Spring 2007 Courses
History | MEALAC | Religion | Germanic Languages and Literatures
History
History W3607—Messianic Movements in Jewish History II
Yosef H. Yerushalmi, TR 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m., 310 Fayerweather Hall
Messianic repercussions among the Spanish exiles; David Reubeni and Shelomo Molkho; Lurianic Kabbalah; Sabatai Zebi and post-Sabbatian heresies; messianic nihilism in eighteenth-century Poland; Hasidism; the impact of Emancipation; Zionism as "secularized" messianism and anti-messianic revolt.
History W4602—The French Revolution to the Dreyfus Affair: Jews in Nineteenth-Century France
Pierre Birnbaum, W 2:10
p.m.–4:00 p.m., 513 Fayerweather Hall
Notes: Application required. See undergraduate seminar section of the department's Web site.
French Jews followed a unique path of emancipation. The very presence of a strong state shaped their long-term history. Assimilation through regeneration was expected from them, leading to a kind of "statization" of Judaism. Jews nevertheless were able to face this specific challenge, resisting even against Napoleon's authoritarian attempt to destroy their culture and sociability. While disappearing as a recognized nation or even a minority, threatened also by the growing secularism, they protect their subculture and their solidarity within the nation. Being citizens, they often became State Jews, climbing to the highest level of the state without conversion, and played a crucial role in the public sphere, thus provoking a new form of political anti-Semitism against their presence within the state. From the French Revolution to the Dreyfus Affair, by many aspects, they were symbolically at the core of France's nineteenth-century history.
History W4604—Jews and the City
Rebecca Kobrin, M 11:00 a.m.–12:50 p.m., 513 Fayerweather Hall
Notes: Application required. See undergraduate seminars section of the department's Web site.
Over the course of the nineteenth century, millions of Jews uprooted themselves from their places of birth and moved to cities throughout the world. This mass urbanization not only created new demographic centers of world Jewry, but also fundamentally transformed Jewish political and cultural life. In this course, we shall analyze primary source material, literary accounts, as well as secondary sources as we examine the Jewish encounter with the city, and see how Jewish culture was shaped by and helped to shape urban culture. We shall compare Jewish life in six cities spanning from Eastern Europe to the United States and consider how Jews' concerns molded the urban economy, urban politics, and cosmopolitan culture. We shall also consider the ways in which urbanization changed everyday Jewish life. What impact did it have on Jewish economic and religious life? What role did gender and class play in molding the experiences of Jews in different cities scattered throughout the world?
History W4605—Historic Dilemmas in the Israeli War of Independence
Anita Shapira, W 11:00 a.m. –12:50 p.m., 513 Fayerweather Hall
Notes: Application required. See undergraduate seminars section of the department's Web site.
The last two decades were witness to an ongoing controversy regarding the Israeli War of Independence. The seminar will endeavor to present a complex picture of the Israeli War of Independence, with special emphasis on changing perspectives, due to new research in the field. Questions of international politics, relations between Jews and Arabs, the emergence of the Jewish state, the creation of state authority, myths and memory, will be dealt with. A major theme would be the history of Jerusalem during the war, as a focus of Jewish and Arab interests.
History G8601—Founding Fathers and Sabra Sons: Generational Change and Continuity
Anita Shapira, W 4:10 p.m.–6:00 p.m., 513 Fayerweather Hall
Israel's Founding Fathers attempted to create a "New Jew". Were they successful? The worldview of fathers and sons,
their attitudes to the Jewish people, Zionism, the Arabs, culture and society will be juxtaposed. Ben Gurion, Berl Katznelson,
Y.H. Brenner and other leaders and cultural heroes born and educated in Europe will serve as models of the immigrant
generation. Yigal Alon, Moshe Dayan, and their compatriots will serve as models of the native sons.
History G9604—Sources of Jewish History: Impact of the Spanish Expulsion
Yosef H. Yerushalmi, T 2:10 p.m.–4:00 p.m., 513 Fayerweather Hall
Texts and documents on the formation of the Sephardic diaspora and on the intellectual and spiritual repercussions of the Spanish expulsion in the 16th century. Qualified undergraduates with fluency in medieval and modern Hebrew may be admitted with the instructor's permission.
Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures
Middle East W1511—Elementary Modern Hebrew II
Tamar Ben Vered, MTWRF 9:00 a.m.–9:50 a.m., 511 Kent Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
An introduction to modern Hebrew, with equal emphasis on listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Middle East W1513—Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
Section 001: Nehama R. Bersohn, MTWRF 9:00 a.m.–9:50 a.m., 307 Mathematics Hall
Section 002: Nehama R. Bersohn, MTWRF 10:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m., 307 Mathematics Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Prerequisite: Middle East W1510–W1511 or the equivalent. Vocabulary building, grammar, practice in conversation, reading comprehension, and composition.
Middle East W1515—Upper Intermediate Hebrew II
Ruth Raphaeli-Slivko, MTWR 10:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m., 511 Kent Hall
Prerequisite: Middle East W1510–W1511 or the equivalent. For students who have acquired basic knowledge of Hebrew at Hebrew school. Review of grammar, reading, writing, and conversation in Hebrew.
Middle East W1516—Intermediate Hebrew: Intensive Grammar Review
MTWR 12:00 p.m.–12:50 p.m., Location to be announced
Prerequisite: Middle East W1510–W1511 or the equivalent. For students who have acquired basic knowledge of Hebrew at Hebrew school. Review of grammar, reading, writing, and conversation in Hebrew.
Middle East W4511—Advanced Modern Hebrew II
Ruth Raphaeli-Slivko, MWR 12:00 p.m.–12:50 p.m., 522C Kent Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Prerequisite: Hebrew W1512–W1513 or W1515 or the equivalent. Readings in fiction and nonfiction modern Hebrew texts. Discussions and compositions in Hebrew. Updated texts are gradually introduced in the second semester of this course.
Middle East W4513—Readings in Hebrew Texts II
Ruth Raphaeli-Slivko, MWR 1:00 p.m.–1:50 p.m., Location to be announced
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Prerequisite: Hebrew W4510–W4511 or the equivalent with the instructor's permission. Readings of unadapted fiction and nonfiction Hebrew texts as a preparation for courses in Hebrew literature or for graduate work in Jewish studies. Discussions and compositions in Hebrew.
Middle East W4519—Advanced Hebrew Conversation II
Ruth Raphaeli-Slivko, T 1:00 p.m.–1:50 p.m., Location to be announced
Notes: Instructor's permission required before registration.
Middle East W3541—Zionism: A Cultural Perspective
Dan Miron, MW 1:10 p.m.–2:25 p.m., Location to be announced
Based on Zionist texts of various kinds, offers a view of Zionism as a cultural revolution aimed at redefining Judaism and the Jewish identity.
Comparative Literature: Middle East G4432—Autobiography and the Holocaust
Uri S. Cohen, R 12:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m., 511C Kent Hall
This course examines the constructions of self and a narrative of the self in representations of the Jewish Holocaust by those that have survived it and by those observing them. Using a mainly literary approach to the theoretical questions arising from the literature and cinema of witnessing, we will examine the conflicting attempts to be and not to be. The works discussed will attempt to combine a broad view of the field with an in-depth discussion of a few authors such as Primo Levi, Ida Fink, and Dan Pagis. Documentary and fiction films will provide another layer to the problematic of the story of the self as others tell it.
Middle East G6530—Dynamics of Israeli Culture: Poetry
Dan Miron, T 9:00 a.m.–10:50 a.m., Location to be announced
Religion
Religion W4506—Jewish Martyrdom
Miriam Bodian, R 2:10 p.m.–4:00 p.m., Location to be announced
This course will deal with Jewish martyrdom, both as a real phenomenon and as an imaginative element of collective tradition and identity. The course attempts to follow a chronological format, but seeks to focus on major problems rather than to present a comprehensive survey.
G8850—Comparative Scriptural Exegesis
Alan F. Segal, W 4:10 p.m.–6:00 p.m., Location to be announced
Comparative study of texts in the Jewish and Christian traditions.
Germanic Languages and Literatures
Yiddish W1101—Elementary Yiddish I
MTR 6:10 p.m.–7:25 p.m., 408 Hamilton Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Language Lab: one fifty-minute period every other week. Credit is not given for Yiddish W1101 until Yiddish W1102 has been completed. With the instructor's permission the second term may be taken without the first. Thorough study of elementary Yiddish grammar, with reading, composition, and oral practice. The cultural and linguistic background of the language.
Yiddish W1102—Elementary Yiddish II
Section 001: Miriam Hoffman, MTR 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m., 317 Hamilton Hall
Section 002: MTR 1:10 p.m.–2:25 p.m., 316 Hamilton Hall
Section 003: MTR 6:10 p.m.–7:25 p.m., 315 Hamilton Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Language Lab: one fifty-minute period every other week. Credit is not given for Yiddish W1101 until Yiddish W1102 has been completed. With the instructor's permission the second term may be taken without the first. Thorough study of elementary Yiddish grammar, with reading, composition, and oral practice. The cultural and linguistic background of the language.
Yiddish W1202—Intermediate Yiddish II
Miriam Hoffman, MTR 1:10 p.m.–2:25 p.m., 317 Hamilton Hall
Notes: $15 Language Resource Center Fee
Prerequisite: Yiddish W1101–W1102 or the equivalent. Continuing study of grammar on a higher level, continuing oral practice, and readings from texts of significant literary value dealing with important aspects of Jewish life and culture.