JWST Courses - Spring 2010

Judaism (JWST 20300-01) Rebecca Lesses

MWF 11:00 – 11:50 am

This course offers an introduction to Judaism as a religious civilization, with a focus on theology, ethics, and ritual practices. Readings include selected texts from the Biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern periods. Theological and ethical issues include God, good and evil, covenant, death and afterlife, justice and social responsibility. The course examines how these understandings are lived out through practices associated with birth and death, marriage and commitment, sexuality, and the life of study, prayer, and devotion. This semester we will especially focus on how Jewish life is lived in a variety of Jewish communities, Sephardic, Mizrahi (Jews from Arab countries), and Ashkenazic. NOTE: Cross-listed with RLST-20300. Students may not receive credit for both JWST-20300 and RLST-20300.

Biblical Interpretation in Judaism and Christianity (JWST 34300-01) Rebecca Lesses

TR 1:10 – 2:25 pm

This course examines the theological and literary dimensions of reading the Bible in the Jewish and Christian traditions. In both religions, Biblical interpretation, or hermeneutics, is a special discipline that combines theology with techniques of literary exposition, or exegesis. The focus of the course will be the comparative study of Jewish and Christian readings of the Bible. The Hebrew Scriptures, which were formed out of the historical and religious experiences of the Israelites, became the religious and literary inheritance of two communities. Although it is often said that Jews and Christians share a common scripture, it is perhaps more accurate to say that the differing interpretations of a common scripture have defined the differences between the two communities. Thus, our comparative study will explore in the texts the evidence for conflict as well as those occasions when concurrence and even dialogue is possible. This semester the course will focus on the comparative understanding of stories of the beginning (creation) and the end of days (as revealed in apocalyptic texts). We will also devote some time to comparative Jewish, Christian, and Muslim interpretation of certain biblical stories. NOTE: Cross-listed with RLST-34300. Students may not receive credit for both RLST-34300 and JWST-34300.

Narrating the Holocaust (JWST 36000-01) Annette Levine

Witnessing and Representing the Holocaust through Literature and Film

TR 10:50 am – 12:05 pm

Throughout the semester we will analyze various forms of cultural production (testimony, fiction, poetry, feature films, documentaries, and theatre) with an eye to the complexity of witnessing the Holocaust and the act of remembering and representing such experiences This is an interdisciplinary course designed to appeal to students majoring and minoring in Jewish Studies, English, History, Politics, Sociology, Writing, and Cultural Anthropology.

Selected Topics: Jews in the Contemporary World (JWST 37500-01) Rebecca Lesses

MW 4:00 – 5:15 pm

Jewish history and culture from the 1880s to the present, in Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Americas. The course covers modernizing Jewish cultures in eastern and western Europe; the growth of the American Jewish community after 1880; the effects of modernity on the Jews of Arab lands; Zionism and the establishment of the state of Israel; racial anti-Semitism, Nazism and the Holocaust; and the post-WWII world of two major Jewish centers in Israel and the United States.

Germans, Jews, German-Jews (GERM 26200-01) Michael Richardson

MWF 11:00 – 11:50 am

The goal of this course is to move beyond an understanding of “German” and “Jewish” as distinct categories and explore the transformation of German-Jewish identity and discover how this development continues to shape German-Jewish relations in present-day Germany. The first half of the course will consist of a historical approach to the question of German-Jewish identity. We will begin in the 18th century and move through Lessing, Heine, the brothers Grimm, and Kafka, then look at the formation of a modern German-Jewish identity in Germany before 1933, then address German national identity and the “Jewish question,” Nazi anti-Semitism, and the marginalization, exclusion, and murder of Jews during the Holocaust. The second half of the course will continue this historical development, but will focus primarily on recent and contemporary debates, such as the impact of the television show Holocaust and the movie Schindler’s List, the “coming to terms with the past” of second generation Jews living in Germany, the effects of unification on the development of Jewish communities in unified Berlin, and the discussions surrounding the design and construction of the national Holocaust memorial. Through analyses of literary texts, first-hand accounts, philosophical and historical essays as well as film, students will approach this complex topic in an interdisciplinary manner. NOTE: Readings and discussions in English.

Seminar Topic: The Political Implications of the Holocaust (POLT 40100-01) Don Beachler

W 4:00 – 6:30 pm

The seminar will explore portions of the voluminous literature on the Holocaust to extract implications for politics. Among the topics to be considered are the conditions that permit people to participate in genocide and the human capacity for self-deception that enables people to rationalize their actions. This section of the seminar will consider the controversy raised by Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners. We will also explore the academic politics of Holocaust studies by reading works that both proclaim the uniqueness of the Holocaust and by considering authors who argue that too much attention has been paid the Holocaust to the neglect of other historical instances of genocide. The ethical lessons that can be gleaned from global indifference to the destruction of the European Jews will form another segment of the seminar. The global response to atrocities in Rwanda and Bosnia will be included for comparative purposes.

Elementary Hebrew II (HEBR 10200-01/02/03) TBA

MWF 9:00 am with a drill session on Thursday at 8:25am or 5:25 pm

This course is a continuation of HEBR-10100. Practice in understanding, speaking, reading and writing simple idiomatic Hebrew with emphasis on present past and future verb tenses and basic understanding of grammar such as possessives, particles, objects, etc.

Klezmer Chamber Ensemble (MUEN 32100)   Peter Rothbart

Chamber ensemble devoted to learning and performance of Klezmer (secular Jewish) music. Proficiency on a musical instrument is expected. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

Internship in Jewish Studies (JWST 42000-01) Rebecca Lesses

On-site work experience, combined with academic study, in agencies or educational institutions with significant Jewish content, such as Jewish schools, community agencies or multicultural groups. Arranged individually at the student’s request with an individual instructor, a sponsoring agency, and permission of the Jewish studies coordinator. Offered on demand only.

Independent Study in Jewish Studies (JWST 49100-01) Rebecca Lesses

Special research on an individual project arranged by a student with a particular faculty member. The project may include reading books and/or writing papers under the guidance of the faculty member, with a performance expectation of upper-level work. Offered on demand only.