Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Gannit Ankori – Fine Arts
Ilana Szobel – Comparative Literature; Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Explores how the Creative Arts reflect, challenge, and reconfigure various cleavages and barriers that characterize contemporary Israeli society. This course will focus on literary, visual and cinematic artworks, organized around thematic clusters and major theoretical issues. Usually offered every second year.

Alexander Kaye – Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Investigates Israeli history, politics, and culture through the lens of major legal controversies including the tension between "Jewish" and "democratic," the Shoah in Israeli history, the Occupied Territories, legislation of family life and religious practice and more. Usually offered every second year.

ChaeRan Yoo Freeze – Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
Explores the construction of Jewish sexuality from Talmudic times to the present. Themes include rabbinic views of sex, niddah, illicit relations, masculinity, medieval erotic poetry, Ashkenazi and Sephardic sexual practices, and sexual symbolism in mystic literature; the discourse on sex, race, and nationalism in Europe; debates about masculinity, sexual orientation, and stereotypes in America and Israel. Usually offered every third year.

Ilana Szobel – Comparative Literature; Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Taught in Hebrew.
An exploration of poetics and identity in modern Hebrew literature. By offering a feminist and psychoanalytic reading of various Hebrew texts, this seminar explores questions of personal and national identity, otherness, visibility, and marginality in the Israeli context. Usually offered every second year.

Ellen Smith - Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership
Using readings, case studies, field trips, and class discussions, this course gives students introductory theoretical, historical, bibliographic, and hands-on skills for interpreting and producing exhibitions, museums, and historic sites in American, Europe, and Israel. Usually offered every second year.

Gary Samore – Crown Center for Middle East Studies
Explores and analyzes the theories behind, dynamics within, and problems encountered with arms control as part of regional security in the Middle East and Asia, with emphasis on the nuclear weapons programs of Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan and North Korea. Usually offered every year.

Guy Antebi – Near Eastern & Judaic Studies

Prerequisite: Any 20-level Hebrew course or the equivalent as determined by placement examination. Four class hours and one lab hour per week.

A continuation of HBRW 20b. An intermediate- to mid-level course that helps students strengthen their skills at this level. Contemporary cultural aspects will be stressed and a variety of materials will be used. Usually offered every semester.

Guy Antebi – Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or the equivalent. Four class hours per week.

Reinforces the acquired skills of speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing at the intermediate to mid/high level. Contemporary cultural aspects are stressed; conversational Hebrew and reading of selections from modern literature, political essays, and newspaper articles. Usually offered every semester.

Sara Hascal – Hebrew

Prerequisite: Any 30-level Hebrew course or permission of the instructor.

An intermediate- to mid/high-level conversation course for students who wish to improve their speaking skills before entering more advanced-level courses. Role playing, vocabulary building, and guided speaking activities develop conversational skills for various situations. Reading and discussion of contemporary texts, based on the popular Israeli TV series, "Yellow Peppers", assist in vocabulary building. Usually offered every fourth year.