Selected Courses Taught at the Jewish Studies Program
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Fall 2007
COURSE LIST
Religious Tradition and Faith
RELJ 121: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible / Old
Testament (MW 10-10:50)
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
RELJ 203: Introduction to Judaic Traditions (TR
9:30-10:45)
Vanessa Ochs
RELJ 260: Judaism between Modernity and
Secularization (MW 11-11:50)
Asher Biemann
RELJ 301: Book of Genesis (MW 15:30-16:45)
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
RELJ 347: Science and Judaism: Creation (MW
14:00-15:15)
Peter Ochs
RELG 721: Kant and Religion: Phenomenology
(R)
Peter Ochs
RELJ 383: Intro to Talmud (TR 11:00-12:15)
Elizabeth Alexander
History and Culture
HIEU 209: Jewish History I: The Ancient and Medieval
Experience (TR 11:00-12:15)
James Loeffler
HIEU 353 / YITR 353: Jewish Culture and History in Eastern
Europe (TR 12:30-1:45)
Gabriel Finder & Jeffrey Grossman
HIEU 509: Topics in European Jewish History (T
13:00-15:30)
James Loeffler
JWST 495: Senior Research Seminar (R
16:00-18:30)
Gabriel Finder
MUEN363: Klezmer Ensemble (MR 19:30-21:30)
Joel E. Rubin
MUSI 409: American Jewish Popular Music (TR
11:00-12:15)
Joel E. Rubin
RELJ 352: Responses to the Holocaust (M
14:00-16:30)
Jennifer Geddes
RELJ 505: Judaism in Antiquity (M
15:30-18:00)
Elizabeth Alexander
SOC 515: Time and Memory (T 14:00-16:30)
Jeff Olick
SPAN 425: The Inquisition in Spain and America(TR: 14:00-13:15)
Alison Weber
Language and Literature
ENMC 481: Contemporary Jewish Fiction (F
9:00-11:30)
Caroline Rody
HEBR 101: Introduction to Modern Hebrew I (MTWRF
10:00-10:50)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 201: Intermediate Modern Hebrew I (MTWR
11:00-11:50)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 301: Advanced Modern Hebrew (MW
3:00-4:15)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 493: Independent Study in Hebrew
Hedda Harari
RELG 375 / ENWR 375: Spiritual Writing (M
15:30-18:00)
Vanessa Ochs
RELJ 111 Elementary Classical Hebrew (MWF
1300-1350)
Greg Schmidt Goering
YIDD 105: Elementary Yiddish Language and Culture
(MWF 11:00-11:50)
Gabriel Finder
YIDD 205: Intermediate Yiddish Language and Culture(MWF 12:00-12:50)
Gabriel Finder
YITR 353 / HIEU 353: Jewish Culture and History in Eastern
Europe (TR 12:30-1:45)
Gabriel Finder & Jeffrey Grossman
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Religious Tradition and Faith
RELJ 121: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible / Old
Testament
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
This course provides an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, known to
Jews as the Tahakh and to Christians as the Old Testament. Using
methods of modern biblical scholarship, we will examine the Hebrew
Bible in its original ancient Near Eastern context to learn about the
major phases in the history and religion of ancient Israel. We will
consider the diverse genres and theological themes found in the
Hebrew Bible and the literary artistry of its whole. Finally, we will
read Jewish and Christian interpretations of the text in order to
understand the complex process by which the text was formulated,
transmitted and interpreted by subsequent religious communities.
Requirements: A midterm test, a final examination, and brief writing
assignments for section discussion.
RELJ 203: Introduction to Judaic Traditions
Vanessa Ochs
An introduction to Judaism as it is practiced as a living tradition.
We will survey the central Jewish beliefs that undergird the Jewish
tradition and examine the ritual context in which these beliefs are
manifest: sacred text study, prayer, holy day practices and life
cycle passages (e.g. birth, marriage, death). We will explore the
ancient sources from which so much of the Jewish tradition derives
and observe the ever-changing ways tradition is manifest in
contemporary Jewish life. We will draw on film, sacred text study and
anthropological observation of Jewish life in Charlottesville today.
RELJ 260: Judaism between Modernity and
Secularization
Asher Biemann
Modernity not only redefined the boundaries of Judaism from outside
and from within, but also called for a Jewish response to the process
of secularization. This course will explore the variety of Jewish
responses and adjustments to the modern world and their implications
for present day Judaism in its many forms, ranging from Neo-Orthodoxy
to Secular Judaism. The objective will be to introduce students to
Judaism as a complex body of simultaneous cultures, societies, and
histories. Requirements: Two quizzes and a final exam.
RELJ 301: Book of Genesis
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
This course introduces students to the Book of Genesis, the dramatic
and tangled narrative that opens the Hebrew Bible. We will examine
the literary artistry of the book by considering plot,
characterization, and its compositional history. Using methods of
modern biblical scholarship, we will further consider the book in its
historical and religious context. And, finally, we will examine the
early history of how the book was interpreted. Readings will include
not only biblical texts, but other ancient Near Eastern compositions
(the enuma elish and the Gilgamesh epic) that shed light on Genesis,
early biblical interpretation, and secondary scholarship on the
history, literature and religion of Ancient Israel. There is no
prerequisite for this course, but students who have completed
RelCJ121 will be preferred.
RELJ 347: Science and Judaism: Creation
Peter Ochs
An introductory study of the place of science in Judaism, focusing on
the example of creation. Topics include: The Genesis story and
Evolution; Myth, Science, and Religion; Newton, Quantum Physics, and
Judaism; The Big Bang through the history of Jewish reasoning.
(Midterm, Term paper, short papers).
RELG 721: Kant and Religion: Phenomenology
Peter Ochs
A study of the practice of phenomenology that Kant introduced in The
Critique of Pure Reason. We will focus on two of the issues that have
fascinated Post-Kantian philosophers: (1) a search for the
transcendental conditions of 'scientific' knowledge, and (2) the
character of the transcendental subject that is the bearer of these
conditions. Class readings will include: a brief look at Descartes'
Meditations; careful study of selected portions of Kant's First
Critique (the Transcendental Analytic); selected readings in
Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, Scheler and more recent essays on
Kant's relation to the phenomenological movement as a whole. The
purpose of the course is to provide resources for students who are
interested in the importance of Kant and phenomenology for
contemporary philosophy of religion and philosophical theology. A
related course on "Kant, Phenomenology, and Scriptural theology: is
planned for Fall, 2008.
RELJ 383: Intro to Talmud
Elizabeth Alexander
This course introduces students to the Talmudic corpus, which in
conjunction with the Hebrew Bible, plays a fundamental role in
shaping Judaism as we know it today. Indeed, the Hebrew Bible and the
Talmud are the two major sacred texts on which Jewish practice and
belief are based. Ostensibly an interpretation of the Hebrew Bible,
the Talmud creates something exciting and new through its empowered
approach to interpretation. In this course we will examine the
various strategies of interpretation used by the Talmud and the new
trajectories of thought, belief and practice that result from the
Talmud's creative interpretations. We will pay special attention to
the Talmudic reshaping of the biblical myths of creation and
revelation. We will also explore the culture of "holy" debate and
argumentation that Talmudic texts encourage. Finally, we will gain
competence and mastery in reading the three main genres of the
Talmudic corpus (biblical interpretation, legal codes, and legal
argumentation) so that students can put forward their own
interpretations of these foundational texts.
History and Culture
HIEU 209: Jewish History I: The Ancient and Medieval
Experience
James Loeffler
This course offers an overview of Jewish history from biblical
antiquity to the beginning of the modern period (ca. 1550), examining
the social, religious, economic, political and cultural dimensions of
the pre-modern Jewish experience.
HIEU 353 / YITR 353: Jewish Culture and History in Eastern
Europe
Gabriel Finder &
Jeffrey Grossman
This course is a comprehensive examination of the culture and history
of East European Jewry from 1750 to 1939. If what it meant to be
Jewish in Poland, Russia, and the rest of Eastern Europe was still
self-evident in the middle of the eighteenth century, Jewish
self-definition, both individually and collectively, became
afterwards increasingly contingent and open-ended. Before its
destruction in the Shoah (Holocaust), Jewish life in Eastern Europe
was characterized by a plethora of emerging possibilities. This
course explores this vibrant and dynamic process of change and
self-definition. It traces the emergence of new forms of Jewish
experience, and it shows their unfolding in a series of lively and
poignant dramas of tradition and transformation, division and
integration, dreams and nightmares. It seeks to grasp this world
through the lenses of culture and history, and to explore the
different ways in which these disciplines illuminate the past. In the
course we will discuss various themes, including challenges to
religious tradition, the process of Jewish urbanization, modern
Jewish political formations, gender relations, the emergence of
Modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, the growing pains of interwar
Jewish youth, and the transplantation of eastern European Jewish
culture to America.
This course is intended to acquaint students with the study of East
European Jewish culture and history and assumes no prior training in
the subject. Class meetings will combine lecture and discussion. A
large share of the reading assignments will come from primary sources
- novels, short stories, poems, folktales, diaries, and memoirs. We
will also examine East European Jewish music and visual arts. Course
requirements will include two 5-page essays and a 10-page term paper
as well as conscientious participation in class discussion. This
course fulfills the second writing assignment.
HIEU 509: Topics in European Jewish History
James Loeffler
This course will examine major trends in modern European Jewish
history from the late 18th century through the aftermath of the
Second World War, including themes such as the Enlightenment,
emancipation, religious reform, acculturation, anti-Semitism, Zionism
and other Jewish political movements, and the participation of Jews
in modern European politics and culture. The course is intended for
graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
JWST 495: Senior Research Seminar
Gabriel Finder
The Senior Research Seminar is required of all Jewish Studies majors,
who normally take it in the fall semester of the fourth year. The
theme of this year's Senior Research Seminar is Jewish frontiers. For
the first half of the semester we'll be reading about and discussing
Jewish communities that are off the beaten track. For the rest of the
semester each student will prepare a senior research project that
focuses on one such Jewish frontier community.
MUEN 363: Klezmer Ensemble
Joel E. Rubin
Klezmer, originally the ritual and celebratory music of the
Yiddish-speaking
Jews of Eastern Europe, was brought to North America by immigrants
around the turn of the last century. Since the 1970s, a dynamic
revival of this tradition has been taking place in America and
beyond. Klezmer's recent popularity has brought it far from its roots
in medieval minstrelsy and Jewish ritual and into the sphere of
mainstream culture. The traditional klezmer style presents the
experienced instrumentalist with a range of technical challenges with
its characteristic note bends, rubati, Baroque-style embellishments
and other micro-improvisational techniques, opening up a world of
expressive possibilities not available to them from either classical
music or jazz. This music was passed on orally from generation to
generation, and many of the ornaments which are so integral to the
klezmer sound can only be approximated by Western staff notation -
not to mention the patterns of improvised variation which are the
cornerstone of the style. There will therefore be an emphasis on
learning by ear as much as possible.
In this ensemble, we will begin by focusing on the klezmer traditions
of New York and Philadelphia between the two world wars, as well as
19th century Eastern Europe. Depending on the makeup of the group, we
may explore various genres of Yiddish song (folk song, Yiddish
theater, vaudeville), as well as Hasidic nigunim (songs of spiritual
elevation).
The following instruments are sought in particular: violin, viola,
cello, bass, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, tuba,
percussion, piano, and accordion. Restricted to: Instructor
permission by audition. Please contact Dr. Rubin with any questions:
jer2y@virginia.edu
MUSI 409: American Jewish Popular Music
Joel E. Rubin
Dynamic changes in American Jewry since the late 1960s have brought
forth a number of flourishing music genres which reflect the
direction of American Judaism at the turn of the 21st century. These
represent the legacy of the popular American Jewish entertainment
music and culture which began to emerge in the last quarter of the
19th century. The most visible of these is the klezmer movement,
which is arguably the most dynamic phenomenon in secular American
Jewry today, reaching far beyond its roots in medieval minstrelsy and
Jewish ritual and into the sphere of both popular and art music and
culture. In this course we will investigate why this seemingly
archaic musical tradition is so appealing to post-war American Jewish
youth and how its meaning has been transformed by them in their quest
for a new, post-Holocaust and post-Zionist identity. Beyond klezmer,
a number of other secular music movements have emerged in recent
decades, most notably the Radical Jewish Culture Movement of New
York¹s Downtown music scene led by John Zorn since the early
90s. Religious Jewish popular music, too, has flourished since the
60s. All of these will be seen to be different ways of establishing
an American Jewish identity via music. They have also had a profound
effect on mainstream American popular culture, influencing popular
television shows such as "Sex and the City" and "The Nanny," films
like "Dummy," and musicians as diverse as Carlos Santana, Ray Charles
and Madonna. For the various contemporary Jewish popular music forms,
the 1990s were a particularly fruitful decade. In order to understand
these contemporary developments, we will first look at the emergence
of Jewish popular culture - especially the culture of Yiddish
speakers - beginning in the mid-19th century, a movement which
reached its zenith in the 1920s and 1930s. We will concentrate on
expressions of popular culture within the Jewish communities, but
also look at intersections between the music and culture of the
Jewish subculture and that of the dominant American superculture
(e.g. Al Jolson¹s The Jazz Singer in the 1920s). The texts will
be drawn from a number of book chapters and articles which draw on
writings from the literature of ethnomusicology, musicology, popular
music studies, folklore, anthropology, sociology, Jewish studies,
history and other fields. Listening and reading examples will be
available on Toolkit. We will be watching at least 3 films and
participating in an internet listserv. Attendance of at least one
out-of-class event will be required.
RELJ 352: Responses to the Holocaust
Jennifer Geddes
In this course, we will read a wide range of responses to the
Holocaust-historical accounts, survivor testimonies, theological and
philosophical works, literary narratives, and poetry-written by Jews,
Christians, and non-religious authors. The following questions will
guide our reading and discussion: After the Holocaust, how have
understandings of human nature, religious belief and practice, good
and evil, responsibility and ethical action changed? What responses
to this event are possible, important, or necessary now after over
half a century?
RELJ 505: Judaism in Antiquity
Elizabeth Alexander
A critical survey of the development of Judaism from Ezra to the
Talmud (c. 450 BCE-600 CE). During this period "Jewishness" gradually
began to emerge as a form of identity that was different from
biblical Israel. We will consider the forces (Hellenism, the
development of a diaspora community, the emergence of Christianity)
that exerted pressure on the growth and development of Judaism during
this period, leading to this development. We will also examine the
manifold ways in which Jewish identity manifested itself
(apocalypticism, wisdom tradition, sectarianism and rabbinic
Judaism). Finally, we will consider the question of how a normative
form of Judaism, today known as Rabbinic Judaism, grew out of the
variety of Jewish expressions that characterized the Second Temple
period and eventually achieved hegemony.
SOC 515: Time and Memory
Jeff Olick
SPAN 425: The Inquisition in Spain and America
Alison Weber
This course will explore the history of the Inquisition in Spain from
its origins in 1478 to its demise in 1834. Topics will include:
organization and jurisprudence; the persecution of converted Jews,
Protestants and Moriscos; censorship and its impact on science and
culture; attitudes toward magic, madness, witchcraft, and religious
enthusiasm; the control of sexuality; gender and Inquisitorial
practice; myths about the Inquisition; its representation in art and
literature. Readings (in Spanish and English) will include case
histories and other primary source documents from the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries as well as recent books and articles on the
Inquisition. The course will be conducted in Spanish. Fulfills the
culture and civilization requirement for the major and the College
historical studies requirement. Pre-requisite: Spanish 330 or
permission of the instructor. Please note: course requires a high
level of proficiency in reading Spanish and the patience to look up
lots of word in big dictionaries.
Language and Literature
ENMC 481: Contemporary Jewish Fiction
Caroline Rody
In this course we will closely read a selection of Jewish fiction,
largely by U.S. writers but also by Israelis, Europeans, and Latin
Americans (in translation), from the mid-twentieth century to the
present, keeping as an open question the uses, the problematics, and
the implications of studying quite disparate writers under the
"Jewish Literature" rubric. We will read mostly novels, but also
stories and essays from the Norton Anthology of Jewish American
Literature and other collections. Writers are likely to be chosen
from the following list: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Tillie Olsen, Bernard
Malamud, Saul Bellow, Elie Wiesel, Philip Roth, Grace Paley, Cynthia
Ozick, Art Spiegelman, Jonathan Safran Foer, Allegra Goodman, David
Grossman, Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, Savyon Liebrecht, Linda Grant,
Margery Agosin.
The course will consider the ways writers shape and reshape their
inheritances from diverse national cultures, but also from the
formidable textual, cultural, and religious tradition of the Jews. We
will observe an evolving relationship to traditional Jewish texts and
to Jewish religious practice, to Yiddish and the culture of
Yiddishkeit; to memory and inheritance as burdens or as creative
touchstones. We will also consider changing conceptions of Jewish
identity, of national identity, and of gender roles; the
transformations wrought by American assimilation and social mobility;
forms of engagement with history including the Holocaust, the
founding of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; uses and
workings of Jewish humor; socialist, feminist and other political
commitments and visions; and life in the multiethnic, globalizing
present.
Requirements: reading (about a novel per week), active class
participation, co-leading of a class discussion, several short
reading responses, a short and a long paper.
HEBR 101: Introduction to Modern Hebrew I
Hedda Harari
An introduction to the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and
writing system of modern Israeli Hebrew. By the end of this sequence
students have mastered the core grammatical principles of Hebrew,
along with a basic vocabulary of 1000 words, and they are able to
read and understand simple texts and carry out simple conversation.
Includes material on Israeli culture, history, and politics.
HEBR 201: Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
Hedda Harari
Continuation of the study of the fundamentals of grammar, with
special attention to verb conjugation, noun declension, and syntactic
structure, and their occurrence in texts which deal with modern
Israeli culture and values. These texts, which include excerpts from
newspapers and fiction, introduce 600 new words and expose the
learner to political and other issues of modern Israel. Prerequisite:
HEBR 102 with grade of C or above, or instructor permission.
HEBR 301: Advanced Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
This course focuses on the conjugation of weak, or hollow verbs, and
the passive of all conjugations. It also continues the study of
subordinate clauses with special attention to adverbial clauses and
their use. Texts for the course, which form the basis for class
discussion in Hebrew and exercises in Hebrew composition, are drawn
from various genres. Prerequisite: HEBR 202 or equivalent, or
instructor permission.
HEBR 493: Independent Study in Hebrew
Hedda Harari
RELG 375 / ENWR 375: Spiritual Writing
Vanessa Ochs
Spiritual writing chronicles the quest for meaning, purpose and
direction; it explores encounters with the sacred, and it makes sense
of wrestling with faith and faith communities. In this course,
students will study examples of spiritual writing in fiction, memoir,
journalism and ethnography, and will be required to write about
matters of the spirit in various genres. The contemporary American
writers whose work we will look at may include Annie Dillard, Sharon
Butala, Paule Marshall, John L'heureux, Max Apple, Jonathan Rosen,
Anne Lamott, Marc Salzman, Cynthia Ozick, MFK Fisher, Lorenzo
Albacete, Edith Turner and Barbara Myerhoff.
INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION REQUIRED. To be considered, at the end of the
semester and/or at least one week before classes begin in August,
submit a manuscript to my mailbox in Halsey (about 6 pages of writing
that you think of as being spiritual in nature ? no e-mail
submissions). Enclose a note saying who and what year you are, your
e-mail address, what your writing experience has been and what you
hope to accomplish in this course. A class list will be posted on my
office door, 142a New Cabell, a day or two before our first class.
ENROLLMENT LIMITED TO 15.
RELJ 111 Elementary Classical Hebrew
Greg Schmidt Goering
This course and its sequel (RELJ 112) introduces students to the
basics of classical (biblical) Hebrew vocabulary and grammar. After
completing the two semester sequence, students will have mastered the
basic tools required to read prose passages from the Hebrew Bible/Old
Testament in the original language. In the latter part of the course,
we will begin reading longer prose passages directly from the Hebrew
Bible/Old Testament
YIDD 105: Elementary Yiddish Language and
Culture
Gabriel Finder
To adapt a phrase from David G. Roskies, the preeminent scholar in
this country of Yiddish literature, "Yiddish is dead. Long live
Yiddish!" In his book The Jewish Search for a Usable Past (1999),
Roskies writes: "The moment the past is finally laid to reset is the
very moment that it reasserts its claim upon the living." If Yiddish
was the language of the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe before the
khurbn ("Holocaust" in Yiddish) and of Jewish immigrants from the
"old country" to the "new world," which they called the goldene
medina ("the country made out of gold"), it is now being revived by
thousands of enthusiasts who are interested in reclaiming this
vibrant lost world of tradition and transformation, dreams and
nightmares. Yiddish is the key to the portal of this world. Indeed,
it is a vastly rich world unto itself.
This course is designed to be an introduction to the fundamentals of
the Yiddish language and to Yiddish culture in both Europe and
America. We will study Yiddish structure and syntax, acquire a basic
vocabulary, and apply these skills to speaking, reading, and writing.
In the course of our exploration of the Yiddish world, we will watch
Yiddish films and listen to Yiddish music. This is designed to be a
year-long course. Students are not required to take the second half
of this course in the spring (YIDD 106), but it is strongly advised
if they want to acquire proficiency in the language, not to mention a
higher level of Yiddish cultural literacy. A student's grade in this
course will be determined on the basis of in-class quizzes, a
cumulative final exam, and class participation.
YIDD 205: Intermediate Yiddish Language and
Culture
Gabriel Finder
To adapt a phrase from David G. Roskies, the preeminent scholar in
this country of Yiddish literature, "Yiddish is dead. Long live
Yiddish!" In his book The Jewish Search for a Usable Past (1999),
Roskies writes: "The moment the past is finally laid to reset is the
very moment that it reasserts its claim upon the living." If Yiddish
was the language of the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe before the
khurbn ("Holocaust" in Yiddish) and of Jewish immigrants from the
"old country" to the "new world," which they called the goldene
medina ("the country made out of gold"), it is now being revived by
thousands of enthusiasts who are interested in reclaiming this
vibrant lost world of tradition and transformation, dreams and
nightmares. Yiddish is the key to the portal of this world. Indeed,
it is a vastly rich world unto itself.
This course is designed to reinforce and advance students' ability to
speak, read, and write Yiddish. We will expand our vocabulary and
further learn the fundamentals of the Yiddish language. There is a
strong cultural component to this course. In addition to the
textbook, we will read short stories and poetry in Yiddish. In the
course of our exploration of the Yiddish world, we will watch Yiddish
films and listen to Yiddish music. This is designed to be a year-long
course. Students are not required to take the second half of this
course in the spring (YIDD 206), but it is strongly advised if they
want to acquire fluency in the language, not to mention a higher
level of Yiddish cultural literacy.
In order to enroll in this course, students must have completed YIDD
105 and 106 or demonstrate basic proficiency in Yiddish. A student's
grade in this course will be determined on the basis of in-class
quizzes, a cumulative final exam, and class participation.
YITR 353 / HIEU 353: Jewish Culture and History in Eastern
Europe
Gabriel Finder &
Jeffrey Grossman
This course is a comprehensive examination of the culture and history
of East European Jewry from 1750 to 1939. If what it meant to be
Jewish in Poland, Russia, and the rest of Eastern Europe was still
self-evident in the middle of the eighteenth century, Jewish
self-definition, both individually and collectively, became
afterwards increasingly contingent and open-ended. Before its
destruction in the Shoah (Holocaust), Jewish life in Eastern Europe
was characterized by a plethora of emerging possibilities. This
course explores this vibrant and dynamic process of change and
self-definition. It traces the emergence of new forms of Jewish
experience, and it shows their unfolding in a series of lively and
poignant dramas of tradition and transformation, division and
integration, dreams and nightmares. It seeks to grasp this world
through the lenses of culture and history, and to explore the
different ways in which these disciplines illuminate the past. In the
course we will discuss various themes, including challenges to
religious tradition, the process of Jewish urbanization, modern
Jewish political formations, gender relations, the emergence of
Modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature, the growing pains of interwar
Jewish youth, and the transplantation of eastern European Jewish
culture to America.
This course is intended to acquaint students with the study of East
European Jewish culture and history and assumes no prior training in
the subject. Class meetings will combine lecture and discussion. A
large share of the reading assignments will come from primary sources
- novels, short stories, poems, folktales, diaries, and memoirs. We
will also examine East European Jewish music and visual arts. Course
requirements will include two 5-page essays and a 10-page term paper
as well as conscientious participation in class discussion. This
course fulfills the second writing assignment.
Spring 2007
COURSE LIST
Religious Tradition and Faith
RELJ 202: Intermediate Biblical Hebrew (TR 11:00-12:15)
Daniel Weiss
RELJ 217: Modern Jewish Thought (TR 2:00-3:15)
Asher Biemann
RELJ 302: Faith on Trial: The Book of Job and Its Traditions (TR 11:00-12:15)
Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
RELJ 321: Joseph, Esther, Daniel, Judith (TR 3:30-4:45)
Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
RELJ 322: Zionism and Nationalism (TR 11:00-12:15)
Asher Biemann
RELJ 343: Women in Judaism (TR 9:30-10:45)
Elizabeth Alexander
RELJ 535: Midrash Seminar (T 3:30 - 6:00)
Elizabeth Alexander
History and Culture
GETR 352 / RELJ 348: The Cultural History of Jews in Germany (TR 3:30-4:45)
Rita B. Ottens
HIEU 100B: Out of the Ghetto: The Birth of Modern Jewish Politics (W 1:00-3:30)
James Loeffler
HIEU 210: Modern Jewish History (TR 11:00-12:15)
James Loeffler
HIST 323 / RELJ 323: Exhibiting Jews: Studying the Jewish Museum (TR 2:00-3:15)
Phyllis Leffler (History) and Vanessa Ochs (Religious Studies)
HIST 401A: The Holocaust and the Law (R 1:00-3:30)
Gabriel Finder
MEST 496: Senior Seminar: Middle East Studies (R 15:00-17:00)
Daniel S. Lefkowitz
MUEN 363: UVa Klezmer Ensemble (1credit) (M 7:00-8:30 PM)
Joel E. Rubin
PLCP 418: Politics of the Holocaust (M 3:30-6:00)
Gerard Alexander
RELJ 352: Responses to the Holocaust (R 2-4:30)
Jennifer L. Geddes
Language and Literature
HEBR 102: Introduction to Modern Hebrew II (MTWRF 10:00-10:50)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 202: Intermediate Modern Hebrew II (MW 12:00-12:50 & TR 11:00-11:50)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 302: Advanced Modern Hebrew (MW 2:00-3:15)
Hedda Harari
HEBR 494: Independent Study in Hebrew (T 1:45-2:30)
Hedda Harari
YIDD 106: Introduction to Yiddish Language and Culture (MWF 10:00-10:50)
Gabriel Finder
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Religious Tradition and Faith
RELJ 202: Intermediate Biblical Hebrew, Daniel Weiss
Continuation of RELJ 201.
RELJ 217: Modern Jewish Thought, Asher Biemann
This course is a critical survey of the most significant Jewish responses to
the experience of the modern era. Beginning with Spinoza's political and hermeneutic
thought, we will explore how Jewish thinkers met the social, cultural, and religious
challenges of modernity and, in turn, influenced the transformation of modern
Jewry. Jewish Thought is understood in a broader sense to include philosophers,
religious reformers, and political leaders. Changing and conflicting perspectives
on tradition, education, culture, and religion will be in the center of our
interest.
RELJ 302: Faith on Trial: The Book of Job and Its Traditions, Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
An examination of the biblical book of Job along with related texts -- ancient,
medieval, and modern -- that allow us to establish the literary, theological
and philosophical traditions in which Job was composed and the literary, theological,
and philosophical legacy it has left. Our study will cover ancient texts from
Mesopotamia, biblical Wisdom Literature, early Jewish and Christian interpretations
and retellings of Job, Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling,
Kafka's The Trial, J.B. by MacLeish, the writings of liberation theologian Gustavo
Gutierrez, and the etchings of William Blake. We will pay particular attention
to the ways these works play off one another in literary form and expression
and in their treatment of such themes as divine justice, human piety, the limits
of human knowledge, and the nature of the divine-human encounter.
RELJ 321: Joseph, Esther, Daniel, Judith, Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
A close critical reading of some of the finest novels of ancient Judaism: The
story of Joseph (found in the Book of Genesis), the biblical Books of Esther
and Daniel, and the Book of Judith. Each tells the story of a Jewish hero living
outside the land, in exile, who works, against all odds, to deliver her or his
people. In order to understand the fuller literary, historical, and theological
significance of these works, we will consider a range of texts, both biblical
and extra biblical (including, the stories of Tobit, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon,
Joseph and Asenath), which treat similar questions and related themes, such
as the role of women in ancient Israel, the function of coincidence and coincidental
reversals, the role of human activity in the face of a seemingly remote deity,
the temptations of assimilation, the vindication of the underdog and trickster.
RELJ 322: Zionism and Nationalism, Asher Biemann
This course will examine the ideological correlations among Jewish nationalism,
Zionism, and Jewish messianism in its modern interpretation. Focusing on primary
sources and contemporary scholarship, we will try to illuminate the religious
and secular origins of the Jewish national idea and its politics. Conversely,
we will see how Jewish nationalism shaped the modern Jewish understanding of
history, existence, and redemption.
RELJ 343: Women in Judaism, Elizabeth Alexander
This course explores the role of women in Judaism as understood by classical
Jewish sources and as reconceived by key feminist thinkers in the modern era.
Starting with the classical sources, this course familiarizes students with
talmudic sources that touch on various aspects of women's lives. We begin with
the observation that classical Jewish sources imagine sexuality as a potent
creative force, and then explore a number of derivative questions affecting
the status and lives of women. How did this positive embrace of sexuality affect
the place accorded women in Jewish society? Was female sexuality imagined in
different terms than male sexuality? Were women seen to interfere with men's
religious lives or enhance it? Was there a domain of women's religious experiences
that was distinct from men's? We will analyze both legal and narrative texts
for answers to our questions. Other topics treated include: control and protection
of women's sexuality, the economics of women's labor, rituals of the body and
the modes of expression characteristic of classical Jewish sources. In the last
section of the course we will review contemporary attempts by key feminist Jewish
thinkers (Plaskow, Adler and Ross) to rethink women's roles in the religion.
RELJ 535: Midrash Seminar, Elizabeth Alexander
This course trains students to read a range of midrashic texts in the original
language. Attention will be paid uncovering the hermeneutical underpinnings
of each text examined and to proper linguistic decoding. Primary readings will
be drawn from both early and later midrashim, as well as legal (halakhic) and
non-legal (aggadic) styles of midrash. Secondary readings will expose students
to the range of theoretical concerns (e.g. historical, literary and text critical)
raised in the interpretation of midrash.
History and Culture
GETR 352 / RELJ 348: The Cultural History of Jews in Germany, Rita B. Ottens
In this course we will study the history of the Jews in Germany over the past
250 years through the lens of culture. We follow this history from the Jewish
Enlightenment (Haskala) and emancipation of German Jews in the 18th and 19th
centuries via the Holocaust to the revival of Jewish life and culture in the
new Germany since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The lives and works of
Jewish writers, philosophers, composers, performers, visual artists, and filmmakers
will serve as our window into the complex and contradictory processes that have
determined Jewish existence in modern Germany. Through their eyes we will explore
some of the major themes in the history of German Jewry, from the struggle for
Jews' civil rights and Jewish reactions to racial anti-Semitism from the unification
of Germany in 1871 to the present, to questions of Jewish identity before and
after the Holocaust. During the latter part of the course, students will be
taken on a virtual tour through today's Berlin, capital of the fastest growing
Jewish community outside of Israel and the U.S. We will examine the programming
of the Berlin Jewish Museum and the Jewish community's annual cultural festival
and explore the German fascination with klezmer, the music of Eastern European
Jewry. This course is intended to acquaint students with the study of Jewish
culture and history in Germany. No prior knowledge of the topic or the German
language is required. Class sessions will consist of lectures and classroom
discussions. Possible reading assignments include Amos Elon, The Pity of It
All: A Portrait of the German-Jewish Epoch 1743-1933 (2002); Sander L. Gilman
and Jack Zipes, eds., Yale Companion to Jewish Writing and Thought in German
Culture, 1096-1996 (1997); The Memoirs of Glückel of Hamelin (1977); Paul
Celan, Death Fugue; Gershom Scholem, On Jews and Judaism in Crisis (1976); and
Maxim Biller, "See Auschwitz and Die," in Elena Lappin, Jewish Voices
German Words (1994). Some of these texts will be available on digital reserve,
as will the listening assignments (German-Jewish synagogue music, Yiddish song,
and klezmer) and pictorial material (works by Hermann Struck and Felix Nussbaum;
antisemitic postcards). Grading will be determined by written assignments, which
will include a short essay (3-4 pages), a longer research paper (6-8 pages),
a midterm and a final exam, as well as by attendance and classroom participation.
HIEU 100B: Out of the Ghetto: The Birth of Modern Jewish Politics, James Loeffler
Two hundred years ago, Jewish life in Europe was dominated by the force of
religion. The succeeding two centuries witnessed the rapid emergence of an incredibly
diverse array of new secular Jewish political ideologies ranging from Jewish
socialism to Zionism. What explains these dramatic developments? To answer this
question, this course will examine the rise of these Jewish political ideas
and movements in nineteenth and twentieth-century Eastern Europe, the United
States, and the Middle East. In the course of our survey we will explore a number
of related topics including the possible influence of religious messianism in
modern Jewish political thought, the relationship between homeland and diaspora
in twentieth-century Jewish political life, and the high visibility of individual
Jews in European and American left-wing and right-wing political movements.
This course is designed to introduce undergraduates to reading, writing, and
critical thinking about history in general. Therefore we will read a wide range
of historical sources, including political writings, short stories, novels,
plays, poems, musical compositions, and scholarly literature. A diverse set
of authors will be studied, possibly including Theodore Herzl, Leon Trotsky,
David Ben-Gurion, Horace Kallen, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Irving Kristol
as well as selected scholarly texts such as Ezra Mendelsohn's On Modern Jewish
Politics (1993), Erich Haberer's Jews and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Russia
(1995), and Zvi Gitelman's anthology, The Emergence of Modern Jewish Politics
(2003). Requirements are to keep up with the readings, to participate in class
discussions, to present one brief in-class presentation, and to write two book
reviews (5 pages each) and one final paper (12-15 pages). There will be no mid-term
or final examinations. No prior knowledge of Judaism or Jewish history is required,
however the course is limited to first-year students. This course does fulfill
the second year writing requirement.
HIEU 210: Jewish History II: The Modern Experience, James Loeffler
This course offers a general overview of modern Jewish history from the sixteenth
century to the present, focusing on the political, social, religious, and cultural
transformations of Jewish life and identity in this period. Major topics to
be discussed will include the effects of the Spanish Expulsion, messianic religious
movements, the French Revolution, the Jewish Enlightenment, political emancipation,
acculturation, modern Jewish politics, immigration and the growth of the American
Jewish community, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Zionism, the State of Israel
and the Soviet Jewish emigration. In addition, we will examine the ongoing challenge
of defining Jewish identity in the modern world (Are the Jews a nationality?
An ethnic group? A religion?) and the larger questions of how to relate Jewish
history to modern European, American, and Middle Eastern history. The main textbook
for this course will be Howard Morley Sachar's A History of the Jews in the
Modern World (2005). This will be supplemented with a variety of other scholarly
articles and an extensive array of primary sources drawn chiefly from Paul Mendes-Flohr
and Jehuda Reinharz's source book, The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary
History (1995). Requirements include one take-home quiz, three short papers
(500 words each) in response to primary sources, a midterm exam, and a final
exam. This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism
or Jewish history. HIEU 210 follows HIEU 209, Jewish History II: The Ancient
and Medieval Experience, though the two may be taken independently.
HIST 323 / RELG 323: Exhibiting Jews: Studying the Jewish Museum, Phyllis Leffler
(History) and Vanessa Ochs (Religious Studies)
In this team-taught course, we will ask "What makes a Jewish museum 'Jewish'?"
We will study how Jewish museums (including monuments and memorials) around
the world preserve and celebrate Jewish memory and serve as places of pilgrimage
where identity, heritage and nostalgia are explored and cultivated. Through
study of texts, websites and visits to both Jewish museums and museums of other
minority cultural groups, we will explore the various ways that Jewish museums
function, now and in the past, in America and abroad, and how they play roles
in exhibiting and sustaining Jews and Judaism. Readings may include: Eilean
Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture James Young,
The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning Ivan Karp and Steven
Lavine, eds., Exhibiting Cultures Oren Baruch Stier, Committed to Memory: Cultural
Meditations of the Holocaust Grace Cohen Grossman, Jewish Museums of the World
Tracing An-sky (1992-1994) Jewish Collections from the State Ethnographic Museum
in St. Petersburg The Jewish Identity project: New American Photography Modiya:
(Jewish new media website)
HIST 401A: The Holocaust and the Law, Gabriel Finder
This course explores the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust. We will
study legal responses to the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews in Europe, Israel,
and the United States from the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust to the present.
We will examine the Nuremberg Trial, the Eichmann Trial, national trials of
collaborators, legal efforts for restitution and the reclamation of Jewish property,
and the recent Holocaust denial libel trial in England Irving v. Penguin Books
and Lipstadt. Mindful of the postwar historical context, we will pose the question
whether legal responses to the Holocaust have served justice on the perpetrators
and delivered justice to not only the victims but also history and memory. In
this vein, we will ask how the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust
affects our understanding of the legal process. Through the first half of the
semester we will consider these issues in class. Assigned readings for this
part of the course may include Michael R. Marrus, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials,
1945-46: A Reader; Lawrence Douglas, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and
History in the Trials of the Holocaust; Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem:
A Report on the Banality of Evil; Stuart E. Eizenstat, Imperfect Justice: Looted
Assets, Slave Labor, and the Unfinished Business of World War II; Rebecca Wittmann,
Beyond Justice: The Auschwitz Trial; and Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial:
My Day in Court with David Irving. The average weekly reading load is 150 pages.
For the remainder of the semester students will produce an original 25-page
paper on some aspect of post-Holocaust trials that is based largely on primary
sources. Students are required to develop their topics in consultation with
the instructor and meet with him periodically while they are researching and
writing their papers. During the course of the semester students will be expected
to submit a bibliography for and an outline of their papers, as well as a first
draft that a fellow student will critique in class (peer review). Grades will
be determined on the basis of the bibliography, outline, and research paper
as well as class participation. Active participation in class is expected. This
course fulfills the second writing requirement. Non-History Majors require the
permission of the instruction to enroll.
MEST 496: Senior Seminar: Middle East Studies, Daniel S. Lefkowitz
Required for all students majoring in Middle Eastern Studies, this interdisciplinary
seminar will examine the utility (and the problems associated with) the following
approaches to the study of the Middle East and North Africa: philosophical/literary
critical, linguistic, anthropological, political scientific, religious, and
historical. Restricted to: 4th year AMELC Studies / Mideast concentration majors
(or permission of instructor)
MUEN 363: UVa Klezmer Ensemble (1credit), Joel E. Rubin,
Klezmer, originally the ritual and celebratory music of the Yiddish-speaking
Jews of Eastern Europe, was brought to North America by immigrants around the
turn of the last century. Since the 1970s, a dynamic revival of this tradition
has been taking place in America and beyond. Klezmer's recent popularity has
brought it far from its roots in medieval minstrelsy and Jewish ritual and into
the sphere of mainstream culture. The traditional klezmer style presents the
experienced instrumentalist with a range of technical challenges with its characteristic
note bends, rubati, Baroque-style embellishments and other micro-improvisational
techniques, opening up a world of expressive possibilities not available to
them from either classical music or jazz. This music was passed on orally from
generation to generation, and many of the ornaments which are so integral to
the klezmer sound can only be approximated by Western staff notation - not to
mention the patterns of improvised variation which are the cornerstone of the
style. There will therefore be an emphasis on learning by ear as much as possible.
In this ensemble, we focus on the klezmer traditions of New York and Philadelphia
between the two world wars, as well as 19th century Eastern Europe. Depending
on the makeup of the group, we may explore various genres of Yiddish song (folk
song, Yiddish theater, vaudeville), as well as Hasidic nigunim (songs of spiritual
elevation). Auditions will be held the first week of classes. The following
instruments are sought: violin, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, flute, saxophone,
trumpet, trombone, tuba, percussion, piano, accordion. Please contact Dr. Rubin
with any questions: jer2y@virginia.edu
PLCP 400: Politics of the Holocaust, Gerard Alexander
A seminar for advanced undergraduates, preferably with a background in History
or other courses relevant to this topic. The seminar is not a history class,
and focuses instead on competing explanations for these tragic events; examines
these explanations' underlying assumptions about politics, social processes,
and human nature; and uses selected evidence from the Holocaust to try to judge
which explanations are more persuasive than others. A final component of the
class compares the Holocaust to other genocides to see what value these explanations
have to other cases.
RELJ 352: Responses to the Holocaust, Jennifer L. Geddes
In this course, we will read a wide-range of responses to the Holocaust--historical
accounts, survivor testimonies, theological and philosophical works, literary
narratives, and poetry--written by Jews, Christians, and atheists. The following
questions will guide our reading and discussion: After the Holocaust, how have
understandings of human nature, religious belief and practice, good and evil,
responsibility and ethical action changed? What responses to this event are
possible, important, or necessary now after over half a century?
Language and Literature
HEBR 102: Intro to Modern Hebrew II, Hedda Harari
HEBR 202: Intermediate Modern Hebrew II, Hedda Harari
HEBR 302: Advanced Modern Hebrew, Hedda Harari
HEBR 494: Independent Study in Hebrew, Hedda Harari
YIDD 106: Introduction to Yiddish Language and Culture, Gabriel Finder
To adapt a phrase from David G. Roskies, the preeminent scholar in this country
of Yiddish literature, "Yiddish is dead. Long live Yiddish!" In his
book The Jewish Search for a Usable Past (1999), Roskies writes: "The moment
the past is finally laid to reset is the very moment that it reasserts its claim
upon the living." If Yiddish was the language of the Jews of Eastern and
Central Europe before the khurban ("Holocaust" in Yiddish) and of
Jewish immigrants from the "old country" to the "new world,"
which they called the goldene medina ("the country made out of gold"),
it is now being revived by thousands of enthusiasts who are interested in reclaiming
this vibrant lost world of tradition and transformation, dreams and nightmares.
Yiddish is the key to the portal of this world. Indeed, it is a vastly rich
world unto itself. This course is a continuation of YIDD 105 and continues to
introduce students to the fundamentals of the Yiddish language and to Yiddish
culture. We will study Yiddish structure and syntax, acquire a basic vocabulary,
and apply these skills to speaking, reading, and writing. In the course of our
exploration of the Yiddish world, we will watch Yiddish films and listen to
Yiddish music.
Fall 2006
Language & Literature
CPLT/GETR 346 Faust, Frankensteins and Golems
Jeffrey Grossman
This course seeks to explore the legends of Faust, Frankenstein, and the Golem,
as they emerged in western culture. It focuses especially on how these legends
respond to problems of knowledge and power. It also seeks to explore the multiple
forms by which these legends have been transmitted - whether as fictional
or dramatic texts, narrative poems, religious tracts, films, theatrical or
operatic performances. Faust and Frankenstein approach problems of knowledge
and power in different ways, but both legends address the question of an unbounded
striving for knowledge and scientific mastery. They especially respond to
the new ways of pursuing knowledge emerging in the 18th and 19th century,
when science and rationalist approaches gained new force. These legends ask:
What impact does such unbounded striving have on human relations and on the
idea of the self? The Golem legend arose from a different tradition, that
of Jewish mysticism. Yet, the Golem, too, became a powerful myth in 20th century
European literature and film. Reflecting in new ways on power and knowledge,
the Golem challenged traditional western notions of how the two interacted.
How, if at all, do these legends ultimately speak to our own strivings in
the present? Do they address the modern - or postmodern - search for the new
and the innovative? And is that search also addressed by the forms (literary,
cinematic, etc.) by which these legends are represented?
The course will focus especially on literary texts and films: Goethe, Faust;
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus; Byron, Manfred; Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; various
Frankenstein films; Leivick, The Golem; The Golem (film). 1 short paper (5-7
pp.) and 1 long paper (10-15 pp.), final exam.
HEBR 101 Introduction to Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
An introduction to the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and writing system
of modern Israeli Hebrew. By the end of this sequence students have mastered
the core grammatical principles of Hebrew, along with a basic vocabulary of
1000 words, and they are able to read and understand simple texts and carry
out simple conversation. Includes material on Israeli culture, history, and
politics.
HEBR 202 Intermediate Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
Continuation of the study of the fundamentals of grammar, with special attention
to verb conjugation, noun declension, and syntactic structure, and their occurrence
in texts which deal with modern Israeli culture and values. These texts, which
include excerpts from newspapers and fiction, introduce 600 new words and
expose the learner to political and other issues of modern Israel. Prerequisite:
HEBR 102 with grade of C or above, or instructor permission.
HEBR 301 Advanced Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
This course focuses on the conjugation of weak, or hollow verbs, and the passive
of all conjugations. It also continues the study of subordinate clauses with
special attention to adverbial clauses and their use. Texts for the course,
which form the basis for class discussion in Hebrew and exercises in Hebrew
composition, are drawn from various genres. Prerequisite: HEBR 202 or equivalent,
or instructor permission.
HEBR 493 Independent Study in Hebrew
Independent study for advanced students of Hebrew
HEBR 801 Independent Study in Hebrew
Independent study for advanced students of Hebrew
RELJ 201 Advanced Readings in Biblical Hebrew
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
Advanced readings in the prose narratives of the Bible. Emphasizes vocabulary,
morphology, and syntax. Some introduction to the problems of interpretation.
Pre-requisite: RELJ 111 and 112.
RELJ 121 Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
This course provides an introduction to the Hebrew Bible, known to Jews as
the Tahakh and to Christians as the Old Testament. Using methods of modern
biblical scholarship, we will examine the Hebrew Bible in its original ancient
Near Eastern context to learn about the major phases in the history and religion
of ancient Israel. We will consider the diverse genres and theological themes
found in the Hebrew Bible and the literary artistry of its whole. Finally,
we will read Jewish and Christian interpretations of the text in order to
understand the complex process by which the text was formulated, transmitted
and interpreted by subsequent religious communities. Requirements: A midterm
test, a final examination, and brief writing assignments for section discussion.
RELJ 506 The Tree of Life: Wisdom Literature in Ancient Israel
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
ENSP 481/488 The Bible
James Nohrnberg
A course of readings in -- and lectures on -- the forms and contents of the
Scriptures: as a "kerygmatic archive" (what the Bible conserves, and what
it proclaims) and a "fable of identity" (who God and the catechized subject
historically are). But the main emphasis will be on the earlier narratives:
the Primeval History, the Patriarchal marriage-saga, and the Joseph novella
(in Genesis): the life-office of Moses and the deliverance from Egypt, and
the Sinaitic covenanting of relations (in Exodus), and the (hi)story of David
as the invention of politics (in Judges,1-2 Samuel and 1 Kings). In the course
of discussing the Mosaicization of the canon (in Deuteronomy and places in
Kings), something will be said as to how the Bible breaks significant moulds
of Ancient Near Eastern literature, by way of suggesting how the new canon
might offer a similar challenge to the subsequent imposition of any rival,
post-biblical, "literary" conceptions whatsoever. And in course of discussing
the emergence of the literature of fact and knowledge out of ancient record-keeping,
something will be said as to how the Bible politicizes the chronicle for God,
and archeologizes and psychologizes it for man and woman. The student should
be prepared to read about three-fifths of Scripture (a fair amount of it on
his or her own -- Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua-Ruth, I-II Kings), and to write
two papers and a final exam.
ANTH 347 Language and Culture in the Middle East
Daniel Lefkowitz
This course provides an introduction to the people, cultures, and histories
of the Middle East, through an examination of language-use in contemporary
Middle Eastern societies. The course focuses on Israel/Palestine, and the
contact between Hebrew and Arabic, as a microcosm providing insight into important
social processes-such as colonization, religious fundamentalism, modernization,
and the changing status of women-affecting the region as a whole. Readings
contrast ethnographic with novelistic representations of language, society,
and identity. A primary concern will be to compare social scientific and literary
constructions of self and other in the context of the political and military
confrontation between Israel and Palestine. This is a lecture and discussion
course. A number of feature films from the Middle East are incorporated into
the course material. Requirements include four short essays and a book review.
Prerequisite: previous course in anthropology, linguistics, or Middle Eastern
studies, or permission of the instructor.
YIDD 105 Elementary Yiddish and Culture
Gabriel Finder
This course is designed to enhance students' familiarity with the Yiddish
language and Yiddish culture. We will study Yiddish structure and syntax and
acquire Yiddish vocabulary, and apply these skills to speaking, reading, and
writing. We will also learn Yiddish songs and watch Yiddish films.
History & Society
HIEU 209 Jewish History I: The Ancient and Medieval Experience
James Loeffler
This course offers an overview of Jewish history from biblical antiquity to
the beginning of the modern period (ca. 1550), examining the social, religious,
economic, political and cultural dimensions of the pre-modern Jewish experience.
We will focus on the questions of how Jews around the world and throughout
time have defined themselves in relation to their own historical past and
the interactions between Jews and the various societies and cultures in which
they have lived. Topics will include the biblical heritage, Jewish life in
the Greek and Roman worlds, the destruction of the Second Temple (70 C.E.),
the growth of the global Jewish Diaspora, the emergence of rabbinic Judaism
and Christianity, Jewish life under medieval Islam and Christianity, the structure
of medieval Jewish communal, economic, and religious life, medieval Jewish
philosophy, literature, and culture, anti-Judaism, the Crusades, the Inquisition,
and the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions.
This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of Judaism
or Jewish history. We will read and critically analyze a variety of primary
and secondary sources, including religious and legal writings, archeological
and artistic images, and modern scholarly interpretations. Readings will be
drawn from a variety of sources, including selections from the Bible, Talmud,
and medieval Jewish religious, legal, and philosophical writings, as well
as a number of other texts, possibly including Rader Marcus, The Jew in
the Medieval World; Barnavi, Historical Atlas of the Jewish People;
Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah; Segal, Rebecca’s Children:
Judaism and Christianity in the Roman World. Requirements include three
five-page papers in response to primary sources, a midterm exam, and a final
exam. HIEU 209 is followed in the spring by HIEU 210, Jewish History II: The
Modern Experience.
HIEU 100 Jewish Nationalism in Historical Perspective
James Loeffler
Arguably no political movement in modern Jewish history has had a greater
impact on Jewish life than Zionism. Yet from its origins to the present day,
supporters and critics have continued to debate precisely what Zionism is.
Was it simply a nationalist movement parallel to other forms of European nationalism?
Or did it grow out of longstanding messianic ideas within religious Judaism?
In this course we will examine these and other core questions about Zionism
and the other strains of Jewish nationalism that developed in nineteenth and
twentieth-century Europe. Other topics will include the search for a Jewish
national homeland in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas,
the role of literature, music, and the arts in modern Jewish politics, the
influence of anti-Semitism on Jewish national identity, and the different
Jewish political and philosophical ideas about Jewish-non-Jewish relations
in a future Jewish nation-state. This course is designed to introduce undergraduates
to reading, writing, and critical thinking about history in general. Therefore
we will read a wide range of historical sources, including political writings,
short stories, novels, plays, poems, musical compositions and scholarly literature.
Readings will include: Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea; Theodore
Herzl, Old-New Land; C. N. Bialik, Songs from Bialik; Y. L.
Peretz, Collected Stories; Steven Zipperstein, Elusive Prophet:
Ahad Ha’am and the Making of Modern Zionism; Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern
Jewish Politics; Shlomo Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: The
Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State. Requirements will include active
participation in class discussion, one brief in-class presentation, and three
short papers totaling twenty pages. There will be no mid-term or final examinations.
HIEU 348 The Holocaust
Gabriel Finder
The Holocaust--in Hebrew, "Shoah"--needs no introduction. It is arguably the
defining event of the twentieth century. We all live in its shadow; it not
only lies in the past but also intrudes inexorably into the present. The destruction
of European Jews in 1933-1945 challenges the very premises of our Western
civilization. What was once inconceivable in human behavior before the Holocaust
is now imaginable after the Holocaust. For this reason, the Holocaust raises
fundamental questions. In this course, we shall examine how this horrific
event gestated and unfolded. In particular, we shall study the persecution
and murder of European Jews from the vantage point of the Germans, the Jews,
and finally bystanders and collaborators. We shall also discuss non-Jewish
victims of Nazism. We shall explore how the Holocaust has been represented
since 1945. Finally, we shall try to situate the Holocaust in a universal
perspective.
This course is intended to acquaint students with the study of the Holocaust
and assumes no prior training in the subject. This is primarily a lecture
course, but there will be many opportunities for discussion. Many of the reading
assignments will come from primary sources, including diaries, memoirs, and
oral testimonies. We shall also read literature and view films. Holocaust
survivors will address the class.
Assigned books may include David Engel, The Holocaust, the Third Reich
and the Jews; Christopher R. Browning, Nazi Policy, Jewish Workers,
German Killers; Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews, vol. 1,
The Years of Persecution; Primo Levy, Survival in Auschwitz; and
Jan Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne,
Poland. The average reading load will be 125-150 pages a week.
A student's grade in this course will be determined on the basis of two short
(5 pages) analytical essays and a final exam.
HIEU 402A Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century
Kate Lebow
This course is an exploration of Europe's "dark century" focusing on Czechoslovakia,
East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. The course covers four distinct periods
(1900-1939; World War II; the Communist period; and post-Communism), drawing
extensively on memoirs, literature, film, and first-person accounts, as well
as the work of historians, anthropologists, and journalists, to bring this
dramatic epoch alive. Major themes include the relative importance of structural
factors versus ideology and culture for explaining historical events; the
meaning and applicability of terms such as "totalitarianism" and "resistance";
and the role of historical memory in shaping the present.
The course is discussion-based, and students are expected to participate actively.
Additional requirements include weekly one-page writing assignments (of which
three may be skipped), one in-class presentation, and one 20-pp. paper based
on primary source materials. Students will also be required to hand in several
assignments preparatory to the final paper, including an analysis of a primary
source document, a bibliography, a prospectus, and a preliminary draft.
HIEU 370 Modern Poland
Kate Lebow
Poland can arguably be seen as occupying a place that is simultaneously on
the margins and at the center of modern European, and world, history. This
course covers the history of Poland from the Enlightenment to the present,
exploring Poland’s journey from 18th-century experiments in constitutional
monarchy through the obliteration of the Polish state in the 19th century
to its rebirth as an independent country after WWI. We will also pay special
attention to the upheavals of the 20th century, including World War II and
the Holocaust, the Communist period from 1944 to 1989, and the ultimate collapse
of Communism in 1989.
Throughout, the Polish experience will be presented as a lens through which
to view major themes in modern history: nationalism and nation-building; the
social bases of support for–and resistance to–authoritarianism; challenges
to coexistence in ethnically diverse societies; ethnic cleansing and total
war. Drawing extensively on memoirs, literature, film, and first-person accounts,
as well as the work of historians, anthropologists, and journalists, we will
focus on everyday life in extraordinary times, attempting to understand how
ordinary people both responded to and made history.
Requirements include weekly response papers, a mid-term exam, one 5-pp. paper,
and a take-home final or 10-pp. research paper.
MSP 520 Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Age of Crusade
This course explores the complex changes experienced by Christian, Jewish
and Muslim communities during the age of Crusade, with particular attention
to the period between the calling of the First Crusade (1095) and the Fourth
Crusade (1204), resulting in the Latin conquest of Constantinople, although
it will also look at the subsequent persecutions of heretics and Jews in the
thirteenth century. It is concerned not so much with the military history
of the Crusades, as with their effect on the society, political structures,
literature and thought (looking for example, at Peter Abelard, Maimonides
and Averroes as emblematic of a tension between intellectual openness and
religious ideology in the period). The course will consider the political,
economic and cultural interaction between different groups as well as the
stereotypes one group might hold of another. Rather than focusing on the Holy
Land, it will look at the expansion of Latin Christendom as a whole, including
Spain and Sicily. It will explore relationships within Christian Europe, well
as between Latin and Greek Christians, while also considering tensions between
Turks and Arabs, and the situation of Jews in both Christian and Islamic worlds.
The course will consider interaction between different groups, as well as
the effect of Crusading ideology on official attitudes towards minority groups,
and on medieval political thought as a whole. While knowledge of languages
other than English is not essential, familiarity with other languages (eg
French and Latin) would be an advantage. Primary sources will be taken from
The Crusades: a reader, edited by S.J. Allen and Emilie Amt (Broadview
Press), which all students should acquire, as well as from other sources,
such as The Letters of Abelard and Heloise, trans. B. Radice (Penguin)
and Abelard, Ethical Writings, trans. P. Spade (Hackett Publishing).
Historians studied will include those in The Crusades. The Essential Readings,
ed. T. Madden (Blackwell), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades,
ed. J. Riley-Smith, as well as R. Bartlett and R.I. Moore on the evolution
of European society during the 11th and 12th centuries.
Students will be expected to give a class presentation, and submit two short
papers (5-6 pages, one of which may be a book review), as well as a major
research paper of 15-20 pages. There will be no end of term exam.
PLCP 341 Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
William Quandt
Introduces contemporary political systems of the region stretching from Morocco
to Iran. Prerequisite: Some background in comparative politics and/or history
of the Middle East.
Belief & Thought
RELJ 203 Introduction to Judaic Tradition
Elizabeth Alexander
An introduction to Judaism as it is practiced as a living tradition. We will
survey the central Jewish beliefs that undergird the Jewish tradition and
examine the ritual context in which these beliefs are manifest: sacred text
study, prayer, holy day practices and life cycle passages (e.g. birth, marriage,
death). We will explore the ancient sources from which so much of the Jewish
tradition derives and observe the ever-changing ways tradition is manifest
in contemporary Jewish life. We will draw on film, sacred text study and anthropological
observation of Jewish life in Charlottesville today.
RELJ 260 Judaism Between Modernity and Secularization
Asher Biemann
Modernity not only redefined the boundaries of Judaism from outside and from
within, but also called for a Jewish response to the process of secularization.
This course will explore the variety of Jewish responses and adjustments to
the modern world and their implications for present day Judaism in its many
forms, ranging from Neo-Orthodoxy to Secular Judaism. The objective will be
to introduce students to Judaism as a complex body of simultaneous cultures,
societies, and histories. Requirements: Two quizzes and a final exam.
RELJ 332 Judaism, Medicine and Healing
Vanessa Ochs
The Jewish tradition integrates a respect for the skill and knowledge of the
physician with profound awareness of the spiritual and relational components
of the healing process. In this course we will study: Jewish ways of understanding
why we get sick, suffer, heal and find meaning again; Jewish healing practices
(ancient and contemporary) in ritual and prayer; specific laws and practices
concerning health, sickness and the healing professions; and Jewish medical-ethical
perspectives. Readings will include ancient sacred writings and contemporary
texts that have emerged as part of the current Jewish Healing movement. This
course will stress close readings of texts and analyses of living traditions.
RELJ 359 Medieval Mysticism
Timothy Gianotti
RELG 557 Post Liberal Christianity and the Jews
Peter Ochs
This course examines how a current movement in Christian theology relates
to Jews and Judaism. The "Postliberals" are Christian theologians ? such as
Frei, Lindbeck, Hauerwas, and Jenson -- who believe that postmodern criticisms
of modern rationalism do not rule out recovering scripture and theological
commentary as resources for knowing the world and our place in it. For example,
they revisit Christology and Trinitarian theology as sources of non-dogmatic
and non-foundationalist Christian knowledge. Surprisingly, their "return to
Christology" leads them also to re-value Judaism as an enduring source of
knowledge. The course examines postliberal writings on Christianity and on
Judaism and also considers some exceptions to postliberalism’s more general
tendencies. The course has lots of reading and writing.
RELJ 562 Philosophies of Dialogue: Relation and Intersubjectivity in Modern
Thought and Theology
Asher Biemann
Peter Ochs
This course will explore the use of dialogical models of encounter (such as
the I-Thou philosophy) in modern Jewish and Christian Thought and test its
application in three areas: Theology, anthropology, and ethics. Readings include
texts by Soren Kierkegaard, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, Ferdinand Ebner,
Martin Buber, Gabriel Marcel, Friedrich Gogarten, Karl Heim, Emil Brunner,
Karl Jaspers, Emmanuel Levinas, and others.
RELJ 510 Theology and Ethics of the Rabbis
Elizabeth Alexander
An exploration of fundamental theological and ethical beliefs that run though
rabbinic literature. Though the rabbis do not address theological and ethical
questions directly, we will tease out the rabbinic response to classical theological
questions such as, what is the nature of divinity? what is the relationship
of God to humanity, and specifically to the people Israel? is there a concept
of natural law? how are we to understand evil? We will also explore the question
of why the rabbinic literature does not address theological concerns in a
straightforward manner. In the area of ethics, we will explore central themes
such as the value of life as weighed against other concerns, responsibility
to the other, and cultivation of an ideal self. In drawing a rabbinic ethic
out of the literature, we will consider the respective value of narrative
vs. legal materials. Attention throughout will be on close readings of primary
texts. Prerequisite: Previous exposure to rabbinic literature in RELJ 203,
256, 331, 383, 505 or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.
Spring 2006
Language & Literature
ENMC/ENAM 355 Jewish American Fiction
Caroline Rody
In this course we will trace the development of Jewish American fiction, drawing upon the recently published Norton Anthology of Jewish American Literature for short stories, essays, and extracts from memoirs and novels, and reading a couple of complete novels as well. We start in the milieu of the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side of New York, reading works composed in English and some translated from Yiddish, by immigrant writers such as Abraham Cahan, Mary Antin, Anzia Yezierska, Henry Roth, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. Among the next generation, heirs to Yiddish culture with hugely American aspirations, we will read writers such as Delmore Schwartz, Alfred Kazin, Tillie Olsen, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, and Art Spiegelman. At the end of the course we will read fiction from the currently booming field of contemporary Jewish fiction, authors to be announced.
The course will focus on the ways writers shape and reshape a new American literature with roots in a formidable textual, cultural, and religious tradition. We will observe an evolving relationship to Jewish religious practice and to traditional Jewish texts, to Yiddish and the culture of Yiddishkeit; to memory and inheritance as burdens or as creative touchstones. We will also consider changing conceptions of Jewish identity, of American identity, and of gender roles; the transformations wrought by assimilation and social mobility; uses and workings of Jewish humor; socialist, feminist and other political commitments and visions; forms of engagement with history including the Holocaust, the founding of Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and life in multiethnic America. Requirements: reading, active class participation, co-leading of a class discussion, several short reading responses, a short and a long paper.
HEBR 102 Beginning Hebrew II
Hedda Harari
This course teaches students to produce and understand simple messages in Israeli Hebrew through exposure to the Hebrew currently used in Israeli television, cinema, pop music, Internet, literature, and everyday conversation. The main focus of this course teaches students to produce and understand simple messages in Israeli course will be the spoken language. Grammar will also play an important role because understanding grammatical processes makes it easier to learn to speak Hebrew. Similarly, reading and writing will be important inasmuch as these skills facilitate acquisition of speaking competence. Material on Israeli culture, history, and politics is also included. Class will be conducted in Hebrew, and the use of English by students will be discouraged.
Books and Materials: Hebrew from Scratch, Part I, Shlomit Chayat, Sara Israeli, Hilla Kobliner, (Akademon, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 2000); The Up-To-Date English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English Dictionary, Shimon Zilberman; and supplementary materials to be distributed in class.
HEBR 202 Intermediate Hebrew II
Hedda Harari
This course teaches students to produce and understand simple messages in Israeli Hebrew through exposure to the Hebrew currently used in Israeli television, cinema, pop music, Internet, literature, and everyday conversation. The main focus of the course will be the spoken language. Grammar will also play an important role because understanding grammatical processes makes it easier to learn to speak Hebrew. Similarly, reading and writing will be important inasmuch as these skills facilitate acquisition of speaking competence. Material on Israeli culture, history, and politics is also included. Class will be conducted in Hebrew, and the use of English by students will be discouraged.
Books and Materials: Hebrew from Scratch, Part II, Shlomit Chayat, Sara Israeli, Hilla Kobliner, (Akademon, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 2000) and The Up-To-Date English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English Dictionary, Shimon Zilberman.
HEBR 302 Advanced Hebrew II
Hedda Harari
This course teaches students to produce and understand messages in Israeli Hebrew through exposure to the Hebrew currently used in Israeli television, cinema, pop music, Internet, literature, and everyday conversation. The main focus of the course will be the spoken language. Grammar will also play an important role because understanding grammatical processes makes it easier to learn to speak Hebrew. Similarly, reading and writing will be important inasmuch as these skills facilitate acquisition of speaking competence. Material on Israeli culture, history, and politics is also included. Class will be conducted in Hebrew, and the use of English by students will be discouraged.
Books and Materials: Agada Shel Safa (Hebrew- What A Language!), Mazal Cohen (Akademon, Hebrew University, Jerusalem) and The Up-To-Date English-Hebrew, Hebrew-English Dictionary, Shimon Zilberman.
History & Society
HIST 322 Zionism and the Creation of the State of Israel
Gabriel Finder
In the twentieth century the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel dramatically altered the course of Jewish history. The emergence of Israel has unfolded in a poignant drama of hope and conflict, dreams and nightmares. The fulfillment of the Zionist dream of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel (Eretz Israel) has been forged in a crucible of bitter conflict with Arab states in the region and Palestinians, who lay claim to the same land. This course seeks to comprehend Israel’s origins, development, and conflicts from the rise of Zionism to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Major topics of discussion include the Jewish national movement and its ideological origins; the development of Jewish settlement in Palestine (the Yishuv); the origins of the conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine; the emergence of a Hebrew culture in the Yishuv; the struggle for statehood; and the war of 1948.
This course, which combines lecture and discussion, is intended to acquaint students with the history of Zionism and Israel and assumes no prior training in the subject. Many of the readings will come from primary sources. The average weekly reading load will be 150 pages. A student’s grade in this course will determined on the basis of two 5-page analytical papers and one cumulative 10-page analytical paper.
Books assigned in this course may include Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to our Time; Arthur Hertzberg, The Zionist Idea; Benjamin Harshav, Language in Time of Revolution; Baruch Kimmerling and Joel S. Migdal, The Palestinian People; Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness; and Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis.
This course does not fulfill the second writing requirement.
HIUS 371 American Jewish History
Gabriel Finder
This course examines the 350-year history of the Jewish people in America. Tracing Jewish life from its origins in the colonial period to the present, we shall explore how Jews, Judaism, and Jewish culture adapted and developed in the American context. We will pay particular attention to the social, religious, institutional, and cultural life of Jews in the United States.
This course, which combines lecture and discussion, is intended to acquaint students with American Jewish history and assumes no prior training in the subject. Many of the readings will come from primary sources. The average weekly reading load will be 150 pages. A student’s grade in this course will be determined on the basis of one 5-page analytical paper, one 5-page research paper, and one cumulative 10-page analytical paper.
For this course we will read and compare two new surveys of American Jewish history: Jonathan D. Sarna, American Judaism: A History (2004) and Hasia R. Diner, The Jews of the United States, 1654-2000 (2004). In addition, we will read various genres of American Jewish writing in Jules Chametzky et al., Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology (2001).
This course does not fulfill the second writing requirement.
HIST 402A Eastern Europe in the 20th Century
Katherine Lebow
HIEU 404 The Holocaust and the Law
Gabriel Finder
This course explores the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust. We will study legal responses to the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews in Europe, Israel, and the United States from the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust to the present. We will examine the Nuremberg Trial, the Eichmann trial, national trials of collaborators, legal efforts for restitution and the restoration of Jewish property, and the recent Holocaust denial libel trial in England Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt. The course will end with an examination of the responses of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to atrocities in the Balkans. Mindful of the postwar historical context, we will pose the question whether legal responses to the Holocaust and other atrocities have served justice on the perpetrators and delivered justice to not only the victims but also history and memory. In this vein, we will ask how the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust affects our understanding of the legal process.
This course is designed to introduce students to the topic and assumes no prior training. Grades will be determined on the basis of a substantial research paper and class participation. Active participation in class is expected. This course may be used to meet the Law School's Writing Requirement.
Note: This Law School course is open to undergraduates and graduate students under independent study only with the permission of the instructor.
PLIR 365 International Relations of the Middle East
William Quandt
Studies the emergence of the contemporary inter-state system in the Middle East; the important role played by outside powers, especially the United States; the effect of the Cold War on the region; the persistent conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors and the efforts to reach peace; and the difficulty of constructing a stable order in the Persian Gulf.
Prerequisite: Some background in international relations or the history of the Middle East.
This course meets the Non-Western perspectives requirement.
Belief & Thought
RELJ 112 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew
Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
This course continues RELJ111 by providing an introduction to Hebrew grammar and syntax in preparation for the translation of biblical prose.
RELJ 261 Judaism in the Secular World
Asher Biemann
What does it mean to be Jewish in a secular world? What is Jewish culture? What is Judaism without God? Looking at a variety of academic and fictional texts, films, and art, this course will explore how secularization is reflected in contemporary Judaism. Requirements are two short essays and a final paper.
RELJ/RELC 302 Faith on Trial: The Book of Job and Its Traditions
Martien A. Halvorson-Taylor
An examination of the biblical book of Job along with related texts -- ancient, medieval, and modern -- that allow us to establish the literary, theological and philosophical traditions in which Job was composed and the literary, theological, and philosophical legacy it has left. Our study will include ancient texts from Mesopotamia, biblical Wisdom Literature, Prometheus Bound, writings by Calvin and Maimonides, Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, J.B. by MacLeish, Gustavo Gutierrez, and the etchings of William Blake. We will pay particular attention to the ways these texts play off one another in literary form and expression and in their treatment of such themes as divine justice, human piety, and the nature of the divine-human encounter.
RELG 313 Idolatry
Asher Biemann
Beginning with Biblical sources, covering a range from Mishnah to Marx, and concluding with contemporary texts, this course will examine the philosophical framework of casting idolatry as an unspeakable sin: What is an idol, and why is idolatry so objectionable? With an emphasis on Judaism, though not exclusively, we will discuss idolatry in the context of representation, election, otherness, emancipation, nationalism, secularism, religious innovation, and messianism.
RELJ 339 Jewish Feminism
Vanessa Ochs
From ancient times to our own day, Jewish women have engaged with Jewish tradition, texts and practices appropriating, resisting and transforming them. In this course, we will study the strategies by which contemporary women in Judaism have created, and continue to create the conditions for increased spiritual, intellectual and social empowerment, and will try to anticipate new directions. We will study the major works and issues in contemporary American Jewish feminism from the mid-1960's to the present, concluding with the work of 20-something Jewish feminists. We will study how Jewish feminists and feminist scholars of Judaism have defined and legitimized the study of Jewish women's experience by tracing the impact of Jewish feminism on Jewish ritual practice, text study, communal leadership, and theology.
RELJ 375/575 Scriptural Reasoning and Judaism
Peter Ochs
The first half of the course will examine how recent Jewish philosophy and theology has turned back to the study of sacred texts. The second half will examine how that turn has engendered another turn: to intensive dialogue with like-minded Christian and Muslim philosophers and theologians. The course will include various methods of study: one-on-one fellowship study, small group study, large group. It will require considerable reading in scriptural texts and in both classical and contemporary commentaries - philosophic and theological. There will be several papers and papers in place of exams. Students are advised to peruse these websites to taste the kind of work the course will undertake:
the e-journal of textual reasoning (housed at UVa)
and the e-journal of scriptural reasoning (created at uva).
RELJ 383 Introduction to the Talmud
Elizabeth Alexander
This course introduces students to the talmudic corpus, which in conjunction with the Hebrew Bible, plays a fundamental role in shaping Judaism as we know it today. Indeed, the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud are the two major sacred texts on which Jewish practice and belief are based. Ostensibly an interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud creates something exciting and new through its empowered approach to interpretation. In this course we will examine the various strategies of interpretation used by the Talmud and the new trajectories of thought, belief and practice that result from the Talmud's creative interpretations. We will pay special attention to the talmudic reshaping of the biblical myths of creation and revelation. We will also explore the culture of "holy" debate and argumentation that talmudic texts encourage. Finally, we will gain competence and mastery in reading the three main genres of the talmudic corpus (biblical interpretation, legal codes, and legal argumentation) so that students can put forward their own interpretations of these foundational texts.
RELJ 522 Literary Approaches to Rabbinic Literature
Elizabeth Alexander
Rabbinic literature has shaped the values, rituals and theology of Judaism as it is practiced by Jews around the world today. Yet the texts of the rabbinic corpus rarely state their values, rituals or theology in straightforward manner. This course gives students the skills to tease out the essential kernel of a given passage by applying the insights of contemporary literary theory. We will identify the chief literary characteristics of midrash (biblical interpretation), mishnah (legal codification and case law) and gemara (legal argumentation and interpretation). We will also identify literary theories that clarify the goals, purposes and meaning of exemplary passages in each of these genres. The insights culled from literary theory include attention to intertextuality, hermeneutical presuppositions, the use of recurring images and motifs and the constructive role of the reader. Class time will be largely devoted to close readings of primary texts.
RELJ 738 Pragmatism and Theology: Repartive Reasoning in the Scriptural Traditions
Peter Ochs and Nicolas Adams (University of Edinburgh)
First, an introduction to the American pragmatists' alternative to philosophies and theologies that fail to take responsibility for the societal contexts of their inquiries. Then, a study of the Biblical sources of at least one pragmatist's work (Peirce) and how those sources identify inquiry with the effort to repair human suffering. Then, the main work of the course is to re-examine some of the major scriptural theologians who accept this identification and the responsibilities that come with it. How does their work reshape what we understand by "pragmatism" and by "scriptural theology?" Among theologians considered will be Augustine, Yehuda Halevi, Maimonides, Bonhoeffer, Iqbal, Levinas, and others.
Fall 2005
Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
HEBR 101: Introduction to Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
An introduction to the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and writing system of modern Israeli Hebrew. By the end of this sequence students have mastered the core grammatical principles of Hebrew, along with a basic vocabulary of 1000 words, and they are able to read and understand simple texts and carry out simple conversation. Includes material on Israeli culture, history, and politics.
Prerequisite: for HEBR 102: HEBR 101.
HEBR 201: Intermediate Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
Continuation of the study of the fundamentals of grammar, with special attention to verb conjugation, noun declension, and syntactic structure, and their occurrence in texts which deal with modern Israeli culture and values. These texts, which include excerpts from newspapers and fiction, introduce 600 new words and expose the learner to political and other issues of modern Israel.
Prerequisite: HEBR 102 with grade of C or above, or instructor permission.
HEBR 301: Advanced Modern Hebrew
Hedda Harari
This course focuses on the conjugation of weak, or hollow verbs, and the passive of all conjugations. It also continues the study of subordinate clauses with special attention to adverbial clauses and their use. Texts for the course, which form the basis for class discussion in Hebrew and exercises in Hebrew composition, are drawn from various genres.
Prerequisite: HEBR 202 or equivalent, or instructor permission.
HEBR 493: Independent Study in Hebrew
Independent study for advanced students of Hebrew.
Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
HEBR 801: Independent Study in Hebrew
Independent study for advanced students of Hebrew.
Prerequisite: Instructor permission.
English
ENSP 882 The Literary Use of the BibleJames Nohrnberg
Introduces the contents of scripture. Topics include the saving history, the Mosaic Torah, the Biblical offices, the doctrine of the Word of God, and the nature of a canon.
History
HIEU 210 Modern Jewish History
Gabriel Finder
The unbroken history of the Jewish people has been altered by dramatic interruptions. Even before the Shoah (Holocaust), the conflicting forces of continuity and change characterized the development of the Jewish people throughout the Jewish world, both in the Diaspora and in (the Land of) Israel. Among these momentous changes in modern Jewish life were the transformation of the Jews (especially in Western and Central Europe) from a religious community into citizens of their respective countries, religious reformation, the emergence and increasing dominance of autonomist concepts of Jewish identity, and large-scale migration to America and Palestine. In our time, the Shoah and the creation of the State of Israel pose a new challenge to the continuity of Jewish life in the Diaspora.
This theme of continuity and change will shape our examination of the Jewish people in its modern context. Major topics explored in this course include Jewish historical consciousness; patterns of emancipation; assimilation, adaptation, and migration; religious renewal; the role of women; antisemitism; Zionism; the American Jewish experience; the Shoah; and the establishment of the State of Israel. This course is intended to acquaint students with the study of modern Jewish history and assumes no prior training in the subject. Many of the reading assignments will come from primary sources.
Assigned texts may include Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World, 2nd ed.; Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory; Jonathan I. Israel, European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550-1750, 2nd ed.; Pierre Birnbaum and Ira Katznelson, eds., Paths of Emancipation: Jews, States, and Citizenship; Zvi Gittelman, A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present, 2nd ed.; Hasia R. Diner, A New Promised Land: A History of Jews in America; Ezra Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics; Paula E. Hyman, Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History: The Roles and Representations of Women; Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews, vol. 1: The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939; and Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis. The average weekly reading load will be 100-125 pages.
Course requirements will include two in-class exams and a take-home final exam. This course does not fulfill the second writing requirement.
HIST 401B The Holocaust and the Law
Gabriel Finder
This course explores the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust. We will study legal responses to the Nazi genocide of Europe's Jews in Europe, Israel, and the United States from the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust to the present. We will examine the Nuremberg Trial, the Eichmann Trial, national trials of collaborators, legal efforts for restitution and the reclamation of Jewish property, and the recent Holocaust denial libel trial in England Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt. Mindful of the postwar historical context, we will pose the question whether legal responses to the Holocaust have served justice on the perpetrators and delivered justice to not only the victims but also history and memory. In this vein, we will ask how the pursuit of legal justice after the Holocaust affects our understanding of the legal process.
Through the first half of the semester we will consider these issues in class. Assigned readings for this part of the course may include Lawrence Douglas, The Memory of Judgment: Making Law and History in the Trials of the Holocaust; Michael R. Marrus, The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1945-46: A Reader; Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil; Leora Bilsky, Transformative Justice: Israeli Identity on Trial; Michael Bazyler, Holocaust Justice: The Battle for Restitution in America's Courts; and Deborah E. Lipstadt, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving. The average weekly reading load is 150 pages.
For the remainder of the semester students will produce an original 25-page paper on some aspect of post-Holocaust trials that is based largely on primary sources. Students are required to develop their topics in consultation with the instructor and meet with him periodically while they are researching and writing their papers. During the course of the semester students will be expected to submit a bibliography for and an outline of their papers, as well as a first draft that a fellow student will critique in class (peer review). Grades will be determined on the basis of the bibliography, outline, and research paper as well as class participation. Active participation in class is expected.
This course fulfills the second writing requirement. Non-History Majors require the permission of the instruction to enroll.
HIST/RELJ 549 The History of Jewish History
Asher Biemann
This course will discuss conceptions of Jewish history, memory, and historiography from Biblical times to the present. With the help of recent literature on this subject we will seek to understand the roles of ritual memory, eschatology, historicism, as well as counter- and meta-history in Judaism. Messianism, Modernism, Zionism/Diaspora, and the Holocaust will be among the themes touched upon in our readings, along with competing theories of history. Requirements: Final paper and colloquium.
Politics
PLCP341 Comparative Politics of the Middle East
William Quandt
Introduces contemporary political systems of the region stretching from Morocco to Iran. Prerequisite: Some background in comparative politics or history of the Middle East.
Religious Studies
RELJ111 Biblical Hebrew
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
Studies the essential of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. Includes readings of portions of the old Testament.
RELC 121/ RELJ 121 Introduction to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
This course will examine a particular body of literature, known to Jews as Tanakh and to Christians as the Old Testament. These texts are the main source of information on the life, history and religion of ancient Israel. These texts are also authoritative (in varying and complicated ways) for present-day Christians and Jews. In this course we will attempt to put the Hebrew Scriptures in historical context, thinking critically about their witness to ancient ideas and events. We will also consider the continuing life of this literature, how it has been read, how it has left its mark on diverse communities and cultures, including that of present-day America.
RELJ 203 Introduction to Judaic Traditions
Elizabeth Alexander
An introduction to Judaism as it is practiced as a living tradition. We will survey the central Jewish beliefs that undergird the Jewish tradition and examine the ritual context in which these beliefs are manifest: sacred text study, prayer, holy day practices and life cycle passages (e.g. birth, marriage, death). We will explore the ancient sources from which so much of the Jewish tradition derives and observe the ever-changing ways tradition is manifest in contemporary Jewish life. We will draw on film, sacred text study and anthropological observation of Jewish life in Charlottesville today.
RELJ 260 Judaism Between Modernity and Secularization
Asher Biemann
Modernity not only redefined the boundaries of Judaism from outside and from within, but also called for a Jewish response to the process of secularization. Over the course of two semesters, this course will explore the variety of Jewish responses and adjustments to the modern world and their implications for present day Judaism in its many forms, ranging from Neo-Orthodoxy to Secular Judaism. The objective will be to introduce students to Judaism as a complex body of simultaneous cultures, societies, and histories. Requirements: Two quizzes and a final exam.
RELJ 397 Prayer, Spirit, Reason in Judaism
Peter Ochs
A study of prayer, mysticism, and philosophy in Jewish tradition. The focus will be on drawing disciplined modes of reasoning from out the practices of everyday prayer and not so everyday spiritual contemplation. Readings in Bible, Talmudic literature, the rabbinic prayerbook, medieval Jewish philosophy and mysticism, and some recent logics and philosophies. Biweekly short papers and two longer papers.
RELJ 505 Judaism in Antiquity
Elizabeth Alexander
A critical survey of the development of Judaism from Ezra to the Talmud (c. 450 BCE-600 CE). During this period "Jewishness" gradually began to emerge as a form of identity that was different from biblical Israel. We will consider the forces (Hellenism, the development of a diaspora community, the emergence of Christianity) that exerted pressure on the the growth and development of Judaism during this period, leading to this development. We will also examine the manifold ways in which Jewish identity manifested itself (apocalypticism, wisdom tradition, sectarianism and rabbinic Judaism). Finally, we will consider the question of how a normative form of Judaism, today known as Rabbinic Judaism, grew out of the variety of Jewish expressions that characterized the Second Temple period and eventually achieved hegemony.
RELJ 549 The History of Jewish History
Asher Biemann
Description in HISTORY above
Spanish
SPAN 425 The Inquisition in Spain
Alison Weber
This course will explore the history of the Inquisition in Spain from its origins in 1478 to its demise in 1834. Topics will include: organization and jurisprudence; the persecution of converted Jews, Protestants and Moriscos; censorship and its impact on science and culture; attitudes toward magic, madness, witchcraft, and religious enthusiasm; the control of sexuality; gender and Inquisitorial practice; myths about the Inquisition; its representation in art and literature. Readings (in Spanish and English) will include case histories and other primary source documents from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as recent books and articles on the Inquisition. Midterm, final, several writing assignments. The course will be conducted in Spanish. Fulfills the culture and civilization requirement for the major. Pre-requisite: Spanish 330 or permission of the instructor. Please note: course requires a high level of proficiency in reading Spanish and the patience to look up lots of words in big dictionaries.
SPRING 2005
English
ENMC
482D Jewish American Fiction
Caroline Rody
In this course we will trace the development of Jewish American
fiction, with a special emphasis this year on contemporary writers, so
as to coordinate with the visit of a number of good Jewish authors to
Charlottesville, as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. Using
the resources of the recently published Norton Anthology of Jewish
American Literature, we will read short stories, essays, and extracts
from memoirs and novels. We start by entering the milieu of the
turn-of-the-century lower east side of New York, reading works composed
in English and some translated from Yiddish, by immigrant writers such
as Abraham Cahan, Mary Antin, Anzia Yezierska, Henry Roth, and Isaac
Bashevis Singer. Among the next generation, heirs to Yiddish culture
with hugely American aspirations, we will read writers such as Delmore
Schwartz, Alfred Kazin, Tillie Olsen, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow,
Philip Roth, Grace Paley, Cynthia Ozick, and Art Spiegelman. At the end
of the course we will read fiction from the currently booming field of
contemporary Jewish fiction, authors to be announced. The course will
focus on the ways writers shape and reshape a new American literature
with roots in a formidable textual, cultural, and religious tradition.
We will observe an evolving relationship to Jewish religious practice
and to traditional Jewish texts, to Yiddish and the culture of
Yiddishkeit;
to memory and inheritance as burdens or as creative touchstones. We
will also consider changing conceptions of Jewish identity, of American
identity, and of gender roles; the transformations wrought by
assimilation and social mobility; uses and workings of Jewish humor;
socialist, feminist and other political commitments and visions; forms
of engagement with history including the Holocaust, the founding of
Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and life in multiethnic
America. Requirements: reading, active class participation, co-leading
of a class discussion, several short reading responses, a short and a
long paper.
ENRN
940 Milton
James Nohrnberg
For students wishing to immerse themselves in the greatest poem of its
length in the English language, a semester-long discussion and glossing
of Milton's Paradise Lost. We will be studying -- as if we were Adam
and Eve in Eden, Lucifer in heaven, and Satan in hell -- a poem of
"beginnings" (the coming of the world into the world, and of the
subject into consciousness), of "concern" (how to live), and of
"provocations" (challenges to willing, understanding, remembering, and
imagining). Frequent invocation of Renaissance themes, in
post-Reformation and English revision, will be essential to the
discourse, along with a qualified appeal to the traditions and
narrations belonging to the poem's kinds (homily, theodicy,
hamartiology, hexaemeral piece, myth, parable, creation story,
aitological tale, secondary epic, hymn, foundation/strife / quest /
return & wisdom epos, etc.)--not to mention a sobering and/or
fortifying recourse to the terms of human life, including 20 pp. of
writing.
Religious Studies
RELJ 112 Introduction to Biblical Hebrew
Martien Halvorson-Taylor
This course continues RELJ111 by providing an introduction to Hebrew
grammar and syntax in preparation for the translation of biblical prose.
RELC 122 Early Christianity & the New Testament
Harry Gamble
This course surveys the origins and early history of Christianity on
the basis of a historical and analytical study of early Christian
writings belonging to the "New Testament." Topics covered include the
origins of Christianity in Judaism; the activity and significance of
Jesus; the formation, beliefs and practices of early Christian
communities; the varieties of Christianity in the first century; and
the progressive distinction of Christianity from Judaism. Requirements:
Two quizzes and a final examination, and occasional short papers in
connection with discussion sections. Regular attendance at discussion
sections is mandatory.
RELJ 217 Modern Jewish Thought
Asher Biemann
This course attempts to be a critical survey of the most significant
Jewish responses to the experience of the modern era. Beginning with
Spinoza's political and hermeneutic thought, we will explore how Jewish
thinkers met the social, cultural, and religious challenges of
modernity and, in turn, influenced the transformation of modern Jewry.
Jewish Thought is understood in a broader sense to include
philosophers, religious reformers, and political leaders. Changing and
conflicting perspectives on tradition, education, culture, and religion
will be in the center of our interest.
RELJ 226 Israeli Cinema
Asher Biemann
This course will look at Israeli film-making from the beginning of the
State to the present. We will examine how Israeli culture, secular and
religious identity, and the encounter of the other are reflected on the
screen. The course will offer a brief survey of Israeli history and of
Jewish contributions to early European and American cinema. We will
then look at the changing images and self-representations of Israel
from the pre-State Yishuv to the so called "post-Zionist" era. The
course will focus on readings, discussion, and actual film showings
(with English subtitles). Requirements: Midterm, written term paper,
and final exam.
RELJ 301 Genesis and Interpreters
Steven Kepnes
This course begins with a close reading of the text of Genesis and then
explores the vast and multiple traditions of interpretation that the
narratives of Genesis have given rise to. The course includes Jewish
and Christian traditional interpretations along with modern
psychological, philosophical, and feminist readings. The approach to
the text may broadly be considered "literary" as we search in and
through the "literal meaning" of the text for additional levels of
meaning that are relevant to the spiritual and moral quest.(Professor
Kepnes, visiting UVA this Spring, is the Murray W. and Mildred K.
Finard Professor in Jewish Studies in the Department of Philosophy
& Religion at Colgate University)
RELJ338 Judaism in America
Lauren Winner
This course explores the cultural history of Jews in America, will an
emphasis on the experience of Jews in the American South. After
surveying patterns is Jewish immigration to America, we will examine an
array of topics, from Jewish food to the memory of the Holocaust, from
Jewish attitudes toward sex and the body to Jewish fiction. Readings
include Eli Evans's The Provincials, the biography of the first Jewish
Miss America, Art Spiegleman's Maus, and, of course, The Kosher
Southern-Style Cookbook.
RELJ 391/RELC 391 Women and the Bible
Judith Kovacs
This course provides a forum for exploring the intersection of gender
issues and biblical studies. It focuses on the close interpretation of
particular texts from the Bible. We will survey passages from the
Torah/Old Testament and the New Testament that focus on women or use
feminine imagery and consider various readings of them, including
traditional Jewish and Christian, historical-critical, and feminist
interpretations. We will examine the position of women in Israel and in
the early church and consider how biblical authors use feminine imagery
to express their theology. Attention will also given to how later
Jewish and Christian communities employ Scripture to shape and define
women's social and religious roles. Topics treated will include: the
stories of creation and fall in Genesis 1-3, narratives with female
protagonists (Sarah, Deborah, Hannah, Esther, Ruth, Judith, the Virgin
Mary, Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan woman, Priscilla), the prophetic
images of Israel as prostitute, wife, and pure daughter of Zion, the
figures of Lady Wisdom and the seductive Foreign Woman in Proverbs, the
erotic imagery of the Song of Songs, women in the circle of Jesus,
Paul's views on women, and the use of feminine images to portray
judgment and redemption in the Revelation to John. No prerequisite. May
be used to fulfill the second writing requirement.
Not for women only - men are especially encouraged to enroll.
RELJ 501 Genesis and Its Interpreters
Steven Kepnes
This course begins with a close reading of the text of Genesis and then
explores the vast and multiple traditions of interpretation that the
narratives of Genesis have given rise to. The first part of the course
includes readings from traditional Jewish exegetes in the Midrash and
Rashi and selections from the Church Fathers. The second part explores
modern philosophical, psychological, and feminist readings. The
approach to the text may broadly be considered "literary"--as we search
in and through the "literal meaning" of the text for additional levels
of meaning that are relevant to the spiritual and moral quest. Note to
graduates: This seminar is being cross-listed on undergraduate level.
Undergraduate students will be included in the enrollment.
RELG 734 Liturgical Reasoning
Steven Kepnes
This course begins the view that liturgy includes an implicit form of
theological and ethical reasoning. We will attempt to trace out the
outlines of this implicit reasoning to make it more explicit and
potentially productive for pragmatic forms of theology and ethics. We
will look at writings on ritual in religious studies and then focus on
the theories of liturgy in the work of modern German Jewish
philosophers-- Moses Mendelssohn, Hermann Cohen, and Franz Rosenzweig.
Students will then extend our discussions on Jewish liturgy through
research on Christian and Islamic liturgical reasoning.
RELG 833 Compar