Courses
Hebrew and Yiddish Program

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The courses listed below are provided by the JHU Public Course Search. This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses and may not be complete.

Course registration information can be found on the Student Information Services (SIS) website.

Course # (Section)	Title	Day/Times	Instructor	Location	Term	Additional Details
AS.210.120 (01)	Modern Hebrew for Beginners I	MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Bimka, Maya	Smokler Center Library	Spring 2026	Description: 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 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.121 (01)	Modern Hebrew for Beginners II	MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center Library	Spring 2026	Description: 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 Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 7/12 Tags: n/a
AS.210.122 (01)	Modern Hebrew for Beginners III	MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center Library	Spring 2026	Description: 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 Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/2 Tags: n/a
AS.210.163 (01)	Elementary Yiddish I	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Allardice, Corbin B; Reisberg, Joseph Benjamin	Smokler Center 214	Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.164 (01)	Elementary Yiddish II	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Lang, Beatrice; Strauss, Bezalel Dov	Smokler Center 213	Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 8/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.214 (01)	Semitic Sisters: The Intersection of Hebrew and Arabic Language Learning	TTh 2:00PM - 3:15PM	Bessire, Mirit; Jafire, Sana	Gilman 479	Spring 2026	Description: 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.) Credits: 1.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 4/15 Tags: n/a
AS.210.221 (01)	Intermediate Modern Hebrew II	MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center 301	Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 8/11 Tags: n/a
AS.210.263 (01)	Intermediate Yiddish I	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Allardice, Corbin B	Smokler Center 301	Spring 2026	Description: 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 Status: Closed Seats Available: 9/12 Tags: n/a
AS.210.264 (01)	Intermediate Yiddish II	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lang, Beatrice		Spring 2026	Description: 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 Status: Closed Seats Available: 9/12 Tags: n/a
AS.210.270 (01)	Intermediate Yiddish Texts II	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Lang, Beatrice	Smokler Center 213	Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 12/12 Tags: n/a
AS.210.321 (01)	Advanced Hebrew through Israeli Cinema	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center 301	Spring 2026	Description: 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 Status: Closed Seats Available: 7/10 Tags: n/a
AS.211.373 (01)	Religious Themes in Film and Literature	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Stahl, Neta	Smokler Center 213	Spring 2026	Description: 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? Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 11/15 Tags: n/a
AS.211.754 (01)	Primitivism	W 1:00PM - 3:00PM	Spinner, Samuel Jacob	Gilman 479	Spring 2026	Description: This course will explore the aesthetics and politics of primitivism in European modernity, focusing on the visual arts and literature in German and Yiddish, but looking at the wider European context, including France and Russia. We will begin with the backgrounds of primitivism in Romanticism, looking especially at its ethnographic and colonial sources. We will then focus on the presence of anthropological and ethnographic discourses within various registers of modernist thought, literature, and visual culture, with special attention to visual and literary primitivism. Our central concerns will include: the attempt to create a modernist aesthetics grounded in ethnography; the primitivist critique of modernity; the place of primitivism in the historical avant-garde; the development of the notion of “culture” in modernity; and the aesthetics of modern ethnic and national identity. Key thinkers, artists, and writers to be considered include Herder; Gauguin; Picasso; Wilhelm Worringer; Carl Einstein; Hannah Höch; and Emil Nolde. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 6/12 Tags: n/a
AS.216.413 (01)	Medieval Hebrew Poetry: Content, Form, and Language	M 4:30PM - 7:00PM	Chen, Elnatan		Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.216.613 (01)	The Shtetl, the Ghetto, and Other Jewish Places	W 1:00PM - 3:00PM	Spinner, Samuel Jacob	Gilman 479	Spring 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 12/12 Tags: n/a
AS.216.614 (01)	The Other of/in The Modern Hebrew Text: A Theoretical and Textual Perspective	M 4:30PM - 6:30PM	Stahl, Neta	Gilman 413	Spring 2026	Description: 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.) Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/8 Tags: n/a
AS.216.806 (01)	Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Spring 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep Credits: 6.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.806 (02)	Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep		Stahl, Neta		Spring 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep Credits: 6.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.808 (01)	Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Spring 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research Credits: 9.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 0/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.808 (02)	Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research		Stahl, Neta		Spring 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research Credits: 9.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 4/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.850 (01)	Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish		Lang, Beatrice		Spring 2026	Description: Training for professional academic purposes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 15/15 Tags: n/a
AS.216.850 (02)	Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish		Bessire, Mirit; Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Spring 2026	Description: Training for professional academic purposes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Closed Seats Available: 12/15 Tags: n/a
AS.210.120 (01)	Elementary Modern Hebrew	MWF 10:00AM - 10:50AM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center Library	Fall 2026	Description: 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 Status: Open Seats Available: 12/15 Tags: n/a
AS.210.121 (01)	Modern Hebrew for Beginners II	MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM	Bimka, Maya	Ames 234	Fall 2026	Description: 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 Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 7/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.163 (01)	Elementary Yiddish I	TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Lang, Beatrice	Smokler Center 301	Fall 2026	Description: 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. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 8/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.220 (01)	Intermediate Hebrew I	MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM	Bessire, Mirit	Smokler Center Library	Fall 2026	Description: 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 Status: Open Seats Available: 4/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.269 (01)	Intermediate Yiddish Texts I	TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM	Lang, Beatrice	Smokler Center 301	Fall 2026	Description: For students who have completed at least one year of Yiddish language study: this course provides the opportunity to broaden and deepen your acquaintance with Yiddish culture while continuing to improve your skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking Yiddish. The course includes more advanced lessons in YiddishPOP, selected readings from Yiddish literature, and in-depth study of the 1938 Yiddish film Mamele. Recommended background: AS.210.164 or equivalent, or permission of instructor. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 8/10 Tags: n/a
AS.210.320 (01)	Advanced Modern Hebrew I	MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM	Bessire, Mirit; Nachum, Adi	Smokler Center Library	Fall 2026	Description: 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 Status: Open Seats Available: 5/10 Tags: n/a
AS.211.325 (01)	Otherness: Cinema, Music, Literature	Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM	Stahl, Neta		Fall 2026	Description: This course is a comparative journey through literature, music and cinema. 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, cinema, and music. Students will become familiar with the historical development of the notion of the “stranger” through reading, listening and analyzing various contemporary works of prose, cinema and music 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, musical and cinematographic devices they employ. At the center of our discussion will stand questions: Who is the Other? How do stories, music and films shape and challenge our perspective of the Other and of ourselves? Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 13/15 Tags: n/a
AS.211.606 (01)	The Author’s Responsibility	M 1:00PM - 3:00PM	Stahl, Neta	Gilman 479	Fall 2026	Description: The overarching goal of this seminar is to study the connection between aesthetics and responsibility, but the more specific question we will ask is: What is the author's responsibility in the face of injustice? Drawing on philosophical literature and texts from various genres, we will examine changes in the status of the author in Western culture. We will look at the influence of changes in the meanings of authorship in the post-Roland Barthes “death of the author” and the post-deconstruction era, and will explore the question of today’s authors/poets’ sense of responsibility to social, political, environmental, and racial injustice and ask how their sense of responsibility is reflected in their works. Credits: 3.00 Status: Canceled Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.216.415 (01)	Laughter Through Tears: Sholem Aleichem’s Dark Comedy	TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM	Lang, Beatrice	Smokler Center 213	Fall 2026	Description: Sholem Aleichem, one of the best known and most beloved Yiddish writers at the turn of the twentieth century, portrays the vicissitudes of Jewish life from poverty to pogroms while eliciting a smile from his readers. At the same time, his work delves into the foibles of human nature and the dynamics of family and community relationships in ways that are applicable beyond the Jewish setting. In this course, students will examine the many layers of Sholem Aleichem’s work, and in particular his use of language to create dark comedy, by following the trajectory of Eastern European Jews from rural and small-town life to the city and on to America through Sholem Aleichem’s major recurring characters, Menakhem-Mendl, Tevye, and Motl-Peyse, in the original short stories and in film adaptations. All readings, discussion, and written work will be in Yiddish; assignments will be calibrated to accommodate students who have completed either an intermediate or an advanced Yiddish language class. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 9/12 Tags: n/a
AS.216.800 (01)	Independent Study		Stahl, Neta		Fall 2026	Description: This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature. Credits: 3.00 - 9.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.216.800 (02)	Independent Study		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Fall 2026	Description: This research course focuses on surveying and deepening the students’ familiarity with the historical, cultural, and linguistic aspects of modern Jewish literature. Credits: 3.00 - 9.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.216.806 (01)	Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Fall 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep Credits: 6.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 4/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.806 (02)	Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep		Stahl, Neta		Fall 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Proposal Prep Credits: 6.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.808 (01)	Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Fall 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research Credits: 9.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.808 (02)	Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research		Stahl, Neta		Fall 2026	Description: Hebrew/Yiddish Dissertation Research Credits: 9.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 5/5 Tags: n/a
AS.216.850 (01)	Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish		Bessire, Mirit		Fall 2026	Description: Training for professional academic purposes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 10/10 Tags: n/a
AS.216.850 (02)	Professional Training - Hebrew & Yiddish		Spinner, Samuel Jacob		Fall 2026	Description: Training for professional academic purposes. Credits: 3.00 Status: Open Seats Available: 9/10 Tags: n/a

Courses Hebrew and Yiddish Program

Courses
Hebrew and Yiddish Program