All Undergraduate Course Offerings

Complete List of Undergraduate Course Offerings

JSTD 2001: Topics in Judaic Studies: Pre-Modern

Focus on the pre-1650 period. Topics vary by semester. May be repeated for credit provided the topic differs. Consult the Schedule of Classes for more details.

JSTD 2002: Topics in Judaic Studies: Modern

Focus on the post-1650 period. Topics vary by semester. May be repeated for credit provided the topic differs. Consult the Schedule of Classes for more details.

JSTD 4019: Senior Thesis

For Judaic studies majors. Students choose a topic in any major subfield of Judaic studies, select a faculty advisor who specializes in the subfield, conduct research, and produce an annotated bibliography and a proposal that previews the main arguments of the thesis. Completion of the thesis and oral presentation before Judaic studies students and faculty.

ANTH 3805: Archaeology of Israel and Neighboring Lands

The archaeology of Israel and adjacent areas (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon). Examination of many major sites and monuments. Significant problems and current debates. Same as AH 3106.

CLAS 2803: The Ancient Near East and Egypt to 322 B.C.

Survey of Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Anatolian, West Semitic, and Iranian civilizations from the Neolithic period to Alexander’s conquest. Same as HIST 2803.

CLAS 2804: History of Ancient Israel

The history of ancient Israel from the Patriarchs through the Romans. Topics include historical, archeological, political, social, cultural, religious, diplomatic, military, economic, and intellectual events, movements, and relationships. Same as HIST 2804.

CLAS 3104: Dead Sea Scrolls

Manuscript discoveries and excavations at Khirbet Qumran with some attention to additional sites in the region of the Dead Sea. Focus on the history and diversity of Second Temple Judaism, Second Temple hermeneutical methods, Jewish apocalypticism, Jewish messianism, the development of the canon, and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

HEBR 3101: Modern Hebrew Literary Classics in Translation

Hebrew prose and poetry from the beginning of the Hebrew literary renaissance to contemporary Israeli literature. Emphasis on authors’ treatments of tradition and modernity, dynamics of gender and ethnicity, the representation of war and peace, and the construction of literary center and periphery. Same As: HEBR 3101W.

HEBR 3104W: Gender and Sexuality in Israel

The roles of gender and sexuality in shaping Zionist and Israeli culture, myths, and ideals through examination of cultural works ranging from twentieth-century Hebrew literature to Israeli queer and feminist cinema; the intersection of gender and sexuality with the major political and social issues of Israeli society. Includes a significant engagement in writing as a form of critical inquiry and scholarly expression to satisfy the WID requirement.

HEBR 3301: Modern Hebrew Fiction

Study of selected modern Israeli short stories and poems. Prerequisites: HEBR 3001 or permission of the instructor.

HEBR 3302: The Israeli Media

Explores the Israeli press, television and radio news broadcasts in Hebrew; focuses on developing increasing proficiency in reading and aural comprehension through class discussions and written assignments in Hebrew. Prerequisites: HEBR 3001 or permission of the instructor.

HIST 2050: History of Jewish Civilization: From the Bible to Spinoza

Introduction to the richness and diversity of Jewish civilization from antiquity to the present. Examination of evolving notions of "who" or "what" is Jewish. Key concepts including “chosenness,” community, peoplehood, diaspora, redemption, and Torah. How the boundaries of Jewishness have been formed, contested, and revised over time; how Jews managed to retain their identity throughout their millennial history of migration, dispersion, and persecution; what unites Jewish civilization; and whether a unified Jewish history over centuries and continents can be traced, as distinct from multiple “histories” of the Jews in the myriad times and places in which they lived. Emphasis on analysis of primary texts and cultural objects along with contextual understanding of Jews and Judaism.

HIST 2051: Anti-Semitism from Origins to the Present

Thematic and theoretical survey of the history of antisemitism from the late antique period to the twentieth century.

HIST 2060: Modern Jewish History

Survey of Jewish history from the seventeenth century to the present, focusing on Europe, America, and the Middle East. The myriad political, economic, and intellectual challenges of modernity to Jewish life and how Jews responded to these challenges through various religious and secular movements and with new concepts of identity and community.

HIST 2061: Ghetto: History of a Concept

The history of the ghetto from the sixteenth century to the present. Case studies from Europe and the United States illustrate the different stages in the genealogy of the ghetto as a word, concept, metaphor, and place.

HIST 2116: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain

The meaning of faith in medieval and early modern Spain. How Jews, Christians, and Muslims encountered one another between 711 BC and 1609 AD.

HIST 2812: History of Zionism

Critical historical survey of the development of Jewish nationalist thought in general and Zionism in particular, from its genesis in the 1880s up until the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948.

HIST 3061: The Holocaust

The origins, causes, and significance of the Nazi attempt to destroy European Jewry, within the context of European and Jewish history. Related themes include the behavior of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders; literary responses; contemporary implications of the Holocaust for religion and politics.

HIST 3062: War Crimes Trials

The Nuremberg trial and its legacy in subsequent international and hybrid tribunals. The need for judicial accountability for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

HIST 3367: The American Jewish Experience

The study of the Jewish minority in America from colonial times to the present. Emphasis on the interaction between a powerful majority culture and that of protean minority people.

PSC 2379: Politics and Foreign Policy of Israel

Examination of the institutions, processes, and issues of Israeli politics and foreign policy. Prerequisites: IAFF 1005 or PSC 1001 or PSC 1001W or PSC 1003.

PSC 2476: The Arab Israeli Conflict

History and current state of the Arab-Israeli Conflict; the Jewish and Arab nationalism movements; Palestine under the British Mandate and after the establishment of the State of Israel; the peace process and its collapse; and recent political developments. Prerequisite: PSC 1003.

REL 1009: The Hebrew Scriptures

The literature, history, and religious thought represented by the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Continuities and contrasts between Israel and the ancient Near East are considered through study of the world view, oral and literary tradition, main religious ideas, and chief figures and movements of the biblical literature.

REL 2201: Judaism

A survey of Jewish thought and practice from the biblical to the modern period; introduction to the Hebrew Bible, rabbinic Judaism, Jewish philosophy and mysticism, Judaism in the modern period; an examination of the central rituals in Judaism, including Sabbath, dietary laws, and major festivals.

REL 2211: Rabbinic Thought and Literature

The thought-world of rabbinic Judaism in its formative period, 100 to 500 CE, through a close reading of primary texts in translation selected from Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash. Topics include Oral Torah, the mechanics of rabbinic law, conceptions of God, views on suffering. The influence of rabbinic Judaism on modern Jewish ethics and thought.

REL 3291: Modern Jewish Thought

Jewish thought from 1800 to the present through an exploration of six preeminent Jewish theologians: Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, A.J. Heschel, J.B. Soloveitchik, and Mordecai Kaplan. The relationship between these thinkers and the major Jewish denominations: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist.

REL 3923: Violence and Peace in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Historical analysis of the violent and peaceful dimensions of the three Abrahamic faiths, with focus on the relationship of the scriptures of each of the three traditions to the later interpretations that supported both violent and peaceful readings of those texts.

IAFF 3205: Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding

Why does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict persist, after decades of peace efforts led by heads of state, social movements, civil society organizations and ordinary citizens? Are there effective strategies for supporting resolution of this intractable conflict? Drawing on frameworks for Conflict Resolution theory and practice, this course provides a dual-narrative analysis of the historical background of the conflict and of Palestinian/Israeli peace and conflict resolution efforts at all levels - state, civil society, and grassroots. The course examines a wide range of cross-conflict peace initiatives, including official and unofficial negotiations, political campaigns, social movements, dialogue, peace education, advocacy, and nonviolent direct action. Course materials will include film, literature, media, and online resources as well as conversations with practitioners and scholars of the field.

Professor Edward Lazarus | 3 Credits | Thursday 12:45-3:15 pm

*This course can be petitioned to count as JSTD 2002 for the purposes of fulfilling the JSTD Major and Minor requirements.

IAFF 3352: Holocaust Memory

The sources, construction, development, nature, uses, and misuses of public understanding and memory surrounding the Holocaust. Discussion of what the Holocaust teaches us about human behavior and political leadership, including its usable lessons.

JSTD 2002: Partitions: A History

This seminar examines the partition plans of Palestine -- first introduced in 1937 and later reintroduced and executed in 1947-8 -- in comparison to the partitions of Ireland and India/Pakistan. Students will be introduced to transnational history and contemporary academic literature regarding population transfers, state-making, imperial federalism, and decolonization. (Advanced undergraduate students are welcome to join, with the instructor's approval)

HIST 2001: Hatred on Trial

This seminar explores the public face of prejudice by looking at a series of landmark trials and courtroom dramas that span the 15th century through our own day. Through a series of case studies that draw on the law, popular culture, art and technology, it examines the ways in which legal institutions in the US and abroad were complicit in the dissemination and legitimation of racist beliefs and practices – and now and again, successfully refuted and overturned them as well. A timely consideration of an evergreen topic.