Winter 2025

 

GBL*2400*IS Holocaust Journey

Winter 2025

This course will allow participants to learn about the Holocaust through tours of concentration/extermination camps, ghettos, and discussions with Holocaust scholars and survivors. The course originates in Amsterdam, continues to Berlin, Warsaw, Krakow, and Prague and concludes in Nuremberg, Germany, all extremely significant locations for Jews during the Holocaust. Students will also have the opportunity to visit Jewish museums and archives, synagogues, and Jewish cemeteries, as well as more traditional tourist attractions such as cathedrals, castles, and art museums. Preparation for the course will include reading the novels Treblinka (Jean-Francoise Steiner) and Night (Elie Wiesel). Students will also keep a journal and research their project throughout the journey and will prepare their final project after they return to the States. Class discussions will occur throughout the term. Free time will be available in every city for individual research and exploration. Application and acceptance required. Additional travel fee is required. Counts toward Civilization requirement, and satisfies one unit of of the Experiential Learning Requirement. The course may also count as an English elective, and toward the Jewish Studies and German Studies minors. Prerequisite: GBL 1400. Crosslisted as: ENG 2400.

 

HEB*2040*A Not Your Bubbe’s Yiddish Class

Winter 2025

Yiddish has been described as a language without a country. But it’s deeply woven into the fabric of the United States. “In the last century, Yiddish has become a huge part of the American vernacular – and comedy. Vaudeville, Mel Brooks, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and other forms of entertainment have thrust the language into the spotlight.” (1A, NPR) This course will take the student on a journey of exploration into the vast and rich world of the Yiddish language and Eastern European Jewish culture. Students will be introduced to the history of Yiddish and its influence on American pop culture. The vocabulary taught in the course will include basic words, phrases, and expressions in the language. Students will also learn about Yiddish culture through music, film, and literature. The course will include hands on Jewish culinary workshops introducing students to Eastern European cuisine. Does not count toward the World Language Proficiency requirement. Additional fee: $30.

 

Spring 2025

 

ENG*3700 Jewish American Literature

Spring 2025

From Bob Dylan and Judy Blume to Seinfeld and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the influence and impact of American Jews on the fields of literary and cultural production after the Second World War has powerfully shaped the course of twenty-first century popular media and entertainment. At once religious, historical, multicultural, and interethnic, this course will explore the competing and contradictory tensions of acculturation and assimilation to ask: in what ways have contemporary Jewish American writers and artists both challenged and preserved a sense of cultural continuity and belonging across a variety of diasporic contexts? Focusing on themes of immigration, intergenerational conflict, national identity, and citizenship, students will examine representative texts in the Jewish American literary and cultural tradition, including novels, short fiction, drama, memoir, poetry, film, television, music, stand-up comedy, and narrative comic art. Authors may include Isaac Bashevis Singer, Arthur Miller, Saul Bellow, Grace Paley, Lenny Bruce, Cynthia Ozick, Susan Sontag, Adrienne Rich, Will Eisner, Philip Roth, Joel & Ethan Coen, Art Spiegelman, Tony Kushner, Nicole Krauss, Joshua Cohen, Josh & Benny Safdie, and Taffy Brodesser-Akner.

 

HEB*1020*A Modern Elementary Hebrew II

Spring 2025

This course builds on the skills learned in HEB 1010 and continues the study of basic Modern Hebrew grammar and syntax and provides further development of culture, communication and comprehension skills. Prerequisite: HEB 1010 or permission by chair of the department. If you have prior knowledge of Hebrew either in a traditional academic setting or a religious setting contact the instructor to determine your Hebrew level. A paper and pencil placement exam is available.

 

HEB*3110*A Hebrew Language Tutorial

Spring 2025

Language Tutorials offer students in Hebrew an opportunity to pursue advanced levels of study when a catalog course at their level is not available. Students may register for HEB 3110 by contacting the WLC department chair and crafting a plan of study with the appropriate professor. All proposals must be approved by the WLC department chair, the appropriate professor, and the Registrar before study may begin.

 

HST*3390*A History of the Holocaust

Spring 2025

This history of the Holocaust explores the roots of this event, beginning with historical anti-Semitism and the impact of this tradition on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Topics also include Hitler’s racial policies between 1933-1938, their spread throughout Nazi Europe between 1939-1941, the evolution of the Final Solution from 1941-1945 and post-World War II Holocaust developments and questions.

 

PHL*3610*A Contemporary Philosophy

Spring 2025

Students become acquainted with philosophical trends in the 20th century and develop appropriate skills of inquiry. The course surveys the changing landscape of philosophy in this volatile century and introduces students to key figures who have shaped that landscape.

 

POL*3708*A Israeli Leaders

Spring 2025

This course begins with a module on studying political leaders and then focuses on modern Israel’s political leaders. First, the course surveys the fields of political leadership studies. Then, for the majority of the semester, it exclusively studies Israeli leaders. We develop an historical introduction and background to Israel and then delve into major Israeli political leaders: among others, Golda Meir, Itzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak, and Tzipi Livni. We study each leader for their impact on the Israeli society -and beyond, and their policy choices. (See course flyer here.)

 

REL*1310*A Jewish Biblical Lit in Context

Spring 2025

This course introduces students to the critical study of biblical literature, focusing on the text known as the Hebrew Bible, Jewish Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament. We will explore the Bible in light of the ancient contexts in which it was composed, while also studying the way that ancient Jews and Christians interpreted and transformed the meaning of biblical texts.  We will read the Bible’s narratives, poems, proverbs, prophecies and laws, and consider its diverse approaches to topics such as power, holiness, gender, nature, love, death, God, and the relation of the people of Israel to other peoples.

 

Summer I

POL*3301*A Middle East Issues in Films

Summer I 2025

This course explores the Middle East through internationally acclaimed films that are directed by the filmmakers from the Middle East and North Africa -mostly, from Iran, Israel, Turkey, and the predominantly Arab countries, and from minority groups in the region (e.g. the Kurds). These movies showcase the various political, economic, ethnic, gender, religious contexts of the region, and serve as a point of departure to understand the contemporary Middle East. The class follows a selection of modules (“topics”) such as a historical background to the region, Israel/Palestine, identities (ethnicities, gender, and religious), and social mobilization/protests.