Elementary Modern Hebrew is the first exposure to the language as currently used in Israel in all its functional contexts. All components of the language are discussed: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Simple idiomatic sentences and short texts in Hebrew are used. Students learn the Hebrew alphabet, words and short sentences. Cultural aspects of Israel will be intertwined throughout the course curriculum.

• Days/Times: MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 11/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew for Beginners 121 is a continuation of Hebrew 120 and as such, students are required to have a foundation in Hebrew. The course will enhance and continue to expose students to Hebrew grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. All components of the Hebrew language will be emphasized in this course; we will highlight verbs, adjectives, and the ability to read longer texts. Speaking in Hebrew will also be highlighted to promote students’ engagement and communication. Cultural aspects of the language will be incorporated into lessons too

• Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Bimka, Maya
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 8/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Look at Jewish history and culture backwards and forwards through the Yiddish language! The vernacular of Ashkenazi Jews for a thousand years, Yiddish connects back to recent and distant generations in Europe, America, and elsewhere. But Yiddish is not just a bridge to the past, it is also the center of vibrant contemporary cultures, both religious and secular. This four-skills language class (reading, writing, listening, speaking) places emphasis on the active use of Yiddish in oral and written communication while guiding students towards the use of Yiddish as a tool for the study of Yiddish literature and Ashkenazi history and culture.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Erichsen, Käthe Zarah; Lang, Beatrice
• Room: Smokler Center 214
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 7/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This four-skills language class (reading, writing, listening, speaking) places emphasis on the active use of Yiddish in oral and written communication while guiding students towards the use of Yiddish as a tool for the study of Yiddish literature and Ashkenazi history and culture. Continuation of 210.163, but students may join the class with the permission of the instructor.

• Days/Times: Th 10:30AM - 11:45AM, W 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Allardice, Corbin B; Lang, Beatrice
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 10/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Intermediate Modern Hebrew enhances and enforces previous knowledge of Hebrew as acquired from previous foundational coursework and/or experience. Grammatical aspects of the language such as past and present tenses as well as combined and complex sentence syntax and construction would be applied. Reading comprehension and writing skills will be emphasized. Modern Israeli cultural links and facets of the Hebrew language will also be introduced to inform the holistic understanding of the modern language.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center 214
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 7/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

For students who have completed one year of Yiddish language study or equivalent, this course will provide the opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Yiddish culture while continuing to improve their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking Yiddish. Alongside textbook-based language work, students will read, listen to and interact with a variety of texts, for example literature, journalism and oral history.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 9/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Advanced Modern Hebrew I will focus on conversational and interactive language skills to expose learners to attributes of different genres and layers of the language. Students will be introduced to various original texts and lingual patterns to better understand and formulate proper syntax. The course will include contemporary readings from Israeli journalism and essays, along with other relevant Hebrew resources to inform class discussions and students’ reflective writings. Israeli cultural aspects will be integral to the course curriculum.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit; Nachum, Adi
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 2/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course will provide students who have completed at least two years of Yiddish with the opportunity to hone their skills in all four language areas: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It will include advanced grammar study, readings in Yiddish literature, and work with audio/video recordings, taking into account the interests of each individual student.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice; Strauss, Bezalel Dov
• Room: Smokler Center Library
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 9/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

The two most distinctive forms of Jewish urban settlement in Europe were the ghetto and the shtetl. Shtetls were small market towns in eastern Europe with large Jewish populations; in western European cities that restricted Jewish residence, ghettos were the small neighborhoods where Jews were permitted to live. Both arose in the 16th century - shtetls in Polish lands, while the first ghetto was in Venice - but their development took very different paths in the modern period. With industrialization, urbanization, and mass migration transforming Jewish life in the 19th century, shtetls became ubiquitous elements of Jewish art and literature as objects of nostalgia and metaphors for a range of ideas about Jewish identity and history. Ghettos, after disappearing in the 19th century, were revived by the Nazis as an integral part of their genocide of Europe's Jews. This course will survey shtetls and ghettos in history and culture, considering their role in antisemitic policy and fantasy as well as in literary and artistic representations of Jewish culture, identity, and social autonomy. Our focus will be on literature (including novels, travelogues, and journalism) and art from the 19th century to the present. All readings in English.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room: Gilman 479
• Status: Canceled
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): INST-GLOBAL

Emerging during a national secular awakening that opposed traditional Judaism and aligned itself with European modernism, Hebrew poetry aimed to forge a collective identity. However, this national identity was mainly shaped in masculine terms. Our discussion will focus on how the development of diverse perceptions of selfhood and poetics challenged traditional notions of masculinity. Through close readings of poems in the original Hebrew and within a framework of gender and nationality theories, this seminar will explore the journey of Hebrew women poets from the early 20th century to the present as they build and reshape their poetic selves.

• Days/Times: M 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room: Gilman 10
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 6/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 0/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 4/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Training for professional academic purposes.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 8/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Training for professional academic purposes.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Closed
• Seats Available: 9/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Elementary Modern Hebrew is the first exposure to the language as currently used in Israel in all its functional contexts. All components of the language are discussed: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Simple idiomatic sentences and short texts in Hebrew are used. Students learn the Hebrew alphabet, words and short sentences. Cultural aspects of Israel will be intertwined throughout the course curriculum.

• Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Bimka, Maya
• Room: Smokler Center Library
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew for Beginners 121 is a continuation of Hebrew 120 and as such, students are required to have a foundation in Hebrew. The course will enhance and continue to expose students to Hebrew grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. All components of the Hebrew language will be emphasized in this course; we will highlight verbs, adjectives, and the ability to read longer texts. Speaking in Hebrew will also be highlighted to promote students’ engagement and communication. Cultural aspects of the language will be incorporated into lessons too

• Days/Times: MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center Library
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew for Beginners 122 is a continuation of Hebrew 120 and 121 and, as such, students are required to have a foundation in Hebrew. The course will enhance and continue to expose students to Hebrew grammar, vocabulary, and syntax. All components of the Hebrew language will be emphasized in this course; we will highlight verbs, adjectives, and the ability to read longer texts. Speaking in Hebrew will also be highlighted to promote students’ engagement and communication. Cultural aspects of the language will be incorporated into lessons too

• Days/Times: MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center Library
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/2
• PosTag(s): n/a

Look at Jewish history and culture backwards and forwards through the Yiddish language! The vernacular of Ashkenazi Jews for a thousand years, Yiddish connects back to recent and distant generations in Europe, America, and elsewhere. But Yiddish is not just a bridge to the past, it is also the center of vibrant contemporary cultures, both religious and secular. This four-skills language class (reading, writing, listening, speaking) places emphasis on the active use of Yiddish in oral and written communication while guiding students towards the use of Yiddish as a tool for the study of Yiddish literature and Ashkenazi history and culture.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Allardice, Corbin B; Reisberg, Joseph Benjamin
• Room: Smokler Center 214
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This four-skills language class (reading, writing, listening, speaking) places emphasis on the active use of Yiddish in oral and written communication while guiding students towards the use of Yiddish as a tool for the study of Yiddish literature and Ashkenazi history and culture. Continuation of 210.163, but students may join mid-year with the permission of the instructor.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice; Staff
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This project will offer a 1 credit course over the course of 5 weeks during Spring 2026 to students who have demonstrated intermediate level proficiency and/ or above in Hebrew and/or in Arabic. Through this course, students will get the opportunity to explore the many linguistic, social, and cultural similarities and differences between the two semitic languages. The ultimate goal of the course would be to promote dialogue and expose students to new perspectives through cultural exchanges and comparisons. Students will build stronger connections among learners, be encouraged cross-cultural engagement, and nuance each other’s language and perspectives. This class is meant to promote both inter- and intra- cultural conversations, appealing to students of diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. (Elementary Hebrew or/and Arabic required.)

• Days/Times: TTh 2:00PM - 3:15PM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit; Jafire, Sana
• Room: Gilman 479
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Intermediate Hebrew level II is a continuation of the course Hebrew 220 and as such is a requirement for entry. In the course, grammatical aspects of the language will be introduced in the focus of past and future tenses. Combined and complex sentences with proper syntax and reading comprehension and writing skills will be required. Modern Israeli cultural aspects of the Hebrew language will be introduced as well and will be part of the holistic understanding of the modern language.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/11
• PosTag(s): n/a

For students who have completed one year of Yiddish language study or equivalent, this course will provide the opportunity to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Yiddish culture while continuing to improve their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking Yiddish. Alongside textbook-based language work, students will read, listen to and interact with a variety of texts, for example literature, journalism and oral history.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Allardice, Corbin B
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Continuation of Intermediate Yiddish I: this course will focus on the Yiddish language as a key to understanding the culture of Yiddish-speaking Jews. Topics in Yiddish literature, cultural history and contemporary culture will be explored through written and aural texts, and these primary sources will be used as a springboard for work on all the language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 11/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Continuation of Intermediate Yiddish Texts I. Students will continue to broaden and deepen their knowledge of Yiddish culture while improving their Yiddish language skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Alongside textbook-based language work, students will read, listen to, and interact with a variety of texts.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course will expand students’ fluencies in Modern Hebrew through Hebrew-dialogic Israeli and Palestinian cinema, examining and comparing several layers of a contemporary Hebrew-speaking society. For this class, students will view, discuss, and write about films with Hebrew as the primary spoken language. Through aural interpretation and subtitles, students will understand, analyze, and reflectively discuss the diversity of Hebrew-speaking cultures within society and the provenance and intentionalities of the dialects exhibited throughout a given film. Linguistic nuance, slang, and interpretive aspects of Hebrew as shown in the chosen films will prompt students to examine this modality of the expression of contemporary Hebrew. The course will be taught primarily in Hebrew and will be open to students who have matriculated to at least 200-level coursework of Modern Hebrew.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course studies the representation of religious themes in modern literature and cinema. Most of the works it covers are not defined as sacred but include religious themes as part of their narrative, images, language, and symbolic meaning. The course will cover materials related to the three monotheistic religions and general questions across religions, nations, and cultures. It also includes asking general theoretical questions such as: what is faith, and why do we need it? What are the differences between genres and media when representing religious topics, how god is represented in artistic forms, and how contemporary tensions between tradition and modernity enter the creative sphere?

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

The course will offer a reading and analysis of selected works of medieval Hebrew poetry, focusing on prominent poets such as Samuel ha-Nagid, Moses ibn Ezra, and Judah Halevi. We will explore the content and form of their poetry, as well as the historical context and sources from which it emerged. Alongside literary analysis, there will be linguistic and philological examination, addressing the connections between medieval Hebrew poetry and grammar, as well as the relationship between the poet and the grammarian. Taught in Hebrew. Reading and speaking knowledge of Hebrew is required.

• Days/Times: M 4:30PM - 7:00PM
• Instructor: Chen, Elnatan
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 10/10
• PosTag(s): n/a

The two most distinctive forms of Jewish urban settlement in Europe were the ghetto and the shtetl. Shtetls were small market towns in eastern Europe with large Jewish populations; in western European cities that restricted Jewish residence, ghettos were the small neighborhoods where Jews were permitted to live. Both arose in the 16th century - shtetls in Polish lands, while the first ghetto was in Venice - but their development took very different paths in the modern period. With industrialization, urbanization, and mass migration transforming Jewish life in the 19th century, shtetls became ubiquitous elements of Jewish art and literature as objects of nostalgia and metaphors for a range of ideas about Jewish identity and history. Ghettos, after disappearing in the 19th century, were reconstituted by the Nazis as an integral part of their genocide of Europe's Jews. This course will survey shtetls and ghettos in history and culture, considering their role in representations and theories of Jewish culture, identity, and social autonomy as well as in antisemitic policy and fantasy. Primary sources will be drawn from Yiddish, German, and Hebrew literature (including novels, travelogues, and journalism) and art from the 19th century to the present. Theoretical and secondary readings will address, among other topics, how diaspora, home, and exile function as elements of social and aesthetic thinking. All readings available in English translation.

• Days/Times: W 1:00PM - 3:00PM
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room: Gilman 479
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

The term ‘Other’ is rooted in the Self-Other opposition, as it emerged in German Idealism and was adopted by Psychoanalysis, Post-Colonial, and Feminist theories. In this advanced seminar, we will examine the history of this opposition and utilize its various transformations within the philosophical, psychological, political and cultural studies discourse to understand its diverse roles in the modern Hebrew text. (Hebrew reading proficiency required.)

• Days/Times: M 4:30PM - 6:30PM
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 4/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Stahl, Neta
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/5
• PosTag(s): n/a

Training for professional academic purposes.

• Days/Times:
• Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
• Room:  
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a