* 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 2:30pm-3:45pm

JDST 764b / 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.
HTBA

JDST 2000a / ER&M 2519a / HIST 1219a / JDST 200 / 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 3060b / MMES 1157b / NELC 1570b / NELC 157b and 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-11:15am

* 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
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

JDST 3446a / HIST 2249a, Making European Culture Jewish: Five Media, 1780-1930  Staff

This course studies the ways in which Jewish writers and artists turned European culture into Jewish culture, that is, how a minority group fashioned its own version of the majority culture. As European Jews encountered European culture and society, they had to grapple with a host of fundamental questions. What was Judaism and who were the Jews: a religion, a history, a culture, a nation? We examine the way in which writers and artists struggled with these issues in five media: memoir, theology, history, fiction, and painting, thereby creating Jewish versions first of Enlightenment, Romanticism, and realism (1780-1870) and then of nationalism, positivism, and modernism (1870-1930).    WR, HU  0 Course cr
HTBA

* JDST 3451a / HIST 3768a / PLSC 3464a / RLST 3240a, 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-3:20pm

* JDST 3619b / PHIL 4403b / RLST 4500b, 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
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

* JDST 3812b / CPLT 1960b / MMES 3312b / NELC 3230b / NELC 323b and NELC 3230b, Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain  Peter Cole

Introduction to the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in Muslim Andalusia from the tenth century through the twelfth. Major figures of the period and the cultural and philosophical questions they confronted. The Judeo-Arabic social context in which the poetry emerged; critical issues pertaining to the study and transmission of this literature. Readings from the works of several poets. Readings in translation. Additional readings in Hebrew available.  HU
W 3:30pm-5:20pm

* JDST 3843b / CPLT 3005b / ENGL 3415b / HUMS 1997b, Advanced Literary Translation  Peter Cole

A sequel to LITR 348 or its equivalent, this course brings together advanced and seriously committed students of literary translation, especially (but not only) those who are doing translation-related senior theses. Students must apply to the class with a specific project in mind, that they have been developing or considering, and that they will present on a regular basis throughout the semester. Discussion of translations-in-progress are supplemented by short readings that include model works from the world of literary translation, among them introductions and pieces of criticism, as well as reflections by practitioners treating all phases of their art. The class is open to undergraduates and graduate students who have taken at least one translation workshop. By permission of the instructor. Formerly ENGL 483. Prerequisite: LITR 348.
F 9:25am-11:15am

* JDST 4205a / HEBR 1570a, Reading Between the Panels: Visual Narratives and the Culture of Hebrew Graphic Novels  Shiri Goren

Focusing on Hebrew graphic novels, an emerging genre in contemporary Israeli literature this course provides an opportunity for advanced Modern Hebrew students to engage with complex and creative narratives representing diverse aspects of Israeli society. The class focuses on developing, enhancing, and strengthening students’ linguistic performances across the four language domains. Simultaneously, students engage in a high-level theoretical and textual analysis of the works in question. Most of the works studied have not been translated into English or other languages. Therefore, the only way for students to access the majority of these compelling texts is by reading them in the target language. Prerequisite: Placement exam or permission of instructor.  L5, HU  RP
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

JDST 6500a / RLST 6520a, Introduction to Jewish Studies  David Sorkin and Sarit Kattan Gribetz

In a society that is broadly ambivalent about—if not roundly antagonistic against—Jews and Judaism, how can one study Jewish texts and history? Is the study of Jews and their religion and cultures necessarily an act of apologetics or polemics? What does “objectivity” mean in this loaded context? This course examines the inception and development of the modern field of Jewish studies in nineteenth-century Germany and the ways in which the field evolved and spread from Europe to Palestine, Israel, and the United States. Ultimately, students grapple with the question of the place of Jews and Jewish studies in the modern academy. The course begins with readings of the major practitioners of the “academic study of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums) since its inception in the nineteenth century with close examination of the ways in which those scholars read the ancient, medieval, and early modern sources that they used to construct their studies of Jews and Judaism. It then turns to the institutionalization of the field through the establishments of seminaries, large-scale publication projects (encyclopedias, anthologies), historical societies and archives, research institutes, and university programs. Finally, the course examines the intersection between the personal and professional through pairing memoirs written by scholars with the scholarship they published. Throughout, programmatic statements are combined with close analysis of the way scholars read their sources.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

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.
HTBA

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 7445a / RLST 6430a, 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-3:20pm

JDST 7660b / PHIL 6603b / RLST 8800b, 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.
M 3:30pm-5:20pm

JDST 7680b / CPLT 6180b / GMAN 7090b, Walter Benjamin’s Critical Theory  Paul North

Careful analysis of central texts in Benjamin’s oeuvre in the context of his philosophical, political, and literary reading.
HTBA

JDST 8274b / HEBR 5780b, Languages in Dialogue: Hebrew and Arabic  Dina Roginsky

Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as sister Semitic languages. They have a great degree of grammatical, morphological, and lexical similarity. Historically, Arabic and Hebrew have been in cultural contact in various places and in different aspects. This advanced Hebrew language class explores linguistic similarities between the two languages as well as cultural comparisons of the communities, built on mutual respect. Students benefit from a section in which they gain a basic exposure to Arabic, based on its linguistic similarity to Hebrew. Conducted in Hebrew. Prerequisite: HEBR 5030, or placement test, or permission of the instructor.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

JDST 8295b / HEBR 5630b, From Biblical to Modern Hebrew  Dina Roginsky

This course aims to support students who have reading knowledge of Biblical Hebrew but cannot read or converse in Modern Hebrew. The course concentrates on reading and aims at enabling students to use Modern Hebrew for research purposes. The texts chosen are tailored to students’ particular areas of interest. Prerequisite: two years of Biblical or Modern Hebrew studies, or permission of the instructor. Conducted in English.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm