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NEJS 3a: Introduction to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Jonathan Decter (TF 12-1:30)
An introduction to the three major religions originating in the Near East-Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Areas of focus include historical development, sacred texts, rituals, and interpretive traditions. Ancient, medieval, and modern periods are treated.
NEJS 5a: Foundational Course in Judaic Studies
Reuven Kimelman (TF 10:30-12)
A survey of the Jewish experience and thought, focusing on the varieties of historical Judaism including its classical forms, its medieval patterns and transformations, and its modern options.
NEJS 101b: Intermediate Akkadian
Kynthia Taylor (MW 5-6:30)
Introduction to Akkadian grammar and lexicon and cuneiform script. This course is for beginning students of Akkadian.
NEJS 111a: The Hebrew Bible
Marc Brettler (MWTh 11-12)
A survey of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Biblical books will be examined from various perspectives and compared to other ancient Near Eastern compositions. No knowledge of Hebrew is presumed.
NEJS 113b: Law in the Bible and Ancient Near East
David Wright (MWTh 12-1)
A study of laws and legal ideas in biblical and Near Eastern law "codes," treaties, contracts; economic documents and narratives; the development and function of the documents and ideas; the meaning of the laws; and their significance for the various societies.
NEJS 126a: Intermediate Talmud
Reuven Kimelman (TF 12-1:30)
Tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 3, which deals with the issue of voluntary and compulsory arbitration and the binding nature of gambling agreements.
NEJS 130a: The New Testament: a Historical Introduction
Bernadette Brooten (MWTh 1-2)
A study of the main parts of the New Testament, with emphasis on the contents of the books and the historical development of early Christianity.
NEJS 133a: Art, Artifacts, and History: the Material Culture of Modern Jews
Ellen Smith ( MWTh 11-12)
[TBA]
NEJS 162a: American Judaism
Jonathan Sarna (MWTh 1-2)
American Judaism from the earliest settlements to the present, with particular emphasis on the various streams of the American Judaism. Judaism’s place in American religion and comparisons to Judaism in other countries.
NEJS 166b "Divided Souls": Jewish Conversion and Identity in Historical Perspective
ChaeRan Freeze (TF 12-1:30)
Examines the dynamics of conversion to and from Judaism from the rabbinic period to the present. Themes include the construction of identity, the place of the convert in the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds, intermarriage and family, as well as social and legal dilemmas.
NEJS 173b: American Jewish Writers in the 20th Century
Sylvia Fishman (MW 3:30-5)
American Jewish fiction in the 20th century presents a panorama of Jewish life from immigration through contemporary times. Short stories, novels, and memoirs illuminate how changing educational and occupational opportunities, transformations in family life, shifting relationships between genders, and conflict between Jewish and American values systems have played themselves out in lives of Jewish Americans.
NEJS 174b: Line of Resistance: Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace
Ilana Szobel (MW 3:30-5)
An exploration of nationalism and gender in Modern Hebrew literature. By discussing various Hebrew texts and Israeli works of art and film, this course explores women's relationship to Zionism, war, peace, the state, politics, and processes of cultural production. Course is taught in Hebrew.
NEJS 179a: Jewish Literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Jonathan Decter (TF 10:30-12)
An introduction to the Hebrew literature of Spain, Germany, and Italy during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Focus on Sephardic literature and on the continuities and discontinuities of Hebrew belles-lettres, giving attention to the impact of Arabic and European literature on Jewish authors.
NEJS 180b: (Re)Imagining Israel: Narrative, Identity, and Zionism in Hebrew Literature
Ilana Szobel (MWTh 12-1)
Main trends and myths in Modern Hebrew Literature. By reading both hegemonic and peripheral Hebrew texts, this course will examine various aspects of the Zionist/national discourse, and will present a multi-layered picture of Israel culture through different voices and mediums.
NEJS 181b: Film and the Holocaust
Sharon Rivo (T 4:30-7:30, Th 5-6)
Survey course focusing on moving images of Jews and Jewish life in fiction and factual films. Includes early Russian and American silents, home movies of European Jews, Yiddish feature films, and Hollywood Classics.
NEJS 185a: Topics in Israeli Social and Political History
Ilan Troen (T 4:30-7:30)
Focuses on key topics in the shaping of the Israeli experience including: Zionist colonization, absorption of immigrants, shaping Jewish identity, personal and national, in a secular sense, and homeland/Diaspora relations. Comparative perspectives are employed
NEJS 186a: Introduction to the Qur’an
Joseph Lumbard (TF 10:30-12)
Traces the history of the Qu’ran as text, its exegesis; and its role in Islamic law, inter-religious polemics, law, theology, politics, and gender issues. Examines the role of the Qu’ran in modern Islamic movements.
NEW COURSE!
NEJS 189b: Prophets and Prophecy in Islam
Joseph Lumbard (T 1:30-4:30)
NEJS 193b: Fundamentalism in Comparative Perspective
Mordechai Inbari (TF 9-10:30)
Examines the phenomena of religious radicalism in comparative perspective--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Focuses on the religious players in the Middle East conflict, with special attention to the role of Jerusalem as a focus for religious extremism.
NEW COURSE!
NEJS 197a: Sources of Islamic Law: People on the Margins
Cengiz Sisman (TBA)
A critical overview of the history and practice of Islamic law, exploring the substance of classical Islamic law, in the areas of people on the margins, the impact of colonialism and modernity on Islamic legal discourses, and the way in which Islamic law is observed in contemporary America.
NEJS 197b: Political Cultures of the Middle East
Kanan Makiya (T 1:30-4:30)
NEW COURSE!
198a: Islam, the Middle East, and the West
Cengiz Sisman (TBA)
Surveys the major political, socio-economic, and cultural changes in the Middle East from the rise of Islam to present times with emphasis on Islam's encounter with the West. Works towards unraveling relations and perceptions between the two worlds from the rise of Islam onwards.
NEJS 200b: Akkadian Literary Texts II
Jamie Novotny (Th 3-6)
NEW COURSE!
211a: Biblical Hebrew Texts
Marc Brettler (MWTh 1-2)
NEJS 233a: Gender and Jewish Studies
Sylvia Fishman (T 1:30-4:30)
Uses gender as a prism to enhance understanding of topics in Judaic studies such as Jewish history and classical Jewish texts, psychology, sexuality and gender role definition, literature and film, contemporary cultures, and religion. Undergraduates may enroll by permission of the instructor.
NEJS 236a: Seminar on Modern Jewish History and Historiography
Eugene Sheppard (TF 1:30-3)
Strongly recommended for graduate students in Judaic studies.
Aims to introduce students to the emergence of history as an academic discipline in the nineteenth century and to provide some acquaintance with the classics of historical scholarship. It will also examine the emergence of Jewish historiography and analyze critically the works of the major Jewish historians. In addition, it will assess the contributions of the "new" historians to historical understanding and see how far their insights can aid in the study of key problems in Jewish history.
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YDSH 20b: Continuing Yiddish
Lillian Leavitt (MWTh 1-2, Th 2-3)
Continues the study of grammar begun in YDSH 10a. Greater emphasis on writing and speaking skills; increase vocabulary and reading skills needed to approach more complex texts. Yiddish songs, films, and literature
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USEMS TAUGHT BY NEJS FACULTY
NEW COURSE!
USEM 22b: War and Revolution in the Middle East 1967-2003
Kanan Makiya (TF 9-10:30)
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