. Our sources will include various narrative works, photographs, postcards, music, and films.
Attributes: AXLE: First-Year Writing Seminar

American Southern Jews in Life and Literature
Course Number: JS 2230W
Instructor: Adam Meyer
Description: From colonial times to the present. Interactions between Southern Jews and other Southerners, and between Southern and Northern Jews. The Civil War, Jewish economic activities, and the civil rights movement.
Attributes: AXLE: 2000-level and above W course, AXLE: History and Culture of the United States, Eligible for English

Black-Jewish Relations in Post-War American Literature and Culture
Course Number: JS 2240W
Instructor: Adam Meyer
Description: The historical relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans and its portrayal in novels, short stories, and films by artists from both communities.
Attributes: AXLE: 2000-level and above W course, AXLE: History and Culture of the United States, Eligible for Religious Studies

Creative Writing with Jewish Perspectives
Course Number: JS 2255
Instructor: Judith Klass
Description: Creative writing course with readings as broad how-to guides. How Jewish and non-Jewish writers engage with or distance themselves from their socio-ethnic/religious identity. Reading and writing in multiple genres including short stories, autobiography, poetry, plays, screenplays, and song lyrics. Exploration of different styles and techniques of writing, such as narrative voice and dialogue.
Attributes: AXLE: Humanities and the Creative Arts

Jewish Humor
Course Number: JS 2280
Instructor: Judith Klass
Description: The flowering of Jewish humor, especially in the U.S. during the twentieth century. Vaudeville, radio comedy, and the Golden Age of television. The careers and works of influential comics, writers and filmmakers, and the development of stand-up comedy. The effect of Talmudic disputes, Yiddish wordplay, and the history of Diaspora life upon secular Jewish comedians, essayists, playwrights, and fiction writers.
Attributes: AXLE: History and Culture of the United States, Eligible for American Studies Major, Eligible for Religious Studies

Modern Israeli Culture
Course Number: JS 2530W
Instructor: Mazalit Haim
Description: Social and cultural history of modern Israel from the establishment of the State in 1948 to the present. Representations of national identity, collective belonging, and historical memory in public culture.
Attributes: Cross-listed with CMA 2530W, AXLE: 2000-level and above W course, AXLE: International Cultures

Jews in Egypt
Course Number: JS 2620
Instructor: David Wasserstein
Description: Jewish life and experience under Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Muslim rule in Egypt from the Ptolemies to 1956. Jewish self-government, economic life, and culture over twenty-two centuries, through letters, documents, and imaginative literature.
Attributes: AXLE: International Cultures, Eligible for History, Eligible for Religious Studies