Download NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

Revised 10/22/08
JEWISH STUDIES
SPRING 2009
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
JWST 1102 Elementary Modern Hebrew II (also NES 1102)
4 credits
MTWRF (sem 1) 9:05-9:55
Shoer, S.
2860
MTWRF (sem 2) 10:10-11:00
2864
MTWRF (sem 3) 11:15-12:05
2865
Letter grades only. Limited to 18 students per section. Prerequisite: NES 1101 with grade of C- or better or permission of
instructor. Intended for beginners. Provides a thorough grounding in reading, writing, grammar, oral comprehension, and
speaking. Students who complete the course are able to function in basic situations in a Hebrew-speaking
environment.
JWST 2100 Intermediate Modern Hebrew II (also NES 2100)
4 credits
JWST 2241 Yiddish Linguistics (also LING 2241)
3 credits
JWST 2622
Judaism from Persian Period to Rise of Islam (also NES 2622, RELST 2622, CLASS 2634)
4 credits
JWST 3102
Advanced Intermediate Modern Hebrew II (also NES 3102)
4 credits
MTWR
2:30-3:20
Scharf, N.
2819
Provides language proficiency and satisfies Option 1. Prerequisite: NES 1103 with grade equivalent to C- or above or
permission of instructor. Letter grade recommended.
Introduces Hebrew literature and Israeli culture through the use of texts and audiovisual materials.
TR
10:10-11:25
Diesing, M.
3427
Yiddish language and linguistics, including aspects of its morphology, syntax, and phonology. Also the history of the Yiddish language, and sociolinguistic topics such as Yiddish as a minority language, and the influence of Yiddish on American
English.
MWF
11:15-12:05
Jovanovic, L.
4387
In this introductory course we will trace continuity and change, dispersion and diversification of Judaism as it interacted
with other cultures under Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Sasanian rules, with special attention being laid on the
great centers in Palestine, Egypt, and Babylonia. This period spans from the formation of Judaism(s) during the Persian
Empire to the advent of Islam in the seventh century C.E., by which time Rabbinic Judaism had, principally through its discourse and conflict with early Christianity, asserted itself as the dominant and most well-defined strand of Judaism. The
main focus will be on reading the primary sources in English translation including extracts from Biblical and extra-Biblical
literature, Josephus, the Mishnah, and the Talmud. We will also integrate evidence from the material culture, such as the archeological data from temple remains, the visual art of Dura-Europos Synagogue, and coinage of Bar Kokhba. We will analyze the religious, socio-political, and anthropological aspects of Judaism through the lens of modern scholarship.
TR
10:10-11:25
Scharf, N.
2834
3101, fall; 3102, spring 4 credits. Satisfies Option 1. Limited to 15 students. Prerequisites: for 3101, JWST 2100 with grade
of C- or above or permission of instructor; for 3102, NES/JWST 3101.
Advanced study of the Hebrew language both orally and through the analysis of mostly unedited texts of social, political,
and cultural relevance, with less emphasis on the study of grammar. Students are introduced to articles published in Israeli
newspapers and magazines, works by authors, and movies. Students develop composition and advanced writing skills by
studying language structure, idioms, and various registers of style.
JWST 3524 Israelite Prophecy (also NES 3524/6524, RELST 3524)
4 credi ts
MW
8:40-9:55
Monroe, L.
4415
The purpose of this course is to examine the phenomenon of prophecy in the religion of ancient Israel, as it is revealed
through prophetic texts within the Hebrew Bible. We will seek to understand the social reality that underlies both the content and composition of these texts, and the relationship of the prophet to the Israelite institutions of the temple/cult and
palace. We will implement literary critical, historical, sociological and anthropological approaches in an effort to reconstruct
the development of Israelite prophecy from its earliest appearance in narrative sources to its alleged cessation during the
Second Temple Period.
JWST 3662 Sumerian Language & Culture II (also JWST 6662, ARKEO 3662/6662, NES 3662/6662) 4 credi ts
T
1:25-4:25
Owen, D.I.
TBD
A continuation of NES 3661, the course will continue the intensive introduction to Sumerian language and grammar with
additional readings in Sumerian literature in translation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the reading and interpretation
of original texts from the Cornell collection and their use in the reconstruction of Mesopotamian history and culture in the
third millennium B.C.E. Prerequisite: NES 3661.
JWST 3700 History of the Holocaust (also NES 3600, HIST 3700)
4 credi ts
TR
1:25-2:40
Gutman, S.
3450
This course will analyze the meaning of the Holocaust from three vantage points: that of European history; that of Jewish
history; and that of those states and religious institutions that shared responsibility by having stood by in silence. Topics include: the evolution of modern anti-Semitism, the role of anti-Semitism in the Nazi ideology and program; the bureaucratization of death; Jewish life in ghettos and concentration camps; the fate of Jews in occupied Europe and the question collaboration; Jewish political behavior under duress; the responses of the Western allies and the Churches; contemporary interpretations of the Holocaust and the meaning of evil.
JWST 4104 Hebrew Literature (also NES 4104)
4 credits
T
2:30-4:25
Abusch, D.
4395
The course follows the path of Modern Hebrew fiction, starting with the products of multilingual immigrants based in European and Jewish culture, through texts in a revived spoken language written by citizens of a new country, to an expansion
in the current generation from an exclusively high literary culture to one which encompasses detective novels and comics.
Formal qualities of canonical texts, their social and biographical context, and the evolution of language and an intense literary culture are thematized. Accessible both to those with some knowledge of Hebrew, and those without any, with texts
available in translation as well as the original, and discussion conducted in English. Authors may include Agnon, Baron, Oz,
Yehoshua, Y. Shabtai, Hoffman, Gur, Keret.
JWST 4644 Late Bronze Age World of Ugarit (also NES/HIST 4644, 6644, AREKO 4644/6644, CLASS 4744/7744) 4 credits
W
12:20-2:15
Monroe, C.
4422
In this seminar we will look at archaeological and textual evidence from one of the longest-running excavations in the Near
East: the ancient city of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra in northwestern Syria. Students will review the archaeological history of
this coastal kingdom that has its roots deep in Levantine prehistory. Then we will study the textual material emerging from
the thousands of clay tablets inscribed in alphabetic Ugaritic and cuneiform Babylonian that vividly illuminate matters of
cult, economy, law, and daily life in a Late Bronze Age city during the 14^th -12^th centuries BCE. Students will read a
sample of these texts, in translation or the original (for credit in 6644), to gain insights into the life of a cosmopolitan center
that managed to thrive while surrounded by territorial empires during history's first truly international age.
JWST 4738 Imagining the Mediterranean (also NES 4738, COML 4960)
4 credits
TR
8:40-9:55
Holst-Warhaft, G.
4318
Through a series of readings in poetry and prose from Greece, Spain, Morocco, Turkey, Israel and Egypt, the course examines how Mediterranean writers interact with the sensuous aesthetics of landscape, music, and ritual in the Mediterranean.
We will be concerned with how poetry, music, dance and image interact in the region, and how this relationship is reflected
in 20th-century literature from and about the Mediterranean. The readings will focus on particular cases, such as the relationship of Lorca’s poetry to the of Andalusia, lowbrow musical form in Greece, and the nostalgia for the mythical city of
Alexandria in Cavafy and other Alexandrian authors. We will also consider how the myth of the Mediterranean has affected
modern literary imagination within and beyond the region.
JWST 4992 Independent Study - Undergraduate
TBA
STAFF
Variable to 6 credits