This listing provides a snapshot of courses within this program and may not be complete. All course registration information can be found on the SIS website.
To see a complete list of courses offered and their descriptions, visit the online course catalog.
Column one has the course number and section. Other columns show the course title, days offered, instructor's name, room number, if the course is cross-referenced with another program, and a option to view additional course information in a pop-up window.
Course # (Section)
Title
Day/Times
Instructor
Location
Term
Course Details
AS.001.112 (01)
FYS: Story, Song, Food, And Film: A Thousand Years Of Jewish Culture
Th 1:00PM - 3:30PM
Lang, Beatrice
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
FYS: Story, Song, Food, And Film: A Thousand Years Of Jewish Culture AS.001.112 (01)
Most Jews in America today are descendants of Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe. This First-Year Seminar will introduce students to the thousand-year history and culture of Ashkenazi Jews through their vernacular, Yiddish. How did Ashkenazi Jews maintain a distinct identity, even while borrowing cultural forms from their non-Jewish neighbors? How did Jews in the modern period challenge tradition and create new forms of Jewish identity? How did Eastern European immigrants adapt to life in America? In addition to studying a wide range of texts—including fiction, poetry, memoir, song, and film—students will learn how to read the Yiddish alphabet, and will explore food culture by preparing Ashkenazi Jewish dishes. No prior knowledge of Yiddish is necessary for this course.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: Th 1:00PM - 3:30PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.120 (01)
Elementary Modern Hebrew
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Elementary Modern Hebrew AS.210.120 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Gilman 313
Status: Open
Seats Available: 13/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.163 (01)
Elementary Yiddish I
T 3:00PM - 4:15PM, Th 4:00PM - 5:15PM
Shoulson, Sophia Elizabeth
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Elementary Yiddish I AS.210.163 (01)
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. This class will be using In Eynem, the brand new Yiddish language program from the Yiddish Book Center.
Cannot be taken Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 3:00PM - 4:15PM, Th 4:00PM - 5:15PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Shoulson, Sophia Elizabeth
Room: Smokler Center 214
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.220 (01)
Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Intermediate Modern Hebrew I AS.210.220 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Gilman 313
Status: Open
Seats Available: 9/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.263 (01)
Intermediate Yiddish I
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Lang, Beatrice
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Intermediate Yiddish I AS.210.263 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Room: Smokler Center 214
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/6
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.320 (01)
Advanced Modern Hebrew I
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Advanced Modern Hebrew I AS.210.320 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Gilman 474
Status: Open
Seats Available: 5/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.211.325 (01)
Representing Otherness in Literature and Film
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Stahl, Neta
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Representing Otherness in Literature and Film AS.211.325 (01)
The term 'Otherness' is known to be rooted in the Self-Other opposition as it emerged in German Idealism, adopted by psychoanalysis and transformed to Post-Colonial and Feminist theories. This theoretical framework will allow us to explore the role of the Other in literature and cinema. Students will become familiar with the historical development of the notion of the “stranger” through reading and analyzing various contemporary works of prose, poetry and cinema from various countries. We will analyze the ways in which these works depict Otherness and will investigate questions regarding their social, political and philosophical framework as well as the literary and cinematographic devices they employ. The course will have a comparative nature with the aim of learning more about the differences between the literary and cinematic representations.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Room: Smokler Center Library
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.601 (01)
Eastern European Literature
M 3:30PM - 5:30PM
Jerzak, Katarzyna
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Eastern European Literature AS.216.601 (01)
Twentieth-century and contemporary Eastern European Literature is the locus of poetry and the essay. In this course we shall examine classic authors, such as Bruno Schulz, Zbigniew Herbert, and Adam Zagajewski, as well as those less known in the English-speaking world: Zuzanna Ginczanka, Ota Pavel, Henryk Grynberg, Oksana Lutsyshyna. We will consider verse, poetic prose and lyrical essays. The issues that will inform our readings will be internal and actual emigration, translingualism, and the persistence of war. Polish, Ukrainian, Hungarian, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, but also French and American English are the languages in which these authors speak to us. Eastern European literature resonates with voices that have, time and again, brushed against catastrophe.
Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: M 3:30PM - 5:30PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Jerzak, Katarzyna
Room: Gilman 443
Status: Open
Seats Available: 10/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.620 (01)
Jesus in Modern Hebrew Literature
T 1:30PM - 3:30PM
Stahl, Neta
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Jesus in Modern Hebrew Literature AS.216.620 (01)
This seminar will track the changes in the representations of Jesus in modern Hebrew literature. Reading will include prose-fiction, poetry, drama, and intellectual essays from the late 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. We will study the mutual influences of the scholarship on Jesus, national Zionist ideology, changes in cultural and theological perceptions of Jesus and the literary representations of his figure.
Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 3:30PM 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Room: Gilman 443
Status: Open
Seats Available: 9/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.800 (01)
Independent Study
Stahl, Neta
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Independent Study AS.216.800 (01)
This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature.
Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate Independent Academic Work
Days/Times: 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 10/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.800 (02)
Independent Study
Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Homewood Campus
Fall 2022
Independent Study AS.216.800 (02)
This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature.
Credits: 0.00
Level: Graduate Independent Academic Work
Days/Times: 08-29-2022 to 12-09-2022
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 9/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.120 (01)
Elementary Modern Hebrew
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Scott, Cameron David
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Elementary Modern Hebrew AS.210.120 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Scott, Cameron David
Room: Gilman 443
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.121 (01)
Modern Hebrew for Beginners II
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Modern Hebrew for Beginners II AS.210.121 (01)
Hebrew for Beginners 106 is a continuation of Hebrew 105 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 as well.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Gilman 474
Status: Open
Seats Available: 13/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.163 (01)
Elementary Yiddish I
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Lang, Beatrice
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Elementary Yiddish I AS.210.163 (01)
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.
Cannot be taken Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Room: Smokler Center Library
Status: Open
Seats Available: 14/17
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.164 (01)
Elementary Yiddish II
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Shoulson, Sophia Elizabeth
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Elementary Yiddish II AS.210.164 (01)
Second semester of year-long course that 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. The class is using In Eynem, the brand new Yiddish language program from the Yiddish Book Center.
Cannot be taken Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory. Recommended course background: AS.210.163 or instructor permission.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Shoulson, Sophia Elizabeth
Room: Smokler Center Library
Status: Open
Seats Available: 15/17
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.221 (01)
Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Intermediate Modern Hebrew II AS.210.221 (01)
Intermediate Hebrew level II is a continuation of the course Hebrew 205 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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Gilman 474
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.264 (01)
Intermediate Yiddish II
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Lang, Beatrice
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Intermediate Yiddish II AS.210.264 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Room: Smokler Center 214
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.321 (01)
Modern Hebrew via the Lens of Israeli Cinema
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Bessire, Mirit
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Modern Hebrew via the Lens of Israeli Cinema AS.210.321 (01)
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.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Bessire, Mirit
Room: Smokler Center 214
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/10
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.210.421 (01)
Yiddish For Reading Knowledge
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Lang, Beatrice
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Yiddish For Reading Knowledge AS.210.421 (01)
This course is designed to open up the world of Yiddish culture and letters by helping students develop the skills necessary to read Yiddish texts in the original. Students will learn the Yiddish alphabet and be introduced to Yiddish vocabulary and grammatical structures, as well as to resources for reading Yiddish such as dictionaries and grammar guides. Students will read and translate texts of increasing difficulty and will have the opportunity to tackle texts in their own field of interest. A “fast track” will be offered to students with prior knowledge of German. No prior knowledge of Yiddish is necessary.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Lang, Beatrice
Room: Gilman 443
Status: Open
Seats Available: 10/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.211.315 (01)
The Meanings of Monuments: From the Tower of Babel to Robert E. Lee
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Mandell, Alice H; Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
The Meanings of Monuments: From the Tower of Babel to Robert E. Lee AS.211.315 (01)
As is clear from current events and debates surrounding monuments to the Confederacy, monuments play an outsize role in the public negotiation of history and identity and the creation of communal forms of memory. We will study the traditions of monuments and monumentality around the world – including statues and buildings along with alternative forms of monumentality – from antiquity to the present day. We will examine the ways that monuments have been favored methods for the powerful to signal identity and authorize history. This course will also explore the phenomenon of “counter-monumentality”, whereby monuments are transformed and infused with new meaning. These kinds of monuments can be mediums of expression and commemoration for minority and diaspora communities and other groups outside the economic and political systems that endow and erect traditional public monuments. The first half of the course will examine the theoretical framework of monumentality, with a focus on ancient monuments from the ancient Near East (e.g., Solomon’s temple). More contemporary examples will be explored in the second half of the course through lectures and also field trips. We will view contemporary debates around monuments in America in light of the long history of monuments and in comparison with global examples of monuments and counter-monuments. All readings in English.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Mandell, Alice H; Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room: Gilman 479
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/15
PosTag(s): MLL-ENGL, INST-GLOBAL
AS.211.440 (01)
Literature of the Holocaust
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Literature of the Holocaust AS.211.440 (01)
How has the Holocaust been represented in literature? Are there special challenges posed by genocide to the social and aesthetic traditions of representation? Where does the Holocaust fit in to the array of concerns that literature expresses? And where does literature fit in to the commemoration of communal tragedy and the working through of individual trauma entailed by thinking about and representing the Holocaust? These questions will guide our consideration of a range of texts — nonfiction, novels, poetry — originally written in Yiddish, German, English, French and other languages (including works by Primo Levi and Isaac Bashevis Singer). A special focus will be works written during and in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust. All readings in English.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room: Gilman 55
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/15
PosTag(s): MLL-HEBR, MLL-ENGL
AS.211.620 (01)
The Aesthetics of Empathy
W 3:30PM - 5:30PM
Jerzak, Katarzyna
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
The Aesthetics of Empathy AS.211.620 (01)
I feel, therefore I am: beginning with Diderot’s Letter on the Blind for the Use of Those Who Can See (1749) and Rousseau’s Letter to M. D'Alembert on Spectacles (1758), the seminar will explore connections between various aspects of neurophysiological, bodily perception and their representations in culture. We will then consider the origins of the term Einfühlung in Robert Vischer's and Theodor Lipps’ seminal works. Embodied perception that informs Heinrich Wölfflin's Prolegomena to a Psychology of Architecture (1886) is also the focus of several of Georg Simmel’s essays. We shall discuss the environment as an extension of the self in Charles Baudelaire’s “The Swan” and in Andrzej Leder’s “Psychoanalysis of a Cityscape. A Case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: The City of Warsaw.” Aby Warburg’s notion of Pathosformeln will allow us to see the link between pathos and empathy. Finally we will read Zuzanna Ginczanka’s poetry and Clarice Lispector’s The Hour of the Star, whose narrator announces: “I write with my body."
Credits: 3.00
Level: Graduate
Days/Times: W 3:30PM - 5:30PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Jerzak, Katarzyna
Room: Gilman 480
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/10
PosTag(s): MLL-ENGL
AS.216.320 (01)
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Cultural Perspective
M 3:00PM - 5:30PM
Stahl, Neta
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Cultural Perspective AS.216.320 (01)
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often construed as impenetrable to outsiders, yet, cultural production emerging from this crucible is often presented as a “window” into the history, politics, and psychology of the conflict. Rather than operating from the assumption that culture is a mirror that simply “reflects” an objective reality, this course investigates how authors, filmmakers, and artists situated in the midst of the conflict produce art that reaches far beyond the representation of historical events, extending into the domains of religion, memory, fantasies, nostalgia, perceptions of space and time, body image and gender and sexual identities. The material covered will include feature and documentary film, literature, memoir, dance, visual art, photography and theater. All material will be taught in English translation.
Credits: 3.00
Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
Days/Times: M 3:00PM - 5:30PM 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Stahl, Neta
Room: Maryland 309
Status: Open
Seats Available: 8/15
PosTag(s): MLL-ENGL, INST-GLOBAL
AS.216.802 (01)
Yiddish Independent Study
Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Yiddish Independent Study AS.216.802 (01)
Yiddish Independent Study
Credits: 3.00 - 9.00
Level: Graduate Independent Academic Work
Days/Times: 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 5/5
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.806 (01)
Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep
Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep AS.216.806 (01)
Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep
Credits: 6.00
Level: Graduate Independent Academic Work
Days/Times: 01-23-2023 to 04-28-2023
Instructor: Spinner, Samuel Jacob
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 4/5
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.216.850 (01)
Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish
Stahl, Neta
Homewood Campus
Spring 2023
Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish AS.216.850 (01)