This quarter is the second of three comprising First Year Modern Hebrew. It is geared for students who have had studied one quarter of the language. This class will expand vocabulary and grammar and improve the ability to speak, read, and write. Alongside the Ivrit Min Hahtchala- ("Hebrew from Scratch") textbook and the accompanying CD, we will incorporate song lyrics, poems, readings from Sha'ar ("Gate", the newspaper for immigrants to Israel) "Havaynu Shalom Aleichem" video lessons, and web-sites. By the end of the quarter, AYH, the student will be able, with growing ease, to read elementary texts and converse about everyday situations and topics and some not so common, and be able to write about a variety of subjects.

This quarter is the second of three comprising Second Year Modern Hebrew. It is geared for students who have had studied four quarters of the language. Conducting the class ninety percent of the time in Hebrew, we will expand our vocabulary and grammar and improve our ability to speak, read, and write. Alongside the second book of Ivrit Min Hahtchala- ("Hebrew from Scratch") textbook and the accompanying CD, we will incorporate more advanced song lyrics, poems, readings from Sha'ar ("Gate", the newspaper for immigrants to Israel,) Israeli TV programs, and web-sites. By the end of the quarter, AYH, the student will be able to read with ease, intermediate level texts and converse with ease about everyday situations and topics and some not so common, and be able to write, about a variety of subjects.

What is Judaism? Who are the Jews, where did they come from? What is the relationship between Judaism and the other Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Islam? From its roots in the ancient Near East to its contemporary American context, Judaism has both influenced and been influenced by surrounding cultures and religions. We will explore the historical, philosophical and theological trends that helped shape modern Judaism, beginning with the ancient Israelite cult, with its focus on Temple ritual. We will study the origins and development of Rabbinic Judaism in the post-Second Temple period and look at the relationship between antique Judaism and the Greek world, Christianity and Islam. We will follow the growth of Ashkenazic Jewry from its inception through the medieval ages, pre-modernity, up until the modern period. We will discuss the development of key Jewish texts, including the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud, and we will explore the interpretive relationship between Judaism and these texts. With that background we will then look at different forms of contemporary American Jewish ritual, keeping in mind its historical and philosophical development.

This course surveys ancient Jewish texts from a period of formative importance to the history of Judaism and Christianity. We will examine topics such as good and evil, the end of the world, divine knowledge and the structure of the heavens; discuss how these topics were used by the ancient authors to negotiate political and social conflicts; and consider the implications of these texts for the broader study of religious concepts such as canon, heresy and orthodoxy, and mysticism. GE Credit: Wrt. Format: Lecture/Discussion - 3 hours; Term Paper.

What does it mean to be a Jew in North America today? Where do Jews "fit" in contemporary US multicultural society? Are those who claim a Jewish identity referring to religion, race, or ethnicity? Who is a Jew? And who defines "who is a Jew?" What challenges confront the future of Jewish identity in the US? This course will use readings and films to explore the complexity of these issues from diverse perspectives. We will analyze some of the attempts made by different groups and communities to form, (re)create and perpetuate Jewish identities. We will examine such issues as: notions of "community," the new Orthodox, gender images of Jewish men and Jewish women, queer Jews, and others.

This course considers the place of Jews and Jewish life and culture in Germany after 1945. The focus will not so much be on representations of the Holocaust - although, obviously, the topics addressed will dovetail and be overdetermined by the Holocaust - but rather on how Jews, the Jewish community, and representations of Jews have played a role in German culture, society, and politics after the war. In no other country has history, memory, and the place of one minority - as well as the long history of collective hatred against that minority - played such an important role in the political and civic life of a nation. Yet, most courses have focused on Jews up to and in the Holocaust rather than on the role Jews and Jewish life have played in Germany since World War II. The course contends that many of the most important debates and controversies in and about postwar Germany and its status as a nation have intersected, in fundamental ways, with Germany's long and complicated history with Jewish peoples. The class will be a seminar with strong emphasis on active participation and, given the recent nature of much of the materials, the interpretation of primary sources. The seminar and assignments are geared to encourage debate and writing among the students.

Is it possible to be Jewish without believing in Judaism? Since the dawn of the modern age, secular Jewish thinkers have sought to construct identities beyond Judaism, that is, beyond the bounds of religion. After examining the European process of secularization starting in the seventeenth century, this course will trace the history of secular Jewish thought from the seventeenth-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza to the twentieth century. Some of the thinkers who will be considered, such as Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, rejected religion altogether, while others, including Spinoza, Franz Kafka, and Gershom Scholem, redefined religion and theology in new, often radically subversive ways. Finally, we will examine secular redefinitions of Judaism, such as those of certain Zionist thinkers and writers such as Ahad Ha'am, Micha Yosef Berdichevsky, Hayim Nahman Bialik and Saul Tchernikhovsky. This is a course not only for those interested in modern Jewish thought, but in modernity itself.

The international politics of the Middle East are a microcosm of world politics. This course focuses on key aspects of politics among nations in the region and on the structure of, and the processes undergoing in, the Middle East regional system as a whole. Topics include the formation of the Middle East regional system, state formation processes, war and peace in the Middle East, the relationships between domestic politics and international processes, alliances and regional organizations, the superpowers and the regional system, and the political economy of the Middle East.

This course introduces students to the Hebrew Scriptures through selected primary source readings and secondary modern scholarship. No previous academic knowledge is expected or required. Course work is done in English translation; therefore, no knowledge of Hebrew is required. Students will be exposed to a variety of modern critical tools for analysis, including historical, literary, and sociological approaches. GE credit: ArtHum, Div, Wrt.—I. (I.)

This class will explore some of the representations of Heaven and Hell through the lens of film. While the focus will be on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, we will also note their importance in other religions. The class will address some of the key stories and themes of the Bible and ways in which ideas about Heaven and Hell are expressed literally, symbolically and through images. We will use primary source materials from the Tanach and the New Testament, as well as Midrashim, Agadah, comics, rock videos, and scholarly works.

Israeli society is still struggling to define its borders and boundaries and the tensions between its commitments to a Jewish and a Democratic state. It is divided across national, religious, ideological, and ethnic lines that display not only an internal dynamism, but also a dynamic relation between them. This course will introduce students to the history of the Zionist movement and the state of Israel through different perspectives. The first part of the course will follow the rise of Zionism and the different interpretations of Zionism and the Jewish-Arab struggle until the formation of the Israeli state. The second part of the course will focus on the borders of the state through the different wars related to the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Finally, the third part of the course will engage with Israel's institutions and internal boundaries and examine whether its social and political institutions are able to sustain the various pressures and demands. This part of the course will examine the historical evolution of Israel's central schisms - Jewish-Arab, Religious-secular, Hawks and Doves, ethnicity and class from pre and early statehood to contemporary globalization.

Speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing fundamentals of Modern Hebrew.

Advanced topics in Hebrew grammar and syntax, selected literary texts, and advanced work in modern spoken Hebrew.