6 courses with the subject JWST GU, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
JWST GU4145Topics in Israeli Cinema3.00
Israel has a unique and constantly-evolving national cinema, the product of its diverse immigrant population, influences from neighboring nations, and dramatic national history. Beginning with artistic influences from abroad and culminating with native self-examinations, this course will provide a survey of Israeli film history, recurring foci of Israeli cinema, and introductions to influential filmmakers from early director and impresario Menahem Golan to Orthodox writer/director Rama Burshtein. Each class meeting will include a complete screening of an Israeli feature film, as well as clips of related works. Readings will include critical essays and histories which elaborate on in-class screenings and cover additional topics and films. Written assignments will be three analytical essays which will encourage critical thinking, close analysis of films, and independent research beyond the materials presented in class. All readings are in English. All feature films and film clips are in Hebrew (some include Arabic), and will be presented with English subtitles. Students fluent in Hebrew and Arabic are encouraged to interpret the dialogue for additional meaning that may not be translated in the subtitles
JWST GU4147Between Tradition ＆ Innovation: Readings in Hasidic History and Literature3.00
The popular eighteenth-century mystical revivalist movement known as Hasidism transformed the religious and cultural life of Eastern European Jewry and remains a vibrant form of Judaism to this day. This seminar will introduce students to the history, ideology and major personalities of the Hasidic movement through a close reading of a broad selection of primary texts, including mystical tracts, collections of sermons, spiritual directives, hagiographical tales and polemical writings. We will explore the mystical ideas and practices taught by the founders of the movement, the new forms of leadership they developed and the fierce controversies they aroused. We will also consider the role played by Hasidic literature in the formation and spread of the movement and the tensions it embodied between tradition and innovation, elitism and populism, and oral and written modes of communication. This course is open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates may register with permission from the instructor
JWST GU4156An Introduction to World Zionist Thought4.00
In this course, students will be exposed to a range of different ideas and movements that, together, constitute(d) “Zionism.” Although Israel is frequently in the news, the ideology that lies, in many ways, at the heart of Israeli politics and society is often represented in simplistic – even superficial or inaccurate – terms. Far more than a mere example of “nationalism,” Zionism has variously been interwoven with struggles over land, labor, gender, religion, and identity in not only Palestine/Israel, but also North Africa, East Africa, Southwest Asia, Central Asia, Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Throughout the semester, students will read both primary and secondary sources in order to understand Zionism in its myriad meanings. Part I of the course will explore some of the basic tenets and debates of Zionism, with a focus on ideas prominent in the early twentieth century, such as socialism and Hebraism. Part II of the course will examine the ways in which Zionist ideas conceived in the Ottoman Empire and Europe diverged and took on new and renewed meaning as the Zionist movement reached global dimensions
JWST GU4157Israeli Politics in Times of Turmoil4.00
The more than six decades of Israel's democratic system of government, under intense external and internal pressures, have been facilitated by four major characteristics of its society and politics: a cultural, a structural, an economic aspect: availability of external resources such as US foreign aid programs, German reparations and a political aspect. In the early days of the state a serious concern was raised: can Israel survive as a democracy facing the difficulties resulting from mass immigration, meager resources, internal divisions and external threats to its very existence? The Israeli body-politic has proven cohesive enough to overcome tensions stemming from fragmented party politics, deep social and cultural cleavages, fundamental ideological schisms and an involvement in protracted conflicts with neighboring states and the Palestinians. Those have become particularly urgent in the aftermath of the October 7th attacks and the Israel-Hamas war of 2023-24. These achievements were facilitated by the emergence of a pattern of politics, indeed, a political culture, that puts a strong emphasis on the pursuit of political accommodation. Such accommodation, however, has been put to the test with the proposed judicial reform of 2023 and the ensuing mass social protests against it. Israel has done all these without loss of public support for its central political and social institutions, but in 2024, with the Israel-Hamas war and expanding social cleavages and political schisms, such accomplishments are at risk
JWST GU4537Modernism, Nationalism, Revival: Readings in Modern Hebrew Literature4
Exploring a rich variety of literary prose fiction, this course focuses on the emergence of modernism in Hebrew literature at the turn of the 20th century. Ever since the 19th century Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), Hebrew literature has played a major role in the processes of permutation and transition within Jewish society, articulating new modes of thinking on matters such as body, identity, sexuality and language. In both its themes and aesthetics, Hebrew literature not only reflected these processes, but in fact created and shaped the public sphere within which these new ideas emerged. Identifying literature as an institution of the modern, intertwined with the rise of nationalism, this course examines the coincidence, as well as the discrepancy, between modernist poetics and the nationalist imagination. It asks how literature constructs national consciousness and whether, and in what ways, it ever exceeds it. Our weekly sessions will be dedicated to reading diverse texts (short stories, essays, novels and literary theory) and tackling some of the recurring issues they raise, including gender and sexuality, ideology, psychological narratives, secularization and immigration. We will acquire methodologies of literary analysis, pay attention to rhetoric and style and practice close reading. The course will use digital media and interactive online platforms including films, photos, recordings and other audiovisuals, as well as an interactive discussion board. No prior knowledge of Hebrew is required. All texts are available in English translation.
This course approaches Jewish Studies from theoretical and pedagogical standpoints. In addition to looking back at ancient, medieval and Early Modern approaches to the study of Jewish topics and examining the theoretical, historical and religious underpinnings of Jewish Studies as a modern discipline, we will also read theoretical writings from related disciplines. The course will balance these materials with pedagogical materials and exercises. Faculty from disciplines related to Jewish Studies will visit the seminar to offer perspectives on current approaches to the field, and the class will visit the Rare Book and Manuscript Library with Jewish Studies Librarian Michelle Chesner. This course is required for students in the Jewish Studies MA program. It is open to graduate students, and advanced undergraduates may register with permission from the instructor. Please note that faculty visits will be added to the syllabus as they are scheduled
