Jewish Studies

Humanities Quadrangle, Rm. 426, 203.432.0843

http://jewishstudies.yale.edu
Ph.D.

Chair
Eliyahu Stern

Director of Graduate Studies
Sarit Kattan Gribetz 

Professors Peter Cole, Paul Franks, Hannan Hever, Ivan Marcus, Samuel Moyn, Ediel Pinker, Maurice Samuels, David Sorkin, Eliyahu Stern, Kathrine Trumpener     

Associate Professors Ra’anan Boustan, Sarit Kattan Gribetz, Jacqueline Vayntrub, Molly Zahn 

Lecturers Shiri Goren, Joshua Price, Dina Roginsky, Orit Yeret

Fields of Study

The Program in Jewish Studies offers a combined Ph.D. in conjunction with several other departments and programs: Comparative Literature, French, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. The fields of study are Jewish history, Judaism, Jewish literature, and Jewish thought and culture. Students may only apply for the Ph.D. in Jewish Studies in conjunction with their application to one of these five partnering departments or programs. Students already pursuing a Ph.D. in one of the partnering departments and programs may apply for transfer into the combined Ph.D. in Jewish Studies in the first or second year of their degree study unless they have fulfilled all requirements listed below, in which case they may apply for transfer into the combined Ph.D. in Jewish Studies any time prior to completing their comprehensive exams. Graduate students in other programs may also petition to pursue an ad hoc combined degree. 

Students will select an area of concentration in consultation with the directors of graduate studies (DGS) of Jewish Studies and the partnering department or program. An area of concentration in Jewish studies may take the form of a single area study or a comparative area study. Students are encouraged to draw from multiple disciplines in their intellectual pursuits, both in preparation for their qualifying examinations and in their dissertation research and writing. An area of concentration may also follow the fields of study already established within a single discipline, for example, the study of late-antique Judaism in Religious Studies or Hebrew literature in Comparative Literature. An area of concentration must either be a field of study offered by the partnering department or program or fall within the rubric of such a field. Please refer to the description of fields of study of the prospective partnering department or program.

This is a combined degree program. To be considered for admission to this program, applicants must indicate both the Jewish Studies Program and one of the participating departments listed above.

Students pursuing the combined Ph.D. in Jewish Studies will determine their research and doctoral foci in coordination with their advisers and with the DGS in Jewish Studies and in the partnering department or program.

Requirements for Transfer into the Jewish Studies Combined Ph.D. Program

Students in their first or second year of their degree study in Comparative Literature, French, History, Philosophy, or Religious Studies wishing to transfer into the combined Ph.D. in Jewish Studies should submit a departmental transfer request form and a two- to three-page statement of interest to the DGS of Jewish Studies in which they describe why they wish to pursue the combined Ph.D. Students applying for transfer into the combined Ph.D. program must already have taken JDST 6500, Introduction to Jewish Studies, or be taking it in the term of application; must provide a plan outlining the Jewish studies courses already taken and those they will take; and must submit a research statement that explains how the combined Ph.D. will advance their research interests. Students must provide two letters of recommendation: one from their adviser in the joint partnering department or program (unless that adviser is jointly appointed with Jewish Studies, in which case a letter from the student’s DGS in the partnering department or program is required) and a second letter from a faculty member in Jewish Studies who commits to being the student’s adviser throughout the completion of the dissertation.

Students must apply by December 1, which is the deadline for Jewish Studies department’s annual admissions cycle. Applications will receive a faculty vote early in the spring term, and results will be communicated to the student no later than spring break.

Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree in Jewish Studies 

Students will be subject to the combined Ph.D. supervision of the Jewish Studies program and the relevant participating department or program. The student’s academic program will be decided in consultation with an adviser, the DGS of Jewish Studies, and the DGS of the participating department or program and must be approved by all three. For example, if a program requires oral exams or a dissertation prospectus to be defended to a multiperson faculty committee, at least one member of the committee should be Jewish Studies or Jewish Studies-affiliated faculty member. At least one faculty member of the student’s dissertation committee will hold a primary or secondary tenured or tenure-track appointment in Jewish Studies.

In their first two years of study students in the combined Ph.D. program will complete the minimum number of term courses required by the partnering program or department.
  
Students are required to complete the following courses:

  1. Introduction to Jewish Studies (JDST 6500)  Taken in the first two years, this one-semester course is and required for students in the combined Ph.D. program in Jewish Studies. JDST 6500 is composed of two components: (1) seminar classes that introducing students to the field of Jewish Studies, including central debates, methodological issues, and trends in contemporary research and (2) a graduate student-faculty colloquium, in which students in the combined Ph.D. program in Jewish Studies, along with others as the schedule permits, present ongoing research. The colloquium meets every two to three weeks and requires year-long attendance.
  2. Two JDST graduate term courses All graduate students, regardless of field, must also complete two graduate seminar courses in a time-period and discipline other than their period area of specialization. These courses may be cross listed with courses offered in the student’s home department and may also be used to fulfill requirements in the student’s co-unit.
  3. Language requirement All students must either take HEBR 5000 and HEBR 5010 (total of two semesters) or demonstrate basic proficiency in Hebrew by passing an exam administered by Yale Hebrew-language instructors (or another accredited academic institution). 

 
The total number of courses required will adhere to the requirements of the participating department or program. Each student must complete the minimum number of courses required by the partnering department or program; Jewish Studies courses (except for the Dissertation Prospectus Workshop) count toward the partnering department’s or program’s total. The number of courses that will count depends on the partnering department or program. For details of these requirements, see the special requirements of the combined Ph.D. for the particular department or program in this bulletin. Aside from HEBR 5000 and HEBR 5010, students will be required to meet the foreign language requirements of the participating department or program. See Degree Requirements under Policies and Regulations. 

Students will be admitted to candidacy when they have fulfilled all requirements of both Jewish Studies and the relevant partnering department or program, including the dissertation prospectus. The scheduling and structure of qualifying examinations, prospectuses, and dissertations will follow the protocols of the partnering department. However, Jewish Studies combined-degree students are strongly encouraged to hold a prospectus meeting and at least one post-approval meeting at which all members of their committee are present. A student who intends to apply for this combined Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and another partnering department or program should consult the other department’s or program’s Ph.D. requirements and courses.

The faculty in Jewish Studies consider teaching to be an essential component of graduate education, and students typically teach or serve as a teaching fellow (TF) in their third and fourth years in the program. Jewish Studies combined-degree students will be given priority for TF slots in Jewish studies classes, and at least one of the courses for which they serve as a TF should have undergraduate Jewish Studies numbers.

* JDST 0035a / HIST 0623a / HUMS 0360a / RLST 0035a, Jerusalem: Judaism, Christianity, Islam  Sarit Kattan Gribetz

The Old City of Jerusalem is just 0.35 square miles large, about half the size of Yale’s campus. Have you ever wondered what makes this tiny city so beloved to—and the object of continual strife for—Jews, Christians, and Muslims? Through engagement with a wide range of sources—including biblical lamentations, archeological excavations, qur’anic passages, exegetical materials, medieval pilgrim itineraries, legal documents, maps, poetry, art, architecture, and international political resolutions—students develop the historiographical tools and theoretical frameworks to study the history of one of the world’s most enduringly important and bitterly contested cities.  Students encounter persistent themes central to the identity of Jerusalem: geography and topography; exile, diaspora, and return; destruction and trauma; religious violence and war; practices of pilgrimage; social diversity; missionizing; the rise of nationalism; peace efforts; the ethics of storytelling; and the stakes of studying the past. Enrollment limited to first-year students.   HU  RP
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

JDST 2000a / ER&M 2519a / HIST 1219a / MMES 1149a / RLST 1480a, Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times  Ivan Marcus

A broad introduction to the history of the Jews from biblical beginnings until the European Reformation and the Ottoman Empire. Focus on the formative period of classical rabbinic Judaism and on the symbiotic relationships among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jewish society and culture in its biblical, rabbinic, and medieval settings. Counts toward either European or non-Western distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  HU  RP  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

JDST 2001b / HIST 1220b / RLST 1490b, Modern Jewish Politics: The Last Four Centuries  David Sorkin

A broad introduction to the history of Jewish culture from the late Middle Ages until the present. Emphasis on the changing interaction of Jews with the larger society as well as the transformation of Judaism in its encounter with modernity.  WR, HU  0 Course cr
MW 2:35pm-3:25pm

* JDST 2505a / HEBR 1580a / MMES 1168a, Contemporary Israeli Society in Film  Shiri Goren

Examination of major themes in Israeli society through film, with emphasis on language study. Topics include migration, gender and sexuality, Jewish/Israeli identity, and private and collective memory. Readings in Hebrew and English provide a sociohistorical background and bases for class discussion. Prerequisites: HEBR 1400 or permission of instructor.  L5, HU  RP
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

* JDST 2512a / HIST 2635a / HUMS 2035a / NELC 1170a, Antisemitism and its opponents in the Muslim world  Arash Azizi

Antisemitism, as well as opposition to it, has long been a part of social, political, and intellectual life in Muslim-majority societies. These societies have also long included significant Jewish minorities, especially before the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948. This course takes a historical approach, carefully examining antisemitisms of various types in various periods as well as opposition to them by Jews, Muslims, and others in the Islamicate world.  HU
W 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 2586a / CPLT 2320a / FREN 3400a / GMAN 3400a / HUMS 3429a, Paul Celan  Thomas Connolly

An undergraduate seminar in English exploring the life and work of Paul Celan (1920-1970), survivor of the Shoah, and one of the foremost European poets of the second half of the twentieth century. We will read from his early poems in both Romanian and German, and his published collections including Der Sand aus den Urnen, Mohn und Gedächtnis, Von Schelle zu Schelle, Sprachgitter, Die Niemandsrose, Atemwende, Fadensonnen, Lichtzwang, and Schneepart. We will also read from his rare pieces in prose and his correspondence with family, friends, and other intellectuals and poets including Bachmann, Sachs, Heidegger, Char, du Bouchet, Michaux, Ungaretti. A special focus on his poetic translations from French, but also Russian, English, American, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and Hebrew. Critical readings draw from Szondi, Adorno, Derrida, Agamben, and others. Readings in English translation or in the original languages, as the student desires. Discussions in English. None.  WR, HU
M 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3060b / MMES 1157b / NELC 157 / NELC 1570b, Israeli Narratives  Shiri Goren

This course looks at contemporary representations of social, political, and domestic space in Israel through cultural production such as literature, visual work, and art. It focuses on close reading of major Israeli works in translation with attention to how their themes and forms relate to the Israeli condition. Reading and viewing include: Amos Oz’s major novel A Tale of Love and Darkness, Anne Frank: The Graphic Diary, Maya Arad’s novella “The Hebrew Teacher,” TV show Arab Labor and writing by Yehudah Amichai, Etgar Keret, and Sayed Kashua, among others. We discuss topics and theories of personal and collective identity formation, war and peace, ethnicity and race, migration, nationalism, and gender. No knowledge of Hebrew required.  WR, HU
W 9:25am-11:20am

* JDST 3237b / HIST 2248b / HSAR 4358b / HUMS 3937b, Antisemitic Visual Culture since the Middle Ages  Claire Aubin

This course examines the stereotyped, mythologized, and much-maligned figure of the Jew in visual culture throughout history, from the medieval period to the present day. How has this antisemitic archetype shaped the world we see around us, and how has it in turn been shaped by that same world? During the course, we will explore the shifting contributions of visual culture to the creation and dissemination of antisemitic tropes, including forms like cartography, architecture, political cartoons, theater, and film. The course will be primarily discussion-based and include significant in-class use of primary source material, as well as opportunities for students to critically investigate areas of personal interest.
TTh 4pm-5:15pm

JDST 3265b / HIST 1645b / MMES 1148b / RLST 2020b, Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries  Ivan Marcus

Jewish culture and society in Muslim lands from the time of the Prophet Muhammad to that of Suleiman the Magnificent. Topics include Islam and Judaism; Jerusalem as a holy site; rabbinic leadership and literature in Baghdad; Jewish courtiers, poets, and philosophers in Muslim Spain; and the Jews in the Ottoman Empire.  HU  0 Course cr
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* JDST 3270a / HIST 3232a / HUMS 4430a / MMES 3342a / RLST 2010a, Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims In Conversation  Ivan Marcus

How members of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities thought of and interacted with members of the other two cultures during the Middle Ages. Cultural grids and expectations each imposed on the other; the rhetoric of otherness—humans or devils, purity or impurity, and animal imagery; and models of religious community and power in dealing with the other when confronted with cultural differences. Counts toward either European or Middle Eastern distributional credit within the History major, upon application to the director of undergraduate studies.  WR, HU  RP
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3403a / HIST 3269a or b, History and Holocaust Testimony  Carolyn Dean

This course focuses on Holocaust testimony to ground students in the history of how victims’ experiences are narrated and assessed by historians and other interpreters who shape the afterlives of historical events. Class readings underscore how Holocaust memory has changed over time, including how it belatedly became an event primarily about the genocide of European Jewry. We read histories, testimonies, and work on the relationship between the historical memories of the Holocaust and of European Imperialism.  WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3432a / HIST 2216a / MMES 1197a / RLST 1930a, Zionism and Anti-Zionism and its Opponents  Elli Stern

Introduction to the core ideas of the Zionist movement from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Focus on internal Jewish debates and criticism of the movement by European and Middle Eastern intellectuals. Social, political, cultural, and messianic ideological strands within the movement and their interpretations of various historical experiences and ideas located in the Jewish tradition.  HU
M 4pm-5:55pm

* JDST 3451b / HIST 3768b / PLSC 3464b / RLST 3240b, The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American Insurrection  Elli Stern

This seminar explores the history of right-wing political thought from the late eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the role played by religious and pagan traditions. This course seeks to answer the question, what constitutes the right? What are the central philosophical, religious, and pagan, principles of those groups associated with this designation? How have the core ideas of the right changed over time? We do this by examining primary tracts written by theologians, political philosophers, and social theorists as well as secondary literature written by scholars interrogating movements associated with the right in America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. Though touching on specific national political parties, institutions, and think tanks, its focus is on mapping the intellectual overlap and differences between various right-wing ideologies. While the course is limited to the modern period, it adopts a global perspective to better understand the full scope of right-wing politics.  HU, SO
M 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3470b / HIST 3226b / RLST 2310b, How the West Became Antisemitic: Jews and the Formation of Europe 800-1500  Ivan Marcus

Students study how Jews and Christians interacted on a daily basis as medieval Europe became more restrictive and antisemitic, a contributing factor to the Holocaust. In this writing seminar, students discuss a variety of primary sources in class–laws, stories, chronicles, images–while researching and writing their own seminar paper structured by sessions on topics, bibliographies, and outlines.   WR, HU
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3489b / CPLT 3380b / FILM 3620b / FREN 3840b / ITAL 3384b, Representing the Holocaust  Maurice Samuels and Millicent Marcus

The Holocaust as it has been depicted in books and films, and as written and recorded by survivors in different languages including French and Italian. Questions of aesthetics and authority, language and its limits, ethical engagement, metaphors and memory, and narrative adequacy to record historical truth. Interactive discussions about films (Life Is Beautiful, Schindler's List, Shoah), novels, memoirs (Primo Levi, Charlotte Delbo, Art Spiegelman), commentaries, theoretical writings, and testimonies from Yale's Fortunoff Video Archive.  WR, HU
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* JDST 3619a / PHIL 4403a / RLST 4500a, Spinoza and the God of the Bible  Nancy Levene

An exploration of Spinoza’s writings on God, nature, and person; human law, divine law, and political life; and the interpretation of the Bible. Prerequisite: coursework in philosophical texts.  HU
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

* JDST 3816b / CPLT 3048b / ENGL 2415b / HUMS 1996b, The Practice of Literary Translation  Peter Cole

This course combines a seminar on the history and theory of translation (Tuesdays) with a hands-on workshop (Thursdays). The readings lead us through a series of case studies comparing, on the one hand, multiple translations of given literary works and, on the other, classic statements about translation—by translators themselves and prominent theorists. We consider both poetry and prose from the Bible, selections from Chinese, Greek, and Latin verse, classical Arabic and Persian literature, prose by Cervantes, Borges, and others, and modern European poetry (including Pushkin, Baudelaire, and Rilke). Students are expected to prepare short class presentations, participate in a weekly workshop, try their hand at a series of translation exercises, and undertake an intensive, semester-long translation project. Proficiency in a foreign language is required. Previously ENGL 456.  HU
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* JDST 3829b / CPLT 2350b, Modern Jewish Poets  Peter Cole

This course introduces students to a diverse group of modern Jewish poets—from Gertrude Stein, Moyshe Leyb-Halpern, and Adrienne Rich to Muriel Rukeyser, Yehuda Amichai, Paul Celan, Edmond Jabès, Leonard Cohen, and others. Writing in English, Yiddish, German, Hebrew, and French, these poets gave seminal expression to Jewish life in a variety of modes and permutations, and in the process produced poems of lasting and universal value. The class explores work as art and considers pressing questions of cultural, historical, and political context. All readings are in English.   HU
W 4pm-5:55pm

* JDST 3881a / CPLT 1540a / ENGL 3195a / HUMS 3800a, The Bible as a Literature  Leslie Brisman

Study of the Bible as a literature—a collection of works exhibiting a variety of attitudes toward the conflicting claims of tradition and originality, historicity and literariness.  WR, HU  RP
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* JDST 4201b / HEBR 1520b / JDST 8205b, Reading Academic Texts in Modern Hebrew  Dina Roginsky

Reading of academic texts in modern Hebrew, for students with a strong background in Hebrew. Discussion of grammar and stylistics; special concentration on the development of accuracy and fluency. Prerequisite: HEBR 1500 or permission of instructor. Conducted in Hebrew.  L5
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* JDST 4491a or b and JDST 4492a or b, The Senior Essay  Staff

The essay, written under the supervision of a faculty member, should be a substantial paper between 6,500 and 8,000 words for one term and between 12,500 and 15,000 words for two terms.
HTBA

JDST 6511b / FREN 9300b, War and Memory from WWII to the Algerian War: Archive, Fiction, Theory  Alice Kaplan

This seminar is divided into two units, the first focusing on the French memory of WWII and the Nazi occupation (1940–1945), and the second focusing on French and the Algerian memories of the Algerian War for Independence (1945/1954–1962). We read the now canonical works on war and memory generated by each event (Rousso, The Vichy Syndrome, Benjamin Stora, La gangrène et l'oubli), measuring their arguments against works of fiction and film that take on the problem of war and memory through characters, setting, and narrative structure. By the end of the seminar, students are familiar with “a history of memory” that is distinct from social, political or even cultural history. Throughout the seminar we ask who is remembering and who is forgetting? Who are the memory keepers? We look for moments when gaps in national memory have been filled—or widened. Along the way, we study “memory sites” connected to the two events and we read/watch some of the most important authors and filmmakers who have shaped the memory of WWII and the Algerian War. By the end of the seminar, students have a working knowledge of: (1) the debates and methods generated by critical memory studies and (2) novels and films that have played a fundamental role in shaping memory. Conducted in English.
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

JDST 6553a / ANTH 5331a / CLSS 7000a / EALL 7730a / HIST 6000a / HSAR 6564a / NELC 5330a / RLST 8030a, Archaia Seminar: Art, Architecture, and Climate Change in the Premodern World  Avary Taylor

This seminar explores artistic, architectural, and material responses to environmental transformations, such as floods, droughts, volcanic events, and periods of exceptional abundance, across the premodern world. Foregrounding the indivisibility of natural worlds and human creativity, we examine how ancient peoples conceived of, and responded to, the disruptions and affordances of their environment. Through a comparative framework that puts cultures across the ancient world into conversation—from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica and beyond—we trace the entanglements of art, politics, and climate, asking: how, if at all, did environmental change materialize in the things people made? This course serves as an Archaia Core Seminar. It is connected with Archaia’s Ancient Societies Workshop (ASW), which runs a series of events throughout the academic year related to the theme of the seminar. Students enrolled in the seminar must attend all ASW events during the semester in which the seminar is offered.
M 9:25am-11:20am

JDST 6554b / ANTH 5332b / CLSS 7001b / EALL 7731b / HIST 6010b / HSAR 6574b / NELC 5331b / RLST 8031b, Archaia Seminar: Literacy, Books, and the Materiality of Writing in the Premodern World  Victoria Almansa-Villatoro and Joe Glynias

What is literacy? What is reading? This course takes a longue durée approach to how premodern individuals produced and engaged with texts. From hieroglyphs to alphabets (and everything in between), this course considers ways of writing and the intersection between orality, aurality, and textuality in the premodern world, focusing on (but not limited to) the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Due to its focus on the physical media of writing and the preservation and study of premodern writing materials by modern scholars, roughly half of the meetings of this course take place in Yale Collections. Topics covered by the course include pseudoscripts and pseudepigrapha, scribes and scholars, and the ideological and ritual uses of writing across premodern cultures. This course serves as an Archaia Core Seminar. It is connected with Archaia’s Ancient Societies Workshop (ASW), which runs a series of events throughout the academic year related to the theme of the seminar. Students enrolled in the seminar must attend all ASW events during the semester in which the seminar is offered.
W 9:25am-11:20am

JDST 7206b / HIST 6157b / MDVL 7157b / RLST 6160b, How the West Became Antisemitic: Jews and the Formation of Europe, 800–1500  Ivan Marcus

This seminar explores how medieval Jews and Christians interacted as religious societies between 800 and 1500.
T 1:30pm-3:25pm

JDST 7261a / HIST 6229a / MDVL 7229a / RLST 7730a, Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times  Ivan Marcus

The course is a comprehensive introduction for GS students as well as YC students.  It serves as a window course to pre-modern Jewish history.  For YC students this can lead to taking seminars on more limited topics.  For graduate students it is a good preparation for comprehensive exams and provides a model survey course to be offered later on as an instructor.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

JDST 7264b / HIST 6155b / MDVL 7155b / RLST 7770b, Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh through the Sixteenth Century  Ivan Marcus

Introduction to Jewish culture and society in Muslim lands from the Prophet Muhammad to Suleiman the Magnificent. Topics include Islam and Judaism; Jerusalem as a holy site; rabbinic leadership and literature in Baghdad; Jewish courtiers, poets, and philosophers in Muslim Spain; and the Jews in the Ottoman Empire.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

JDST 7445b / RLST 6430b, The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American Insurrection  Elli Stern

This seminar explores the history of right-wing political thought from the late eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the role played by religious and pagan traditions. This course seeks to answer the question, what constitutes the right? What are the central philosophical, religious, and pagan, principles of those groups associated with this designation? How have the core ideas of the right changed over time? We do this by examining primary tracts written by theologians, political philosophers, and social theorists as well as secondary literature written by scholars interrogating movements associated with the right in America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Though touching on specific national political parties, institutions, and think tanks, its focus is on mapping the intellectual overlap and differences between various right-wing ideologies. While the course is limited to the modern period, it adopts a global perspective to better understand the full scope of right-wing politics.
M 1:30pm-3:25pm

JDST 7448b / HIST 8842b / RLST 6930b, Introduction to Modern Jewish Politics  David Sorkin and Elli Stern

This course introduces graduate students and advanced undergraduates to the major issues of modern Jewish politics through a close reading of canonical and recent scholarship with an emphasis on Europe, Israel, the United States, and the Maghreb/Mashreq. The course pays special attention to the ways in which constantly shifting political conditions have led to reconsiderations and reconceptualizations of the political past—across the millennia, the political present, and the envisioned future.
W 9:25am-11:20am

JDST 7841a / CPLT 6085a / RLST 7550a, Theory and Politics in the Hasidic Tale  Hannan Hever

The Hasidic movement is a pietistic movement of believers that crystallized in the eighteenth century and organized around the courts of the Tzadik (righteous man) who led their communities. Following its inception, the Hasidic movement began to produce a vast number of stories whose purposes were educational, political, shaping the worthy Hasid, and establishing the Tzadik as a sovereign mediator between God and his believers. The course establishes theoretical foundations, anchored in neo-Marxist and post-structuralist theories, for the politics of the literary form and the language of the Hasidic literary text, which is part of a circulation of Hasidic stories that generates a political field and operates in social, educational, faith-based, and path-setting fields—how to behave—and primarily glorifying the status and authority of the Tzadik. At the center of the discussion are the two most important collections: “In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov” (Shivchei HaBesht) and the book of tails, written by Rabbi Nachman's student. However, two additional corpora are added, from which we study a selection: one is Hasidic, tales written and distributed after “In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov,” for example, of Chabad Hasidism; and the second—Maskilim’s (proponents of the Jewish Enlightenment) satires against the Hassidim’s life that allow for a reading of the Hasidic experience and its tales through the eyes of the “Maskilim.” At their center stand the satires written by Joseph Perl, and the biting satires of Isaac Erter. Through the confrontation between the Maskilim and the Hasidim, contradictions are revealed between two different politics and opposing poetics, all of which provide a valuable key to mapping Jewish life and culture in moments of crisis in Eastern Europe in which Hasidism, which became a large movement, plays a central role in addressing the “Jewish Question.”
T 4pm-5:55pm

JDST 7857a / CPLT 9024a, Modernism and Avant-Garde in Hebrew Poetry: Poetics and Theory  Hannan Hever

Modernism in Hebrew poetry: close readings of the poetry of Nathan Alterman, Lea Goldberg, Nathan Zach, Yona Volakh, Avot Yeshurun. Prerequisites: a high level of reading Hebrew texts in poetry and criticism, and permission of the instructor.
Th 4pm-5:55pm

* JDST 8205b / HEBR 1520b / JDST 4201b, Reading Academic Texts in Modern Hebrew  Dina Roginsky

Reading of academic texts in modern Hebrew, for students with a strong background in Hebrew. Discussion of grammar and stylistics; special concentration on the development of accuracy and fluency. Prerequisite: HEBR 1500 or permission of instructor. Conducted in Hebrew.  L5
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm