Fall 2019 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

 Description: While secondary material will be assigned for background, the focus will be on the close reading of selected Jewish legal texts from the Mishnah and Talmud as well as such post-Talmudic texts as Maimonides’ great code of Jewish Law, the Mishneh Torah, and a variety of both medieval and modern responsa (judicial opinions). Among the topics to be addressed are: Rabbinic and Communal Authority; Law, Religion, and Morality; Negligent Misrepresentation; Public Law and the Right to Strike, Imprisonment for Debt; and Artificial Insemination from Donor. A key goal will be to acquire a “feel” for characteristic modes of halakhic (Jewish legal) thinking and reasoning, precisely through immersing oneself in the primary sources. A special feature of this course will be its havruta style: that is, for part of some classes students will study and prepare the primary texts in havrutot (small groups) with the instructor serving as a resource person.

Texts: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Lecture

 Description: An introduction to the period 1918-1939 as reflected in literature from a variety of sources, in German, French, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian and English. Among topics to be discussed are: the effects of World War I, the Russian Revolution, transformations in Jewish life, the rise of anti-Semitism. and forebodings of the Holocaust, Socialism, Zionism, Yiddish and Hebrew literature, and American-Jewish culture.

Texts: These vary but include works by Ansky, Proust, Joyce, Kafka, Feuchtwanger, Babel, Fitzgerald, Greenberg, Henry Roth, Hemingway, Singer, Agnon, Werfel, Joseph Roth, Schnitzler, and Stefan Zweig. Emphasis in this course is on the experience, through reading literary texts, of entering societies and a period in history far different from our own.

Evaluation: Four in-class exams, each consisting of an essay and commentaries on course texts and one long essay. Essay questions are normally given out in advance of exams.

Format: Round-table seminar

 Description: Description: focus on the modern period (the 1860s to the present). As we read major works of Yiddish literature (in English translation), we will discuss the main factors in its development, including its position as a minority literature, Ashkenazi civilization’s religious foundations and multilingualism, the rise of political movements, and the trauma of the Holocaust. We will pay close attention to issues of Jewish identity and the relations between Jews and their Christian neighbors in Poland, Ukraine, Romania, and other regions of Eastern and Central Europe, and will also examine the special place of humor, music (including “klezmer”), and mysticism in Yiddish culture. In his Nobel lecture, Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer described Yiddish as “the idiom of the frightened and hopeful humanity.” What are the reasons behind and the effects of such universalization of Yiddish language, literature, and culture? In addition to literary works, we will also explore films, music, historical documents, and oral history.

Texts: The Memoirs of Glikl of Hameln; Nahman of Bratslav, “The Wise Man and The Simple Man”; Sholem Aleichem, Railroad Stories and Tevye the Dairyman; Sholem-Yankev Abramovitch (Mendele Mocher Seforim), The Travels of Benjamin the Third; I. L. Peretz, If Not Even Higher; Miryem Ulinover, My Grandmother’s Treasure; Chava Rosenfarb, Survivors; Isaac Bashevis Singer, In My Father’s Court.

Selected Films: The Dybbuk (1937), Green Fields (1937), Tevye the Dairyman (1939)

Evaluation: 
Attendance, Preparation & Participation (25%)
Short Reading Responses (25%)
Midterm Paper/Project (20%)
Final Paper/Project (30%)

Format: Lecture

 Description: This is a survey course that highlights the encounters between Jews and Hellenistic Civilization in late antiquity and Islamic Civilization is the early Middle Ages. The "parting of the ways" between Christianity and Judaism will be an important sub-unit in the course. Because this is a first-year History course, emphasis is placed on introducing students to the modes of inquiry associated with the discipline.

Texts: John Efron, Steven Weitzman, Matthias Lehmann, Joshua Holo, The Jews: A History, Pearson-Prentice-Hall,3rd ed. 2018. 
Coursepack and assigned online readings.

Evaluation: 
1.    Attendance and participation in all class meetings.
2.    Completion of required reading assignments on time.
3.    Short Paper 10%
4.    Class Tests  50%
5.    Term Paper 40%

Format: Lecture

 Description: TBA

Texts: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Lecture

 Description: The objective is to master basic communication in Modern Hebrew language. Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of basic structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and compositions will be assigned regularly, in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language. 

Texts: Shlomit Chayat et al. Hebrew from Scratch, Part I + CD

Evaluation: 
48% - 4  Class Tests (6%, 10%, 14%, 18%)
12% - Quizzes
12% - 2 In-Class Essays 
14% - Compositions 
10% - Oral Presentation
4% - Class Participation 

Format: Lecture

 Description: This course offers an introductory survey of classical Jewish philosophy from the 10th to the 17th century. The Jewish philosophers we will discuss are Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Shem Tov Falaquera, Joseph Albo, and Spinoza. Because classical Jewish philosophy took shape within Islamic culture, we will also read a text by the Muslim thinker al-Ghazâlî to familiarize ourselves with this intellectual setting. We will focus on core issues that these philosophers grappled with, for example God’s existence and nature, the creation of the world, divine providence, prophecy, the Law of Moses, the good life, and human perfection. We will also ask how these philosophers justified the study of pagan and Muslim thinkers, for example Plato, Aristotle, and alFarabi, how they integrated philosophy into the Jewish tradition, and how they proposed to resolve tensions between philosophical and Jewish views (Aristotle’s God, for example, is pure mind without a body or emotions, whereas the Bible often depicts God as having human form and human feelings). We will end the class with selections from Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise in which Spinoza calls into question the foundational assumption of classical Jewish philosophy: the harmony of true philosophy and the Jewish tradition.

Texts: 
1. Shem Tov Falquera, The Epistle of the Debate.
2. Medieval Jewish Philosophical Writings, ed. Charles Manekin.
3. All other texts will be either included in a course pack or be made available on MyCourses.

Evaluation: 
A. Attendance and focused participation in all meetings. Attendance is mandatory (15%).
B. 2 quizzes to test whether you are reading the texts attentively (2 x 5% = 10%).
C. 3 short papers of ca. 700 words explaining concisely a core passage or argument in a primary text (3 x 15% = 45%)
D. 1 final paper of ca. 1400 words engaging with a core issue from the class in greater depth (30%). The final paper must compare two of the thinkers we discussed in class. 

Format: Seminar

 Description: An introduction to Yiddish, the millennium-old language of Ashkenazic Jews. This course will cover the fundamentals of Yiddish grammar and vocabulary and will include practice in speaking, reading, and writing. The course materials draw on Yiddish literature, songs, and films, allowing students to combine the acquisition of practical language skills with an exploration of Yiddish culture—from its beginnings in medieval Germany through its past and present in Central and Eastern Europe, the Americas, Israel, and all over the world. An important component of the course is the opportunity students will have to pursue Yiddish-related artistic or research projects (individually or in small groups), combining exploration of Yiddish with creative writing, translation, acting, filmmaking, religion, anthropology, history, painting, and journalism, to name just some of the options.

Texts: Course Pack; online resources.

Evaluation: 
Attendance and Homework (40%)
In-Class Quizzes (20%)
Final Project (20%)
Final Exam (20%)

Format: Language Course

 Description: This course will survey the history of Jews in Poland from the beginnings of Jewish settlement to the present. The course will include analyses of primary sources (in translation) related to the social, economic and institutional history of the Jews in Poland and their place in the East European Jewish community. Topics include: Jews during "The Flood'' (1648 - 1667), the Frankist movement and Hasidism, and the last European “expulsion of the Jews” in 1968.

Texts: Coursepack and assigned online readings

Evaluation: 
1.    Attendance and participation in all class meetings.
2.    Completion of required reading assignments on time.
3.    3 Book Reviews: 60%
4.    Class Tests:  40%

Format: Lecture

 Description: This course will explore the world of Jewish-themed documentary films. We will see how filmmakers in Canada, the US, Europe and Israel have used the lived reality of Jewish experience as a canvas for their documentary explorations. We will examine how Jewish identity is depicted across a wide spectrum of perspectives – related to variations in religious and national affiliations, cultural experience, the attachment to Israel, the connection to the Holocaust and the politics of gender and sexual orientation. We will try to understand how documentary films as “the creative treatment of actuality” function as an interface between reality “out there” and the original, personal perspectives of filmmakers. Students are encouraged to developed individual responses to the films as triggers for personal explorations of identity, Jewish or otherwise.

Texts: Course pack (available at McGill Bookstore)

Films: The Lady in No. 6 / Bonjour! Shalom! / Jews and Money Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream Night and Fog / Dark Lullabies / Baghdad Twist Trembling before G-d / Waltz with Bashir Promises / The “Socalled” Movie

Evaluation: 6 film reflections 500-750 words each 60% Final Paper 2500 - 3000 words 25% Class participation / Presentation 15%

Format: Seminar

 Description: The objective is to master communication in Modern Hebrew language.

Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of basic structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and article analysis will be assigned in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language and the diversity of the Israeli society.

Texts: Shlomit Chayat et al. Hebrew from Scratch, Part I + CD

Evaluation: 

48% - 4 Class Tests (6%, 10%, 14%, 18%)
12% - Quizzes
12% - 2 In-Class Essays
10% - Compositions
10% - Oral Presentation
​8% - Class Participation

Format: Seminar

 Description: This course will examine the first comprehensive philosophical interpretation of Judaism, worked out by Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE). Philo is the most important Jewish philosopher in Antiquity; his work in many ways represents the culmination of the encounter between Greek culture and the Jewish religious tradition. As a philosopher, Philo is primarily a student of Plato. We will first discuss Plato's views on God, the world's creation and order, love, the good life, and the just state. Then we will look at how Philo uses the Platonic conceptual framework to explain a wide range of central Jewish themes: God, creation, revelation, prophecy, divine laws, providence, free will, good and evil, reward and punishment, and salvation.

Philo wrote few philosophical works in the technical sense. Most of his writings are commentaries on the Law of Moses. We will, therefore, also examine the method he uses for his philosophical interpretation of Judaism. How does allegorical exegesis of scripture work, and what are its presuppositions?

Finally, we will discuss the nature of the encounter between Plato and Judaism in Philo’s work: Is his philosophy no more than Platonism in a Jewish garb? Did he modify philosophical concepts in order to accommodate religious doctrines? Did his Jewish commitments motivate him to ask questions that did not occur to Plato and other Greek philosophers?

We will read portions of Plato’s Timaeus, Symposium, Republic, and Laws. Then we turn to Philo’s The Contemplative Life and The Giants, and to a substantial selection from his philosophical commentaries.

Texts: 
1. Philo of Alexandria – The Contemplative Life, The Giants, And Selections, Eng. trans. David Winston, Ramsey: The Paulist Press, 1981.
2. Plato, Timaeus, Symposium, Republic, Laws.
3. Other materials will be made available on MyCourses.

Evaluation: 
1. Active course participation: 20%
2. One presentation: 20%
3. Short paper: 20%
4. Final comparative paper on a theme in Plato and Philo: 40%

Format: Seminar

 Description: The objective is to communicate on familiar topics in Modern Hebrew language. Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of the advanced structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and compositions will be assigned regularly, in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language.

Texts: Edna Amir Coffin. Lessons in Modern Hebrew: Level II (2) Publisher: University of Michigan Press 

Recommended Text: Hebrew Dictionary (Oxford, Eng-Heb, Heb-Eng Dictionary, Kernerman – Lonnie Kahn)

Evaluation: 
48% - 4 Class Tests (6%, 10%, 14%, 18%)
12% - Quizzes
12% - 2 In-Class Essays
14% - Compositions 
10% - Oral Presentation
4% - Class Participation 

Format: Seminar

 Description: The celebration of post-World War II Jewish fiction in America was based mainly on the fiction of Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth. However, the bestselling novels about WWII by American Jewish writers appeared between 1948-to 61. These novels have been neglected for various reasons but have been re appraised recently as important in contributing to the ways in which Americans understood themselves as American and as Jews, Of the now forgotten novels, three of the most important were: Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny, and Joseph Heller’s Catch 22. Despite their middle brow status these novels focus on the Jewish soldier and it was through the lens of the Jewish soldier that the writers brought the story of the WAR to their mainstream audiences,  As a central trope in the post War era, the focus on the Jewish soldier was different than the later focus on the Jewish survivor of the Shoah.

In this course in addition to analyzing the previously mentioned novels we will analyze three “mainstream” texts which focus on the impact of the Holocaust on the lives of the characters. We will draw attention to the ways in which the difference settings, the focus on development of character and theme offer a new and different understanding of the American Jewish response to WWII.

Texts: 
Norman Mailer The Naked and the Dead
Herman Wouk The Caine Mutiny
Joseph Heller Catch 22
Saul Bellow The Dangling Man
Marge Piercy Gone to Soldiers
Philip Roth Defender of the Faith and other stories

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Seminar

 Description: An introduction to the idea of liberty from the Bible to modern times. Texts will include biblical, rabbinic, and ancient Greek and modern philosophical texts, from Isaiah to Isaiah Berlin, but chiefly literary works highlighting the importance of liberty by describing its absence.

Texts: 
Dostoyevsky, In the House of the Dead; Kafka, The Trial; Primo Levi, If This Is a Man (Survival in Auschwitz); and Solzhenitsyn,A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Evaluation: Grades will be based on four in-class exams, each consisting of an essay and commentaries on class texts, and a long essay relating to the course text by Isaiah Berlin, Liberty (ed. H. Hardy, 2002)

Format: Seminar

 Description: The three great traditions of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish philosophy did not develop in splendid isolation, but often dynamically interacted with one another. This course will deal with two examples of Jewish-Christian philosophical interaction, one from the ancient world (Philo and Origen on the Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture) and one from the twentieth century (Karl Barth and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik on the Two Creation Stories as a Source for a Religious Anthropology), and two examples of Jewish-Muslim philosophical interaction from the Middle Ages (Ghazali and Judah Halevi on Philosophy and Prophecy, and Maimonides and Averroes on Philosophy and the Divine Law). The course seeks to shed light on the convergences and divergences between these three great Abrahamic religions by focusing on the central issue of the relationship—and tension--between reason and revealed religion. We will be reading mostly primary texts in translation, with some secondary literature for background.

Texts: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Seminar

 Description: The modern period, starting in the eighteenth century, brought with it far-reaching intellectual, cultural, social, and political developments across Europe and beyond. How did Jews interpret these new concepts? Which of them did they embrace and adapt to, in order to correspond with their modern Jewish identities? Some of the topics covered are the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), new Jewish religious movements, and the rise of modern Jewish politics. We will examine each of them by studying their conceptual framework, but we will also look at these ideologies as imagined and lived practices. Beyond focusing on the pivotal figures behind these movements, such as Moses Mendelssohn, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Vladimir Medem, and Theodor Herzl, this course will address the significant and often overlooked Jewish women, including The Maiden of Ludmir, Rosa Luxemburg, Sarah Schenirer, and Puah Rakovsky.

Texts: 
John Efron, et. al., The Jews: A History 3rd edition
Course Reader

Evaluation: 
Attendance and participation 15%                                                                                    
Primary Source Analysis  (3-4 pg.) 25%
Research Essay 30%
Final Exam 30%                 

Format: Seminar

 Description: The aim of this course is to expose students to the various aspects of contemporary Israeli society and culture through films, music and other media, as well as academic, journalistic, literary, art historical and dramatic texts (all texts are in Hebrew).

Texts: Hebrew Dictionary

Evaluation: 
40% - Essay (1500 words min.)
30% - 2 In-Class Essays 
15% - 2 quizzes
10% - Text Preparation Assignments (to be marked at random)
5% - Class Participation and presentation

Format: Seminar

 Description: This course is designed for students who have taken Introductory Yiddish 1 and 2, or have a comparable command of Yiddish from elsewhere, and wish to improve their knowledge of the language and to further explore the culture behind it. Further development of speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills, with a particular emphasis on expanding vocabulary and mastering grammar. Drawing inspiration from Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, who in his Nobel Lecture described Yiddish as "the wise and humble language of us all, the idiom of frightened and hopeful humanity [which possesses] treasures that have not been revealed to the eyes of the world,” this course introduces students to selections from Yiddish literature, songs, and films of Jewish life past and present. An important component of this course is the opportunity students will have to pursue Yiddish-related artistic or research projects (individually or in small groups), combining exploration of Yiddish with creative writing, translation, acting, filmmaking, religion, anthropology, history, painting, and journalism, to name just some of the options. With questions about the expected prior knowledge, please email the instructor.

Texts: Course Pack; online resources.

Evaluation: 
Attendance and Homework (40%)
In-Class Quizzes (20%)
Final Project (20%)
Final Exam (20%)

Format: Seminar

 Description: Drawing attention to portrayals of class, gender, race and notions of “Jewishness” in novels by Jewish authors in America from the 1930s to the end of the 20^th century, we will attempt in this course to confirm or call into question the claim that America is or was different from its old-world roots. Beginning with a focus on the immigrant experience and moving through what was called “the renaissance” of Jewish writing in America, we will read novels by prominent authors whose works received widespread critical attention for their special contribution to Jewish and American cultures.

Writers to be included: Sholem Asch, Henry Roth, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Philip Roth, Grace Paley, Allegra Goodman

Texts: TBA

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Seminar

 Description: This course exposes graduate and advanced undergraduate students to resources and practical problems related to key theoretical debates and research questions in the broad field of Jewish Studies. Each week we will read an article or book chapter by different members of our local scholarly community whose work intersects with Jewish Studies. We will interview each of these scholars about their work with the goal of assessing how and why this research can be contextualized differently if pursued within the field of Jewish Studies versus other alternative cultural and methodological disciplines. What do we gain or lose by conducting research within one methodological or cultural context rather than another? What tools are needed to conduct research specifically in Jewish Studies? What differentiates, too, the scholarly endeavors grouped under the umbrella of Jewish Studies--history, literature, philosophy, Bible, Jewish thought, and so on? We shall be exposed in this class to cutting edge research in all of these fields, and will try to respond with a deeper articulation of what it means to work within the field of Jewish Studies.

Texts: 
Weekly readings to be posted on MyCourses
Responses to weekly readings (aprox. 500 words per response)
15-20 page final paper (“What does it mean to do Jewish Studies?”)

Evaluation: TBA

Format: Seminar