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". There is no language requirement for this minor concentration.
This program may be expanded to the Major Concentration Jewish Studies.
Complementary Courses (18 credits)
18 credits in Jewish Studies of which 9 are normally taken at the 300 level or above.
Consultation with an adviser is strongly recommended.
Areas of Jewish Studies
At least 9 credits will normally be taken at an advanced level in a single area or theme (e.g., Biblical Studies, East European Studies, Jewish History, Jewish Thought, Literature (Hebrew, Yiddish), Modern Jewish Studies, and Rabbinic Studies).
Biblical Studies
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JWST 211 Jewish Studies 1: Biblical Period (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Abecassis, Deborah (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 310 Believers, Heretics and Critics (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 327 A Book of the Bible (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Fall
Prerequisite: Knowledge of Hebrew
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JWST 330 Topics in the Hebrew Bible (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Abecassis, Deborah (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 510 Jewish Bible Interpretation 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 512
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JWST 511 Jewish Bible Interpretation 2 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 512
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JWST 520 Bible Interpretation in Antiquity (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 538 Early Rabbinic Parshanut 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 581 Aramaic Language (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Requires Departmental approval
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 506
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RELG 307 Bible, Quran and Interpretations (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Oegema, Gerbern (Fall)
Winter
East European Studies
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HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)
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
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JWST 206 Introduction to Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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鈥檚 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 鈥渢he idiom of the frightened and hopeful humanity.鈥� 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.
For detailed course content go to .
Readings are in English
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JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 252 "The Holocaust"
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JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kopley, Emily (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Recommended: JWST 365
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JWST 381 God and Devil in Modern Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : An exploration of some of the central themes in Yiddish literature: religious faith and doubt途 the nature of good and evil途 and the role of fear - both awe of the divine and terror of the demonic. We will discuss Yiddish writers鈥� 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.
For detailed course content go to .
All readings in English
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JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken this topic under JWST 381
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JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 485 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 486 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 585 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 586 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 2 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Jewish History
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HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)
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
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HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
Overview
History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
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HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)
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
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HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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.
Students must register for both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2
No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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
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JWST 211 Jewish Studies 1: Biblical Period (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Abecassis, Deborah (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts and discussions will be in English
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken HIST 207
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JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 252 "The Holocaust"
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JWST 306 The American Jewish Community (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 314 Denominations in North American Judaism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 315 Modern Liberal Jewish Thought (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Recommended: JWST 365
Jewish Thought
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EDER 318 Teaching the Jewish Liturgy (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)
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
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HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
Overview
History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
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HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)
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
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JWST 201 Jewish Law (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts and discussions will be in English
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken HIST 207
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JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 261 History of Jewish Philosophy and Thought (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Fraenkel, Carlos (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 310 Believers, Heretics and Critics (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 314 Denominations in North American Judaism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 315 Modern Liberal Jewish Thought (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 337 Jewish Philosophy and Thought 1 (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Fraenkel, Carlos (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
Winter
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JWST 338 Jewish Philosophy and Thought 2 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Winter
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JWST 358 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts in English
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JWST 359 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts in English
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JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Recommended: JWST 365
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JWST 474 Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 558 Topics: Modern Jewish Thought (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Language and Literature - Hebrew
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JWST 199 FYS: Images - Jewish Identities (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Silver, Christopher (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
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
Register for AFYR 101/102 and a foundation seminar OR a writing seminar (not both).
Available only to registered participants in the Bachelor of Arts Foundation Year Program Pilot (/arts-foundation-pilot/).
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JWST 220D1 Introductory Hebrew (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Language acquisition - introductory Hebrew.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Fima, Lea; Michaeli, Rina (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Students must register for both JWST 220D1 and JWST 220D2.
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 220D1 and JWST 220D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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JWST 220D2 Introductory Hebrew (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : See JWST 220D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Fima, Lea; Michaeli, Rina (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
Prerequisite: JWST 220D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 220D1 and JWST 220D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
JWST 220D1 and JWST 220D2 together are equivalent to JWST 220
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JWST 225 Literature and Society (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Szendro, Brendan (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 300 Charisma and Social Change (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 320D1 Intermediate Hebrew (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Michaeli, Rina (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Students must register for both JWST 320D1 and JWST 320D2.
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 320D1 and JWST 320D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
JWST 320D1 and JWST 320D2 together are equivalent to JWST 320
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JWST 320D2 Intermediate Hebrew (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : See JWST 320D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Michaeli, Rina (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
Prerequisite: JWST 320D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 320D1 and JWST 320D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
JWST 320D1 and JWST 320D2 together are equivalent to JWST 320
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JWST 323 The Israeli Novel (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 325 Israeli Literature in Translation (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Halevi-Wise, Yael (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 340D1 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Language acquisition - advanced Hebrew.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Fima, Lea (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Prerequisite: JWST 200 or JWST 320 or permission of the Hebrew Language Coordinator
Students must register for both JWST 340D1 and JWST 340D2.
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 340D1 and JWST 340D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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JWST 340D2 Advanced Hebrew (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : See JWST 340D1 for course description.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Fima, Lea (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
Prerequisite: JWST 340D1
No credit will be given for this course unless both JWST 340D1 and JWST 340D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
JWST 340D1 and JWST 340D2 are together equivalent to JWST 340
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JWST 367 Hebrew through Israeli Cinema (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Fima, Lea (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
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.
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JWST 368 A Taste of Hebrew Literature (3 credits)
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 .
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.
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JWST 369 History of the Hebrew Language (3 credits)
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 .
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.
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JWST 370 Israeli Popular Culture (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Fima, Lea (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
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.
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JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken this topic under JWST 381
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JWST 403 Contemporary Hebrew Literature (3 credits)
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.
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JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Language and Literature - Yiddish
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JWST 206 Introduction to Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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鈥檚 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 鈥渢he idiom of the frightened and hopeful humanity.鈥� 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.
For detailed course content go to .
Readings are in English
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JWST 281 Introductory Yiddish 1 (3 credits)
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鈥攆rom its beginnings in medieval Germany through its past and present in Central and Eastern Europe, the Americas, Israel, and all over the world.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Gonshor, Anna (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Summer
Restriction(s):Not open to students who have taken JWST 280, 280D1/D2.
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JWST 282 Introductory Yiddish 2 (3 credits)
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.
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JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kopley, Emily (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 381 God and Devil in Modern Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : An exploration of some of the central themes in Yiddish literature: religious faith and doubt途 the nature of good and evil途 and the role of fear - both awe of the divine and terror of the demonic. We will discuss Yiddish writers鈥� 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.
For detailed course content go to .
All readings in English
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JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken this topic under JWST 381
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JWST 387 Modern Jewish Authors (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 480 Advanced Yiddish 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Fall
Prerequisite: JWST 380 or permission of the instructor
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 480D1 and JWST 480D2
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JWST 481 Advanced Yiddish 2 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Winter
Prerequisite: JWST 380D1 and JWST 380D2; or permission of the instructor.
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 480D1 and JWST 480D2
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JWST 485 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 486 Tutorial in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 530 Topics in Yiddish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Modern Jewish Studies
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EDER 319 Teaching the Holocaust (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
Overview
History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
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HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)
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
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HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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.
Students must register for both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2
No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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
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JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 240 The Holocaust (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Consideration of the history of the Holocaust and the literary, theological and cultural responses to the destruction of European Jewry.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken JWST 252 "The Holocaust"
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JWST 309 Jews in Film (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Beitel, Garry (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 346 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 347 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 348 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Halevi-Wise, Yael (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 349 Modern Jewish Studies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 351 Studies in Modern Jewish Literature (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kopley, Emily (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 359 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts in English
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JWST 361 The Shtetl: 1500-1897 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 365 Modern Jewish Ideologies (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 366 History of Zionism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Recommended: JWST 365
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JWST 383 Holocaust Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken this topic under JWST 381
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JWST 386 American Jewish Literature (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
Readings in English
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JWST 387 Modern Jewish Authors (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 445 The Poetry of Nationalism (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 558 Topics: Modern Jewish Thought (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 585 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 586 Tutorial: Eastern European Studies 2 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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POLI 347 Arab-Israel Conflict, Crisis, Peace (3 credits)
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: Fall 2024
Instructors: Douek, Daniel (Fall)
Rabbinic Studies
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HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)
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
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HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
Overview
History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
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JWST 201 Jewish Law (3 credits)
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: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 216 Jewish Studies 2: 400 B.C.E. - 1000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts and discussions will be in English
Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken HIST 207
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JWST 217 Jewish Studies 3: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts will be read in English
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JWST 316 Social and Ethical Issues Jewish Law 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : A brief introduction to the nature and history of Jewish law. Topics include: redemption of hostages; abortion; death and dying.
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 .
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JWST 345 Introduction to Rabbinic Literature (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : An introduction to the study of Rabbinic texts.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Fall)
For detailed course content go to .
All readings in English
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JWST 358 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
All texts in English
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JWST 359 Topics in Jewish Philosophy 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Jewish Studies : Topics in Jewish philosophy. Topic varies by year.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kaplan, Lawrence (Winter)
For detailed course content go to .
All texts in English
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JWST 474 Maimonides' Mishneh Torah (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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JWST 538 Early Rabbinic Parshanut 1 (3 credits)
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.
For detailed course content go to .
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.
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HIST 194 FYS: Jewish Concepts of Others (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 207 Jewish History: 400 B.C.E. to 1000 (3 credits)
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
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HIST 219 Jewish History: 1000 - 2000 (3 credits)
Overview
History : The Jewish experience from the rise of the European centres to the present.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Madej-Krupitski, Urszula (Fall)
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HIST 307 Jews in Poland (3 credits)
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.
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HIST 427 The Hasidic Movement (3 credits)
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
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HIST 572D1 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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.
Students must register for both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2
No credit will be given for this course unless both HIST 572D1 and HIST 572D2 are successfully completed in consecutive terms
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HIST 572D2 Seminar in Jewish History (3 credits)
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
