ED/HRNS 168a Summer Camp: The American Jewish Experience

How did American summer camps evolve? How did Jews appropriate this form for their communal needs? How did leadership develop and what are the pressing issues of today? These questions will be examined from historical, educational, and managerial perspectives. Usually offered every second year.

HRNS 110a Learning to Lead: Exploring Jewish Leadership in Principle and Practice

Examines the theories, meaning, and exercise of Jewish communal leadership. Students will develop several important tools of leadership and focus on honing a personal vision and educational path toward achieving that vision. Throughout the course, attention will be on the unique challenges facing the Jewish community in light of the crises unfolding in the broader world.

Special one-time offering for Summer 2022.

NEJS 135b Philosophy of Jewish Education
[ dl ]
What should Jewish education be? What are its legitimate goals? What are the competing visions of an educated Jew, and how do these influence educational practice? How is Jewish education similar to and different from other kinds of religious education? Usually offered every second year.
Jon Levisohn

NEJS 145a History of the State of Israel
[ hum ]

Examines the development of the State of Israel from its foundation to the present time. Israel's politics, society, and culture will be thematically analyzed. Usually offered every year.

NEJS 171a Teaching and Learning Modern Jewish History, the Holocaust, and Israel
[ hum ]

Examines why we teach history, how students learn history, the uses of public history, and what history means within a Jewish context. Special emphasis is placed on teaching with primary sources, digital resources, and oral history. Includes an oral history project in cooperation with the Jewish Women's Archive and Keshet (a Jewish LGBTQ organization), and an introduction to Holocaust education with Facing History and Ourselves. Usually offered every third year.

NEJS 171b Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World: Service and Social Justice in Theory and Practice
[ hum ]

What does tikkun olam mean? What is a life of service? What should one learn from service-learning? Does "social justice" actually do any good? This is a service-learning course, and includes a service component in the field. Usually offered every third year.

ED/HRNS 390a Independent Study

ED/HRNS 391a Independent Study

Yields half-course credit.

ED/HRNS 391f Independent Study

Half-semester course. Yields half-course credit.

HRNS 202b Jewish Passages: Developing through the Cycles of Jewish Life

Thirteen-year-old American Jewish teens celebrating their bnei-mitzvah are engaging with a historic Jewish passage that has changed radically over the past century, as American Jews have continually adapted Jewish life cycle rituals to narrate who they are in the midst of a changing cultural milieu. From naming babies to celebrating a 95th birthday, Jewish passages are also viewed as opportunities for Jewish professionals to help individuals and families locate themselves within cycles of Jewish life. This course helps students understand how Judaism’s life cycle rituals relate to developmental psychologists’ understanding of the course of human development, while also bringing in the ways social scientists describe the evolution of these rituals. Usually offered every fourth year.

HRNS 230a Managing Jewish Nonprofits

Open to graduate students from other departments with permission of instructor.

Presents an overview for non-MBA students of the most widely-used principles, tools, and practices employed by managers of Jewish nonprofit organizations. Covers such topics as: mission, governance, strategic planning, human resource management, financial resources, marketing, and communications. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 231b The American Jewish Community in Historical Perspective

Uses history to shed light on the issues and challenges facing the contemporary American Jewish community. This course asks how the community assumed its current shape, and uses a series of historical case studies to examine past crises and the lessons that might be learned from them. The goal of this course is to help students craft a "usable past" - one that employs the hindsight of history to understand the present and plan ahead for the future. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 231f The American Jewish Community in Historical Perspective

Half-semester course. Yields half-course credit.

Uses history to shed light on the issues and challenges facing the contemporary American Jewish community. This course asks how the community assumed its current shape, and uses a series of historical case studies to examine past crises and the lessons that might be learned from them. The goal of this course is to help students craft a "usable past" - one that employs the hindsight of history to understand the present and plan ahead for the future. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 233f Confronting Contemporary Antisemitism

“An ancient hatred has been reborn,” wrote the late Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom in 2015, referring to the sharp increase in antisemitic incidents in Europe over the past decade. In the American context we have also witnessed this disturbing trend. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions have experienced violent attacks and Jewish professionals working on college campuses are grappling with a reality of open anti-Israel activity on campus by student groups. This alarming increase in anti-Jewish propaganda and violence necessitates that Jewish professional leaders, trained by the Hornstein program, understand the complex factors that contribute to antisemitism, have tools to prevent, confront and combat it, and are prepared to respond with effective crisis leadership should attacks occur in their communities. Students should be prepared to read and analyze some “hard core” antisemitica in this class. It is impossible to understand antisemitism without reading the primary sources themselves, however odious they may be.

Success in this two-credit course requires that students will spend a minimum of 4.5 hours of study time per week in preparation for class (readings, papers, homework, group projects, meeting with the professor, etc.). For learning to be effective, it is imperative that you prepare adequately for class and, in particular, acquaint yourself with the assigned readings. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 234a Human Resources Management in Jewish Nonprofits

Human resource management (HRM) aligns people with the mission of an organization. This course considers general principles of HRM and their application to Jewish and other non-profit organizations. Focuses on concepts and strategies that increase organization effectiveness (e.g., dealing with lay leaders, religious-secular differences) to enhance the value of people in organizations served. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 234f Human Resources Management in Jewish Nonprofits

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Human resource management (HRM) aligns people with the mission of an organization. This course considers general principles of HRM and their application to Jewish and other non-profit organizations. Focuses on concepts and strategies that increase organization effectiveness (e.g., dealing with lay leaders, religious-secular differences) to enhance the value of people in organizations served. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 237b Organizational Behavior in Jewish Nonprofits

Core course required for all Hornstein students. Also open to undergraduates and to graduate students from other departments with permission and signature of instructor.

Presents contemporary management theories, case studies, skill-building exercises, and traditional Jewish teachings to provide a conceptual understanding of individual and group behavior in Jewish nonprofit organizations. Covers such topics as motivation, trust, ethics, group dynamics, decision-making, power, conflict, influence, negotiation, lay-professional relations, leadership, organizational culture, and organizational change. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 241a Skills and Techniques in Jewish Philanthropy and Fundraising

Core course required of all Hornstein students.

Provides a conceptual framework and develops a community organizing approach, implementing fundraising campaigns for Jewish communal enterprises. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 246a Statistics for Jewish Professional Leaders

Core course required of all Hornstein students. 

Provides an introduction to statistical thinking and analytical methods. Focus is on understanding statistical reasoning and interpreting analyses. Topics include descriptive and inferential statistics applied to understanding survey research, evaluation, and policy studies relevant to Jewish organizational leadership. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 247a Program Evaluation for Jewish Professional Leaders

Core course required of all Hornstein students.

Provides participants with an understanding of the basic concepts of evaluation research and their application to Jewish communal policy. Emphasizes methodological issues and their application to social interventions and program delivery using exemplars from the Jewish communal sphere. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 260f Jewish Community and Jewish Identity

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Focuses on understanding the qualities and skills required of Jewish leadership facing our most complex challenges and choices. How particular? How universal? Is Israel the most divisive issue in American Jewish life or our most powerful unifying force? What will community and Peoplehood mean for the Millennial generation and the ones that follow. In particular we'll focus on Jewish community and its relationship to the crucial institutions and networks that comprise Jewish Community, The important role that community and its institutions play in shaping Jewish identity and conversely the critical role that Jewish identity plays as the glue that holds community together. We will therefore explore the nature and meaning of Jewish identity, historically and for the next generation and our critical relationship to Israel as it goes through its own challenges. We will also try to better understand the interaction between leadership and management when confronting periods of redefinition. As leaders we must do more than manage a good 'process.' We must have a future vision of our own and a preferred path for getting there. Usually offered every second year.

HRNS 297a Hornstein Professional Field Experience

Open to Hornstein students who have completed at least one semester of course work in the program. Course yields half-course credit.

Students work 150-250 hours under the mentorship of a leader in a Jewish nonprofit organization. Placements are carefully designed to advance professional leadership skills and match students' interests and career goals. Each student is advised by a faculty member and by the manager of fieldwork and alumni relations. Usually offered every semester.

HRNS 298a Advanced Professional Field Experience

Prerequisite: HRNS 297a or permission of the instructor. Course yields half-course credit.

For Hornstein students who wish to pursue an additional elective field experience beyond the requirement of HRNS 297a. Students work a minimum of 125 hours in a Jewish nonprofit organization, and are required to conduct a literature review and submit a related paper that is connected to their fieldwork project. Fieldwork projects are carefully designed to provide students with practical experience as well as guidance and mentoring from experienced Jewish professionals. Each student is advised by the Director of Field Experience Programs. Usually offered every semester.

HRNS 299a Master's Thesis

HRNS 332a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 333f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.
 

HRNS 334a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 335f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 338a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 339f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 340a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 342a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 343f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 346a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 347f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 348a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 349f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 350a Jewish Professional Leadership Seminar on Israel

Required core course for all Hornstein students. Yields half-course credit.

Examines contemporary issues in Israeli society and its relationship with Diaspora communities. Course begins with on-campus sessions and culminates in Israel. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 350b Myra Kraft Seminar in Israel

Yields half-course credit.

An intensive examination of contemporary issues in Israeli society and its relationship with Diaspora communities. Course culminates in Israel. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 351a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 352f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 355a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 356f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 357a Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

HRNS 358f Readings in Jewish Professional Leadership

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

HRNS 380a Proseminar: Issues, Structure, and Perspectives of the American Jewish Community

Required course for all Hornstein students.

An introduction to key issues in the structure and perspectives of the American Jewish community. Students will develop a shared background, language, and experiences in their first semester to serve as a foundation throughout their career--both at Brandeis and in the field. Usually offered every year.

HRNS 390a Independent Study

HRNS 399a Capstone

Yields half-course credit.

The final course in the Hornstein curriculum, the class transitions Hornstein learning to the coming professional workplace in the Jewish community through faculty "last lectures," critical assessments of current issues, and student presentations. Usually offered every year.

HRNS/NEJ 261a Strategies and Quandaries in Contemporary Leadership

Examines models of leadership and challenges facing leaders in contemporary organizational life, through Jewish history and culture placed in conversation with other cultural and disciplinary perspectives from critical race studies, women's and gender studies, disability studies, and indigenous studies. Classes will be discussion-based, centered around the productive contrasts and interactions between the readings, and the contemporary practices and experiences of students' leadership. Usually offered every second year.

ED/NEJS 170b Inside Jewish Education: Language, Literacy, and Reading
[ hum ]

Combines autobiography, classroom videotapes, curriculum investigation and fieldwork to explore the purposes, practices and effects of contemporary Jewish education in its many forms and venues. Usually offered every other year.

NEJS 135b Philosophy of Jewish Education
[ dl ]
What should Jewish education be? What are its legitimate goals? What are the competing visions of an educated Jew, and how do these influence educational practice? How is Jewish education similar to and different from other kinds of religious education? Usually offered every second year.
Jon Levisohn

NEJS 145a History of the State of Israel
[ hum ]

Examines the development of the State of Israel from its foundation to the present time. Israel's politics, society, and culture will be thematically analyzed. Usually offered every year.

NEJS 169b From Sunday Schools to Birthright: History of American Jewish Education
[ hum ]

Empowers students to articulate a reality-based, transformative vision of Jewish education that is grounded in an appreciation for the history and sociology of American Jewish education. It will familiarize students with and contextualize the present Jewish educational landscape, through the use of historical case studies and current research, encouraging students to view the field from an evolutionary perspective. The seminar will address Jewish education in all its forms, including formal and informal settings (e.g., schools, camps, youth groups, educational tourism). Usually offered every third year.

NEJS 171a Teaching and Learning Modern Jewish History, the Holocaust, and Israel
[ hum ]

Examines why we teach history, how students learn history, the uses of public history, and what history means within a Jewish context. Special emphasis is placed on teaching with primary sources, digital resources, and oral history. Includes an oral history project in cooperation with the Jewish Women's Archive and Keshet (a Jewish LGBTQ organization), and an introduction to Holocaust education with Facing History and Ourselves. Usually offered every third year.

NEJS 171b Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World: Service and Social Justice in Theory and Practice
[ hum ]

What does tikkun olam mean? What is a life of service? What should one learn from service-learning? Does "social justice" actually do any good? This is a service-learning course, and includes a service component in the field. Usually offered every third year.