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Major Concentration Jewish Studies (36 credits)

Offered by: Jewish Studies     Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Program Requirements

In order to permit students flexibility within their chosen area, all courses in the Jewish Studies concentrations are placed into the category "Complementary Courses".

Complementary Courses (36 credits)

36 credits in Jewish Studies of which 24 are normally taken at the 300 level or above, selected as described below. Consultation with an adviser is strongly recommended.

Jewish History

6 credits (minimum) in the history of Jewish civilization to be chosen from:

  • HIST 194 FYS: Jewish Concepts of Others (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A survey, using translated primary and selected secondary sources, of the ways in which Jews represented Christians from late antiquity to the present. Legal, liturgical, literary and other sources are examined with the focus on the Medieval and Early Modern periods.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restriction: Open only to newly admitted students in U0 or U1, who may take only one FYS. Students who register for more than one will be obliged to withdraw from all but one of them.

    • Maximum 25 students.

    • For first year students only.

  • HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : An overview of Jewish history from the period of Ezra and Nehemiah to the death of Hai Gaon, c. 1035. Focus on the experience of the Jews in Hellenistic and Islamic civilizations. Topics include Jewish sects, rabbinic literature in its various genres, the Karaite schism, and the rise of the Gaonate.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken JWST 216

  • HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 211 Jewish Studies 1: Biblical Period (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and beliefs of Judaism's formative period. Both Biblical and non-Biblical materials will be studied. The Bible in the context of cognate literatures of the Ancient Near East; non-Biblical documents will be analysed for their bearing on the Jewish tradition.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and intellectual developments in Judaism during late antiquity. Special emphasis will be placed on rabbinic literature e.g. Babylonian Talmud, Palestinian Talmud, the midrashim both as literary works and for the light they shed on the events and ideologies of the period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Jewish Language

6 credits reflecting an advanced level of competence in either Hebrew or Yiddish chosen from the following:

  • JWST 327 A Book of the Bible (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : One book of the Bible will be studied in its entirety in Hebrew. Emphasis on the contributions of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (archaeology, comparative literature and Semitic linguistics) to understanding the text.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 330 Topics in the Hebrew Bible (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A selected topic of current interest in the Hebrew Bible will be studied in depth. Emphasis on the contributions of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (archaeology, comparative literature, and Semitic linguistics) to understanding the text. Students may read the text in Hebrew or in translation.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 340D1 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Language acquisition - advanced Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 340D2 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : See JWST 340D1 for course description.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 367 Hebrew through Israeli Cinema (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An opportunity to analyze Israeli cinema from different periods, spanning 1948 to the present. While participating primarily in Hebrew with some assignments in English, students in this course will be invited to engage actively with the social, political, psychological and aesthetic dimensions of these films.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Fall

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 368 A Taste of Hebrew Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to short literary forms in Hebrew from the mid-20th Century to the present. Short stories and poems will be discussed in terms of their literary qualities, as well as in relation to their cultural, social, political and historical contexts with the ultimate aim of fostering an improved ability to read, write and speak in Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Winter

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This class is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 369 History of the Hebrew Language (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An exploration of the evolution of the Hebrew language from Biblical texts to contemporary Israeli slang, including Rabbinical commentary, Medieval hymns, poetry by Jewish authors of the Islamic world, Haskalah literature in the modern Jewish Enlightenment, and contemporary texts to showcase the revival of a spoken Hebrew after 2000 years in exile. Linguistic patterns, literary structures and vocabulary.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Fall

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 370 Israeli Popular Culture (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Israel's multifaceted contemporary culture including music, theatre and the visual arts, as well as stand-up comedy, dance, film and TV series, and contemporary Israeli society.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Winter

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

Areas of Jewish Studies

24 credits in Jewish Studies of which at least 12 are devoted to a single area of study: Biblical Studies, East European Studies, Jewish History, Jewish Thought, Literature (Hebrew, Yiddish), Modern Jewish Studies, and Rabbinic Studies.

Students without the background necessary to complete the advanced language requirement may substitute up to 12 credits in language.

Note: Hebrew language courses are found listed under the heading "Language and Literature - Hebrew", and Yiddish language courses are found under the heading "Language and Literature - Yiddish" in the areas of study lists below.

Biblical Studies

  • JWST 211 Jewish Studies 1: Biblical Period (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and beliefs of Judaism's formative period. Both Biblical and non-Biblical materials will be studied. The Bible in the context of cognate literatures of the Ancient Near East; non-Biblical documents will be analysed for their bearing on the Jewish tradition.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 310 Believers, Heretics and Critics (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Issues in the development of Biblical interpretation based on classical Jewish thought, heretical Jewish doctrines and contemporary Biblical criticism.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 327 A Book of the Bible (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : One book of the Bible will be studied in its entirety in Hebrew. Emphasis on the contributions of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (archaeology, comparative literature and Semitic linguistics) to understanding the text.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 330 Topics in the Hebrew Bible (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A selected topic of current interest in the Hebrew Bible will be studied in depth. Emphasis on the contributions of Ancient Near Eastern Studies (archaeology, comparative literature, and Semitic linguistics) to understanding the text. Students may read the text in Hebrew or in translation.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 510 Jewish Bible Interpretation 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The issues, approaches, and texts of Jewish Bible interpretation between the Biblical and Talmudic eras: Bible interpretation in the Bible; in Greco-Roman Jewish literature; in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Targumim, and Talmudim; early Samaritan interpretation, Bible interpretation in ancient synagogue art, and in the massoretic literature.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 511 Jewish Bible Interpretation 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The issues, problems, approaches, and texts of Jewish Bible interpretation in medieval, renaissance, early modern, and modern times. Interpretation in the Geonic, Ashkenazi, Sefardic, North African, Italian, European, Yemenite, North American and Israeli centres of Jewish Learning.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 520 Bible Interpretation in Antiquity (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Studies in bible interpretation in Antiquity.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 538 Early Rabbinic Parshanut 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Advanced level work on one aspect of Jewish Bible interpretation in late antiquity.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 581 Aramaic Language (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A study of the Aramaic language.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • RELG 307 Bible, Quran and Interpretations (3 credits)

    Offered by: Religious Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Religious Studies : Jewish, Christian and Muslim scriptures as responses to earlier sacred texts and in the light of post-scriptural interpretations. The debates, polemics, interpretative strategies, and intellectual and spiritual sharing produced by these three religions in accepting, explaining, amplifying, modifying, and selectively rejecting their and other sacred scriptures.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Winter

East European Studies

  • HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : 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: the Jews during "The Flood'' (1648 - 1667), the communal crisis of the late 17th century, the Frankist movement, and Hasidism.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A historical examination of the history of the Hasidic Movement from its beginnings in 18th-century Poland to the present. Although emphasis will be placed on the social history of the movement, doctrinal developments will be examined as well.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 307 or a course in East-European history or consent of instructor

  • JWST 206 Introduction to Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A survey of Yiddish literature with a particular focus on the modern period (the 1860s to the present). As we read major works of Yiddish literature, 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. In his Nobel lecture, Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer described Yiddish as “the idiom of the frightened and hopeful humanity.” We will explore both the reasons behind and the effects of such universalization of Yiddish language, literature, and culture.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Within a comparative framework, this course examines cultural, thematic and artistic developments in the works of modern Jewish literature written in both Jewish and non-Jewish languages. For those without reading knowledge of the original, all works are available in English translation.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Using historical, sociological, literary and cultural sources, this course will examine various aspects of communal and individual life in the shtetl, the Jewish - or largely Jewish - town in Eastern Europe.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The rise and development of the various ideologies which attempt to define the Jews in historical, national and socio-cultural terms will be analyzed within the context of modern European nationalism. Selected texts of the Jewish Enlightenment, Science of Judaism, Peretz Smolenskin, Leon Pinsker, Simon Dubnow, Chaim Zhitlowsky and Ahad Ha-Am.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An examination of the development of the Zionist idea, the most influential expression of modern Jewish nationalism, which led to the creation of the Jewish state. The transformation of elements of traditional Jewish messianism into a modern political ideology. Hibbat Zion, Political Zionism, Cultural and Synthetic Zionism will be discussed.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 381 God and Devil in Modern Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An exploration of some of the central themes in Yiddish literature: religious faith and doubt; the nature of good and evil; and the role of fear - both awe of the divine and terror of the demonic. We will discuss Yiddish writers’ use of East European Jewish folklore, the influence of Christian culture, as well as the effects of secularization, mass emigration, and the Holocaust. Readings will include works by major Yiddish writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including I. L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Readings from Holocaust literature in English translation. Writers include Primo Levi, Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Dan Pagis, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, U.Z. Greenberg and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to the work of various modern 'national poets' - i.e. poets closely linked to national movements who expressed (or constructed) a particular national identity and whose work has lasting artistic value. These will include Mickiewicz of Poland, Tagore of India, Yeats of Ireland, and Bialik of pre-state Israel.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 485 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in Yiddish literature.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 486 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in Yiddish literature.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 585 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in East European studies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 586 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Indivisualized guided research on an approved topec in East European studies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Jewish History

  • HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : An overview of Jewish history from the period of Ezra and Nehemiah to the death of Hai Gaon, c. 1035. Focus on the experience of the Jews in Hellenistic and Islamic civilizations. Topics include Jewish sects, rabbinic literature in its various genres, the Karaite schism, and the rise of the Gaonate.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken JWST 216

  • HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : 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: the Jews during "The Flood'' (1648 - 1667), the communal crisis of the late 17th century, the Frankist movement, and Hasidism.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A historical examination of the history of the Hasidic Movement from its beginnings in 18th-century Poland to the present. Although emphasis will be placed on the social history of the movement, doctrinal developments will be examined as well.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 307 or a course in East-European history or consent of instructor

  • HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 572D1

    • No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms

  • JWST 211 Jewish Studies 1: Biblical Period (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and beliefs of Judaism's formative period. Both Biblical and non-Biblical materials will be studied. The Bible in the context of cognate literatures of the Ancient Near East; non-Biblical documents will be analysed for their bearing on the Jewish tradition.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and intellectual developments in Judaism during late antiquity. Special emphasis will be placed on rabbinic literature e.g. Babylonian Talmud, Palestinian Talmud, the midrashim both as literary works and for the light they shed on the events and ideologies of the period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 306 The American Jewish Community (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Issues affecting American Jewry in the post-World War I era until today and the American Jewish community's responses to those issues. Special emphasis on understanding the community responses and reactions to developments in both the American society and in the Jewish world.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 314 Denominations in North American Judaism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A survey of Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism in North America. Emphasis is placed on the ideology forwarded by the movements since their inception.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 315 Modern Liberal Jewish Thought (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The work of Mordecai Kaplan, followed by a study of several contemporary authors following feminist, mystical and postmodernist tendencies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Using historical, sociological, literary and cultural sources, this course will examine various aspects of communal and individual life in the shtetl, the Jewish - or largely Jewish - town in Eastern Europe.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The rise and development of the various ideologies which attempt to define the Jews in historical, national and socio-cultural terms will be analyzed within the context of modern European nationalism. Selected texts of the Jewish Enlightenment, Science of Judaism, Peretz Smolenskin, Leon Pinsker, Simon Dubnow, Chaim Zhitlowsky and Ahad Ha-Am.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An examination of the development of the Zionist idea, the most influential expression of modern Jewish nationalism, which led to the creation of the Jewish state. The transformation of elements of traditional Jewish messianism into a modern political ideology. Hibbat Zion, Political Zionism, Cultural and Synthetic Zionism will be discussed.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Jewish Thought

  • EDER 318 Teaching the Jewish Liturgy (3 credits)

    Offered by: Integrated Studies in Ed (Faculty of Education)

    Overview

    Religious Studies : An examination of curriculum developed for teaching prayer and fostering spirituality within Jewish educational frameworks. Excerpts from the liturgy of the Jewish people are studied with an emphasis on the theological, moral, and philosophical issues that they raise.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken EDER 407.

  • HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : An overview of Jewish history from the period of Ezra and Nehemiah to the death of Hai Gaon, c. 1035. Focus on the experience of the Jews in Hellenistic and Islamic civilizations. Topics include Jewish sects, rabbinic literature in its various genres, the Karaite schism, and the rise of the Gaonate.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken JWST 216

  • HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A historical examination of the history of the Hasidic Movement from its beginnings in 18th-century Poland to the present. Although emphasis will be placed on the social history of the movement, doctrinal developments will be examined as well.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 307 or a course in East-European history or consent of instructor

  • JWST 201 Jewish Law (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The nature and history of Jewish law; literary and legal sources; selections in English from the Mishnah and Talmud, as well as selected post-Talmudic Texts, on such subjects as Contracts, Torts, Public Law and Family Law.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The history, literature and intellectual developments in Judaism during late antiquity. Special emphasis will be placed on rabbinic literature e.g. Babylonian Talmud, Palestinian Talmud, the midrashim both as literary works and for the light they shed on the events and ideologies of the period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 261 History of Jewish Philosophy and Thought (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to Jewish philosophy and thought from the Hellenistic period (Philo) to the beginning of the modern era (Spinoza) focusing on topics such as prophecy and philosophy, God and the world; the Law as a canon of ethical rules and as a political constitution. Survey of the treatment of such issues by Jewish thinkers from Philo to Maimonides.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 310 Believers, Heretics and Critics (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Issues in the development of Biblical interpretation based on classical Jewish thought, heretical Jewish doctrines and contemporary Biblical criticism.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 314 Denominations in North American Judaism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A survey of Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism in North America. Emphasis is placed on the ideology forwarded by the movements since their inception.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 315 Modern Liberal Jewish Thought (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The work of Mordecai Kaplan, followed by a study of several contemporary authors following feminist, mystical and postmodernist tendencies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 337 Jewish Philosophy and Thought 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Focuses on either a period, a current of thought or the work of a thinker in the history of Jewish thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, paying particular attention to the relationship of Jewish thinkers to intellectual trends in their respective cultural contexts. Contemporary Muslim and Christian theologians and philosophers.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 338 Jewish Philosophy and Thought 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Focuses on either a period, a current of thought or the work of a thinker in the history of Jewish thought from the Middle Ages to Modern Times, paying particular attention to the relationship of Jewish thinkers to intellectual trends in their respective cultural contexts. themes and concerns of Jewish theology and on Jewish responses to contemporary trends in European thought.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 358 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 359 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The rise and development of the various ideologies which attempt to define the Jews in historical, national and socio-cultural terms will be analyzed within the context of modern European nationalism. Selected texts of the Jewish Enlightenment, Science of Judaism, Peretz Smolenskin, Leon Pinsker, Simon Dubnow, Chaim Zhitlowsky and Ahad Ha-Am.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An examination of the development of the Zionist idea, the most influential expression of modern Jewish nationalism, which led to the creation of the Jewish state. The transformation of elements of traditional Jewish messianism into a modern political ideology. Hibbat Zion, Political Zionism, Cultural and Synthetic Zionism will be discussed.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 474 Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Study of the Moses Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, including such subjects as idolatry, repentance, and sacrifices, to torts, contracts, and public law.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 558 Topics: Modern Jewish Thought (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Studies of topics in Modern Jewish thought. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Language and Literature - Hebrew

  • JWST 199 FYS: Images - Jewish Identities (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A seminar devoted to literary portrayals of Jews by Jews and non-Jews from Biblical times to the present. Both positive and negative understandings of Jewish identity and Judaism will be studied.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Restriction: Open only to newly admitted students in U0 or U1, who may take only one FYS. Students who register for more than one will be obliged to withdraw from all but one of them.

    • Maximum enrolment 25

  • JWST 220D1 Introductory Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Language acquisition - introductory Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 220D2 Introductory Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : See JWST 220D1 for course description.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 225 Literature and Society (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A panoramic analysis of Israeli society through poetry, fiction, essays, interviews and testimonial narratives reflecting the country's historical, ideological and ethnic complexity. In English translation, we will read Oz, Amichai, Habibi, Har-Even and Yehoshua, as well as new authors from divergent ethnic, religious and ideological positions.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 300 Charisma and Social Change (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to charismatic phenomena in politics, religion and the media, and interpretation of them, from the ancient prophets to the modern period. Particular attention will be given to charisma as a general force for social change and also the lives of individuals such as Lenin, Krishnamurti and Chaplin.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 320D1 Intermediate Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : This course is designed to integrate students at various levels into one group with the aim of improving their basic language skills and preparing them for advanced Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 320D2 Intermediate Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : See JWST 320D1 for course description.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 323 The Israeli Novel (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : In-depth examination of selected Israeli novels written during the past fifty years of national formation and consolidation. Authors may include Agnon, Yehoshua, Oz, Shabtai, Shalev and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 325 Israeli Literature in Translation (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Survey of contemporary Israeli fiction that reflects Israel's cultural, political, and historical concerns. Authors may include Yehoshua, Oz, Librecht, Michael, Shamir, Castel-Bloom, and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 340D1 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Language acquisition - advanced Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 340D2 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : See JWST 340D1 for course description.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 367 Hebrew through Israeli Cinema (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An opportunity to analyze Israeli cinema from different periods, spanning 1948 to the present. While participating primarily in Hebrew with some assignments in English, students in this course will be invited to engage actively with the social, political, psychological and aesthetic dimensions of these films.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Fall

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 368 A Taste of Hebrew Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to short literary forms in Hebrew from the mid-20th Century to the present. Short stories and poems will be discussed in terms of their literary qualities, as well as in relation to their cultural, social, political and historical contexts with the ultimate aim of fostering an improved ability to read, write and speak in Hebrew.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Winter

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This class is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 369 History of the Hebrew Language (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An exploration of the evolution of the Hebrew language from Biblical texts to contemporary Israeli slang, including Rabbinical commentary, Medieval hymns, poetry by Jewish authors of the Islamic world, Haskalah literature in the modern Jewish Enlightenment, and contemporary texts to showcase the revival of a spoken Hebrew after 2000 years in exile. Linguistic patterns, literary structures and vocabulary.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Fall

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 370 Israeli Popular Culture (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Israel's multifaceted contemporary culture including music, theatre and the visual arts, as well as stand-up comedy, dance, film and TV series, and contemporary Israeli society.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • For detailed course content go to www.mcgill.ca/jewishstudies/undergraduates.

    • Winter

    • Prerequisite: JWST 340 or permission of instructor

    • This course is conducted at an advanced level of Hebrew. Please contact the instructor to assess your language proficiency.

  • JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Readings from Holocaust literature in English translation. Writers include Primo Levi, Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Dan Pagis, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, U.Z. Greenberg and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 403 Contemporary Hebrew Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Israeli literature in its original language with emphasis on in-depth literary analysis. Texts read in Hebrew; assignments may be written in English.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: Proficiency in Hebrew.

  • JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to the work of various modern 'national poets' - i.e. poets closely linked to national movements who expressed (or constructed) a particular national identity and whose work has lasting artistic value. These will include Mickiewicz of Poland, Tagore of India, Yeats of Ireland, and Bialik of pre-state Israel.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Language and Literature - Yiddish

  • JWST 206 Introduction to Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : A survey of Yiddish literature with a particular focus on the modern period (the 1860s to the present). As we read major works of Yiddish literature, 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. In his Nobel lecture, Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer described Yiddish as “the idiom of the frightened and hopeful humanity.” We will explore both the reasons behind and the effects of such universalization of Yiddish language, literature, and culture.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 281 Introductory Yiddish 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to Yiddish, the millennium-old language of Ashkenazic Jews. This course will cover basic grammar and vocabulary and will include practice in speaking, reading, and writing. The course materials draw on Yiddish literature, humor, songs, and films, and will thus allow 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.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 282 Introductory Yiddish 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : This course is designed for students with a basic command of Yiddish who wish to improve their knowledge of the language and to further explore the culture behind it. Further development of the four language skills - speaking, reading, writing, and listening - with a particular emphasis on expanding vocabulary and improving grammar. Basic overview of the main Yiddish dialects. Course materials include selections from Yiddish literature, humor, songs, and films of Jewish life past and present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Within a comparative framework, this course examines cultural, thematic and artistic developments in the works of modern Jewish literature written in both Jewish and non-Jewish languages. For those without reading knowledge of the original, all works are available in English translation.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Using historical, sociological, literary and cultural sources, this course will examine various aspects of communal and individual life in the shtetl, the Jewish - or largely Jewish - town in Eastern Europe.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 381 God and Devil in Modern Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An exploration of some of the central themes in Yiddish literature: religious faith and doubt; the nature of good and evil; and the role of fear - both awe of the divine and terror of the demonic. We will discuss Yiddish writers’ use of East European Jewish folklore, the influence of Christian culture, as well as the effects of secularization, mass emigration, and the Holocaust. Readings will include works by major Yiddish writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including I. L. Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Readings from Holocaust literature in English translation. Writers include Primo Levi, Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Dan Pagis, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, U.Z. Greenberg and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 387 Modern Jewish Authors (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Introduction to representative novels written in America by Jews from the 1950s to the present. Issues of Jewish identity, ethnicity will inform our discussions. Focus on contemporary Jewish authors; consideration of the ways in which the complexities of American life are re-scripted in these novels.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 480 Advanced Yiddish 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Development of advanced Yiddish language skills in conversation and discussion, composition, and oral presentation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the reading and paraphrasing of a variety of literary texts.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 481 Advanced Yiddish 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Additional development of advanced Yiddish language skills in conversation and discussion, composition, and oral presentation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the reading and paraphrasing of a variety of literary texts.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 485 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in Yiddish literature.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 486 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in Yiddish literature.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 530 Topics in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Supervised research in Yiddish literature. Work will focus on one genre, literary school or author.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Modern Jewish Studies

  • EDER 319 Teaching the Holocaust (3 credits)

    Offered by: Integrated Studies in Ed (Faculty of Education)

    Overview

    Religious Studies : An examination of approaches, strategies, and techniques of teaching the Holocaust, including methodologies for using the Holocaust as a basis for teaching about prejudice, cultural identity, racism, human rights and moral responsibility.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken EDER 421.

  • HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A historical examination of the history of the Hasidic Movement from its beginnings in 18th-century Poland to the present. Although emphasis will be placed on the social history of the movement, doctrinal developments will be examined as well.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 307 or a course in East-European history or consent of instructor

  • HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 572D1

    • No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms

  • JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 309 Jews in Film (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to the portrayal of Jews in film from the 1920s to the present. Films to be studied will usually be based on literary texts in English, which will form part of the required study. Films in languages other than English will be subtitled.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 346 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish Studies. Semesters will be devoted to specific issues and periods of the Jewish Experience since 1500 and the literature produced by Jews during this period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 347 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish Studies. Semesters will be devoted to specific issues and periods of the Jewish Experience since 1500 and the literature produced by Jews during this period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 348 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish Studies. Semesters will be devoted to specific issues and periods of the Jewish Experience since 1500 and the literature produced by Jews during this period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 349 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish Studies. Semesters will be devoted to specific issues and periods of the Jewish Experience since 1500 and the literature produced by Jews during this period.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Within a comparative framework, this course examines cultural, thematic and artistic developments in the works of modern Jewish literature written in both Jewish and non-Jewish languages. For those without reading knowledge of the original, all works are available in English translation.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 359 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Using historical, sociological, literary and cultural sources, this course will examine various aspects of communal and individual life in the shtetl, the Jewish - or largely Jewish - town in Eastern Europe.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : The rise and development of the various ideologies which attempt to define the Jews in historical, national and socio-cultural terms will be analyzed within the context of modern European nationalism. Selected texts of the Jewish Enlightenment, Science of Judaism, Peretz Smolenskin, Leon Pinsker, Simon Dubnow, Chaim Zhitlowsky and Ahad Ha-Am.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An examination of the development of the Zionist idea, the most influential expression of modern Jewish nationalism, which led to the creation of the Jewish state. The transformation of elements of traditional Jewish messianism into a modern political ideology. Hibbat Zion, Political Zionism, Cultural and Synthetic Zionism will be discussed.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Readings from Holocaust literature in English translation. Writers include Primo Levi, Aharon Appelfeld, Elie Wiesel, Dan Pagis, Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs, U.Z. Greenberg and others.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 386 American Jewish Literature (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An intensive study of American Jewish novels from the 1900s to the present. Attention to representations of gender, class and Jewishness as seen in relation to changing notions of America. Focus on ways novels represent and wrestle with Jewish difference.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 387 Modern Jewish Authors (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Introduction to representative novels written in America by Jews from the 1950s to the present. Issues of Jewish identity, ethnicity will inform our discussions. Focus on contemporary Jewish authors; consideration of the ways in which the complexities of American life are re-scripted in these novels.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : An introduction to the work of various modern 'national poets' - i.e. poets closely linked to national movements who expressed (or constructed) a particular national identity and whose work has lasting artistic value. These will include Mickiewicz of Poland, Tagore of India, Yeats of Ireland, and Bialik of pre-state Israel.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 558 Topics: Modern Jewish Thought (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Studies of topics in Modern Jewish thought. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 585 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 1 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Individualized guided research on an approved topic in East European studies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • JWST 586 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 2 (3 credits)

    Offered by: Jewish Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Jewish Studies : Indivisualized guided research on an approved topec in East European studies.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • POLI 347 Arab-Israel Conflict, Crisis, Peace (3 credits)

    Offered by: Political Science (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    Political Science : Concepts - protracted conflict, crisis, war, peace; system, subsystem; Conflict-levels of analysis; historical context; images and issues; attitudes, policies, role of major powers; Crises-Wars - configuration of power; crisis models; decision-making in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 crisis-wars; conflict- crisis management; Peace-Making - pre-1977; Egypt-Israel peace treaty; Madrid, Oslo, Israel-Jordan peace; prospects for conflict resolution.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: 160-243 prior to 1997-98; or POLI 244

    • Note: The field is International Politics.

Rabbinic Studies

Other Department Courses - History

Many of the courses in Jewish Studies are related to other departments, e.g., History, Religious Studies. There are also related courses in other departments which students specializing in certain areas of Jewish Studies might be encouraged to include in their programs, e.g., Classical Greek, Arabic, theories of literature, etc.

The following History department courses may be used as Jewish Studies courses in the Department of Jewish Studies programs. These courses have been included in the areas of study course lists above.

  • HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : An overview of Jewish history from the period of Ezra and Nehemiah to the death of Hai Gaon, c. 1035. Focus on the experience of the Jews in Hellenistic and Islamic civilizations. Topics include Jewish sects, rabbinic literature in its various genres, the Karaite schism, and the rise of the Gaonate.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken JWST 216

  • HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : 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: the Jews during "The Flood'' (1648 - 1667), the communal crisis of the late 17th century, the Frankist movement, and Hasidism.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : A historical examination of the history of the Hasidic Movement from its beginnings in 18th-century Poland to the present. Although emphasis will be placed on the social history of the movement, doctrinal developments will be examined as well.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 307 or a course in East-European history or consent of instructor

  • HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

  • HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)

    Offered by: History and Classical Studies (Faculty of Arts)

    Overview

    History : Seminar in Jewish history. Topic varies by year.

    Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.

    • Prerequisite: HIST 572D1

    • No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms

Faculty of Arts—2024-2025 (last updated Apr. 3, 2024) (disclaimer)
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