Courses
Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.
The courses listed below are provided by Student Information Services (SIS). This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses within this department and may not be complete. Course registration information can be found at https://sis.jhu.edu/classes.
- AS.130.140 - Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
The Bible is arguably the most read and yet most misinterpreted book of all time, one of the most influential and yet most misapplied work of literature. The Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is Scripture to Jews and Christians yet also a rich collection of literature w/ numerous literary genres that has been highly influential on secular Western culture. At its core, it is our most important literary source that (when wed with archaeology) helps us to understand the people and culture of Iron Age Israel and Judah. This is an introductory course surveying of the books of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) giving primary attention to the religious ideas they contain and the ancient contexts in which they were composed. Topics include: The Academic Study of Religion, Ancient Creation Accounts, Ancestral Religion, The Exodus and Moses, Covenant, Tribalism and Monarchy, The Ideology of Kingship, Prophecy, Priestly Sources, Psalms, Wisdom Literature, and Apocalyptic Thought.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Lewis, Theodore
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Status: Open - AS.210.265 - Individualized Yiddish Practicum
This course will allow students at any stage of Yiddish language acquisition to hone their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. The program will be individualized for each student according to his or her needs while at the same time providing joint activities in which all can participate.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Status: Canceled - AS.130.136 - History of Hasidism
Although it appears to be a relic of pre-modern Judaism, Hasidism is a phenomenon of the modern era of Jewish history. This course surveys the political and social history of the Hasidic movement over the course of the last three centuries. Students will also explore basic features of Hasidic culture and thought in their historical development. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Katz, David
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Status: Canceled - AS.191.335 - Arab-Israeli Conflict (IR)
The course will focus on the origin and development of the Arab-Israeli conflict from its beginnings when Palestine was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, through World War I, The British Mandate over Palestine, and the first Arab-Israeli war (1947-1949). It will then examine the period of the Arab-Israeli wars of 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982, the Palestinian Intifadas (1987-1993 and 2000-2005); and the development of the Arab-Israeli peace process from its beginnings with the Egyptian-Israeli treaty of 1979, the Oslo I and Oslo II agreements of 1993 and 1995, Israel's peace treaty with Jordan of 1994, the Road Map of 2003; and the periodic peace talks between Israel and Syria. The conflict will be analyzed against the background of great power intervention in the Middle East, the rise of political Islam and the dynamics of Intra-Arab politics, and will consider the impact of the Arab Spring.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Freedman, Robert
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: T 4:00PM - 6:30PM
Status: Open - AS.210.163 - Elementary Yiddish I
Year-long course. Includes the four language skills, reading,writing, listening, and speaking, and introduces students to Yiddish culture through text, song, and film. Emphasis is placed both on the acquisition of Yiddish as a tool for the study of Yiddish literature and Ashkenazic history and culture, and on the active use of the language in oral and written communication. Both semesters must be taken with a passing grade to receive credit. Students wishing to retain credits for Yiddish Elements I must complete Yiddish Elements II with a passing grade.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Status: Open - AS.150.435 - Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed & Political Theology
The seminar is an in-depth study of Maimonides’ magisterial work, the Guide of the Perplexed. Special attention will be given to Maimonides’ views about the political functions of religion. We will also read modern commentaries and responses to the Guide, by Leibniz, Spinoza, and Salomon Maimon.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Melamed, Yitzhak Yohanan
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: M 9:30AM - 12:00PM
Status: Open - AS.100.308 - Introduction to the History of Jewish Mysticism
The course will familiarize the student with the history of the main phenomena of Jewish mysticism from the ancient times to the present.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: T 1:30PM - 3:50PM
Status: Open - AS.130.446 - Readings - Hebrew Narrative and Poetry
Intermediate readings in a variety of narratives with some exposure to poetic text
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Medill, Kathryn Anne
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Status: Open - AS.100.369 - Themes and Concepts in Jewish History
The course will introduce students to the main themes and debates in Jewish historiography.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Maciejko, Pawel Tadeusz
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: Th 1:30PM - 3:50PM
Status: Open - AS.130.387 - The Poetics of Biblical Prose and Verse
An exploration of how ancient Israelite techniques of literary textual and inter-textual patterning contributes to cohesion and meaning in biblical prose and verse. Attention will be given to the distinguishing characteristics of Hebrew verse in relation to prose, and to a range of different kinds of prose in Israelite literature. These poetics will be exemplified in close readings of selected texts from the Hebrew Bible in English.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Gropp, Douglas Marvin
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Status: Open - AS.211.337 - Wandering Jews? Jewish Migration in Film and Literature
Migration in all its forms has played a major role in shaping Jewish identity throughout history. From the Biblical exodus from Egypt through the beginnings of the diaspora under the Romans to the massive European Jewish immigration to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the founding of the state of Israel, the migrations of Jews have also had a major place in Jewish literature. Going all the way back to the Bible, but focusing on the 20th century, this course will explore the ways in which literature and film represent the experience of migration, whether negative (compelled by expulsion or violence); positive (lured by economic or social opportunity); or somewhere in-between. We will examine poetry, plays, prose and film in Yiddish, German, Hebrew, and English (all in translation) on aspects of Jewish migration including the social and political factors motivating migration from the countryside to the shtetl (town) to the city and from Central and Eastern Europe to the Americas, Palestine, and Israel. Issues under discussion will include: adaptation and assimilation; minority rights; what is the relationship of old and new or major and minor languages and literatures?; what is the place of tradition and heritage in a diasporic context? We will also consider the resonances between contemporary debates on migration and historical examples of these issues as they are reflected in literature and film.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Status: Open - AS.211.361 - Narratives of Dissent in Israeli Society and Culture
In this course we will study and analyze the notion of dissent in Israeli society and culture on its various literary and artistic forms. We will examine the emergence and the formation of various political and social protest movements, such as the Israeli Black Panthers, Israeli feminism and the 2011 Social Justice protest. We will discuss at length the history and the nature of dissent in the military and in relation to Israeli wars and will track changes in these relations. Significant portion of the course will be dedicated to the literary, cinematic and artistic aspects of Israeli dissent and their influence on Israeli discourse. We will explore the nature and role of specific genres and media such as the Israeli satire, Israeli television, newspaper op-ed and the recent emergence of social media. Students wishing to work in English exclusively for 3 credits should enroll in section one. Students who are fluent in Hebrew and are wishing to attend an additional hour-long Hebrew discussion session per week with Professor Cohen (time TBD in consultation with enrolled students) for 4 credits should enroll in section two.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Status: Open - AS.384.215 - Second Year Hebrew
Designed to enrich vocabulary and provide intensive grammatical review, and enhance fluency in reading, writing and comprehension. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies. Final day/time will be determined during the first week of classes based on students’ schedules.
Credits: 4.00
Instructor: Cohen, Zvi
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: M 9:00AM - 9:50AM, TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Status: Open - AS.216.444 - The Apocalypse in Literature and Film
“Everything which we loved is lost! We are in a desert” – this emotional assertion was the reaction to Kazimir Malevich’s 1915 painting The Black Square, as the artist himself recalled it. This sentiment of fearing, warning and even witnessing the end of the world as we know it, will stand at the center of the course. We will study the literary and cinematic representations of this apocalyptic notion and investigate its theoretical, theological, physiological and aesthetic aspects. We will seek to trace the narrative dynamics as well as literary and cinematic means of apocalyptic representations in works from various periods, languages, cultures and religions. Among the issues to be discussed: what is the apocalypse, biblical apocalypse, dystopia and nostalgia, trauma and post trauma, war and the apocalypse, the Holocaust as the end of civilization, the atomic bomb, realism and anti-realism, political changes and the apocalypse in popular culture.
Credits: 3.00
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Status: Open - AS.384.115 - First Year Hebrew
Designed to provide reading and writing mastery, to provide a foundation in Hebrew grammar and to provide basic conversational skills. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies. Final day/time will be determined during the first week of classes based on students’ schedules.
Credits: 4.00
Instructor: Cohen, Zvi
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: F 12:00PM - 1:30PM, T 2:00PM - 2:50PM, Th 1:50PM - 2:50PM
Status: Open - AS.384.315 - Third Year Hebrew
Designed to maximize comprehension and the spoken language through literary and newspaper excerpts providing the student with the language of an educated Israeli. Cross-listed with Jewish Studies. Final day/time will be determined during the first week of classes based on students’ schedules.
Credits: 4.00
Instructor: Cohen, Zvi
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: F 11:00AM - 11:50AM, TTh 10:35AM - 11:50AM
Status: Open - AS.211.361 - Narratives of Dissent in Israeli Society and Culture
In this course we will study and analyze the notion of dissent in Israeli society and culture on its various literary and artistic forms. We will examine the emergence and the formation of various political and social protest movements, such as the Israeli Black Panthers, Israeli feminism and the 2011 Social Justice protest. We will discuss at length the history and the nature of dissent in the military and in relation to Israeli wars and will track changes in these relations. Significant portion of the course will be dedicated to the literary, cinematic and artistic aspects of Israeli dissent and their influence on Israeli discourse. We will explore the nature and role of specific genres and media such as the Israeli satire, Israeli television, newspaper op-ed and the recent emergence of social media. Students wishing to work in English exclusively for 3 credits should enroll in section one. Students who are fluent in Hebrew and are wishing to attend an additional hour-long Hebrew discussion session per week with Professor Cohen (time TBD in consultation with enrolled students) for 4 credits should enroll in section two.
Credits: 4.00
Instructor: Cohen, Zvi, Stahl, Neta
Term: Fall 2017
Meetings: M 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Status: Open