Ithaca College Fall Semester 2004

You must write two papers, chosen from these topics, before the midterm. There are a variety of due dates — choose carefully to give yourself enough time to write the papers.

The papers should be at least 3 pages long (longer if you tend to write more verbosely, although not more than 6 pages). The questions ask you to engage in analysis and to make an argument. The papers should not be just a list of facts, or just a statement of your opinion. Your argument should be backed up by reference to the relevant facts and events.

USE ONLY THE SOURCES LISTED UNDER READINGS, or other works that you find relevant among the course books. DO NOT USE THE INTERNET FOR THESE PAPERS. IF YOU USE THE INTERNET, YOU WILL BE PENALIZED. By the same token, AVOID PLAGIARISM. If you need a definition of plagiarism, consult my Ithaca College web site: http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/rlesses/academic%20honesty%20statement.html.

The papers should be typed, double-spaced, with a one-inch margin all the way around. Since these are short papers using a limited number of sources, cite your sources using in-line citations, giving the author’s name and the page number, in this form: (Scheindlin 33). Please give a works cited list at the end of the paper.

1. Expulsion from Spain and settlement of Jews in lands of the Ottoman Empire
Due September 21, in class

The dispersion of Sephardic Jewry after the expulsion from Spain and the subsequent settlement of Jews in Islamic lands provide a particularly sharp instance of the differing treatment of Jews in Christian and Muslim lands. How do you account for the rejection of the Jews by an important nation of Christian Europe, in contrast to their acceptance by the now ascendant Ottoman Empire? What factors — religious, economic, social — led to the rejection by one and the acceptance by the other? What might this incident in Jewish history tell us about the relative situation of Jews under Christianity and Islam?

Readings: Scheindlin, pp. 115-131, 159-161; Simon, pp. 13-16, 32-38; and the account of the Italian Jew on the expulsion from Spain (in handout). You might also refer to the article by Jane Gerber, "History of the Jews of the Middle East," in Simon, ed., Jews of the Middle East.

2. Women’s lives — due Sept. 23, in class

What are the basic features of women’s lives in traditional Judaism, both among Middle Eastern Jews and Jews in Eastern Europe? What kind of religious expression did women have access to? And how did the advent of modernity (for example, the founding of the schools of the Alliance Israel Universelle in the Middle East) affect the lives of Jewish women in the Middle East?

Readings: Course Reader #3: Rosman, pp. 551-560; Course Reader #4: Paula Hyman, "The Life of Glikl of Hameln," and Simon, Jews of the Middle East, pp. 235-242.

3. Jewish messianism — due September 28, in class

Following the expulsion from Spain, over the next couple of hundred years, a number of men in both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi worlds claimed to be the messiah, the most prominent being Shabbetai Zevi, and managed to gather followers who believed in them. Who were these men, what did they promise, and why did people believe in them? What were the historical and religious factors that gave rise to these messianic movements, and what led to their downfall?

Readings: Scheindlin, pp. 132-136, Simon, pp. 16-18, Course Reader #1 (Lawrence Fine, Safed Spirituality), and Course Reader #2 (Robert Seltzer, "Shabbetai Zevi").

4. Jewish mysticism in Safed — due September 28, in class

Why did a new form of Kabbalah develop among the exiles of Spain in Safed? What were its most distinctive features, and especially, what is the role of messianic hopes and strivings in the Safedian Kabbalah?

Readings: Scheindlin, pp. 132-136, Simon, pp. 16-18, Course Reader #1 (Lawrence Fine, Safed Spirituality),

5. Polish Hasidism — due September 28, in class

Solomon Maimon, in his essay, "The New Hasidim" (Mendes-Flohr, pp. 387-390) writes of his experience of the new Hasidic movement in Poland. Rosman gives a much more rounded and complete picture of the new movement. What are the important characteristics of this new mystical movement, and what aspects of it does Maimon pick up on? From Maimon’s account, what can we learn of his attitude towards Hasidism, and what do you think the intellectual or religious basis of his attitude is?

Readings: Scheindlin, pp. 177, 180, 182-83; Mendes-Flohr, pp. 387-393; Course Reader #3 (Rosman, pp. 547-551, 560-564).

6. Ashkenazic Polish Jewish culture — due October 5, in class

Moshe Rosman states that, "for Jews, Poland was different" (p. 525). He argues that although the Jews of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were "Jews in a Christian land" (p. 524), their culture was essentially a Polish-Jewish culture, one that was part of an overarching Polish culture, and not one isolated from the other inhabitants of the Commonwealth. What evidence does he cite for this assertion? What evidence does he bring for the alienation of Jews from Polish culture? Do you find his argument convincing?

Readings: Scheindlin, pp. 149-153, 173-75, 178-80; Course Reader #3 (Rosman, pp. 518-547).

7. Enlightenment and emancipation in Western Europe — due October 12, in class

What were the arguments for and against Jewish emancipation, made by people such as Moses Mendelssohn, Christian Wilhelm von Dohm, Johann David Michaelis, in Germany, and by the Abbe Gregoire, in France? Discuss what the terms of the debate were — what common assumptions did all the writers have about the nature of the Jewish people and how it might be changed (or remain unchanged) by emancipation? What did they see as the goals of emancipation for Jews — political, cultural, and religious?

Readings: Katz, pp. 57-103; Mendes-Flohr, pp. 28-35 (Dohm), 42-44 (Michaelis), 44-49, 68-70, 87-90, 97-99 (Mendelssohn), 49-53 (Abbe Gregoire)

This page maintained by: Rebecca Lesses
Last revised September 8, 2004