JDST 764b / HIST 6155b / MDVL 7155b / RLST 7770b, Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh through the Sixteenth Century  Ivan Marcus

Introduction to Jewish culture and society in Muslim lands from the Prophet Muhammad to Suleiman the Magnificent. Topics include Islam and Judaism; Jerusalem as a holy site; rabbinic leadership and literature in Baghdad; Jewish courtiers, poets, and philosophers in Muslim Spain; and the Jews in the Ottoman Empire.
HTBA

JDST 6500a / RLST 6520a, Introduction to Jewish Studies  David Sorkin and Sarit Kattan Gribetz

In a society that is broadly ambivalent about—if not roundly antagonistic against—Jews and Judaism, how can one study Jewish texts and history? Is the study of Jews and their religion and cultures necessarily an act of apologetics or polemics? What does “objectivity” mean in this loaded context? This course examines the inception and development of the modern field of Jewish studies in nineteenth-century Germany and the ways in which the field evolved and spread from Europe to Palestine, Israel, and the United States. Ultimately, students grapple with the question of the place of Jews and Jewish studies in the modern academy. The course begins with readings of the major practitioners of the “academic study of Judaism” (Wissenschaft des Judentums) since its inception in the nineteenth century with close examination of the ways in which those scholars read the ancient, medieval, and early modern sources that they used to construct their studies of Jews and Judaism. It then turns to the institutionalization of the field through the establishments of seminaries, large-scale publication projects (encyclopedias, anthologies), historical societies and archives, research institutes, and university programs. Finally, the course examines the intersection between the personal and professional through pairing memoirs written by scholars with the scholarship they published. Throughout, programmatic statements are combined with close analysis of the way scholars read their sources.
Th 1:30pm-3:20pm

JDST 7206b / HIST 6157b / MDVL 7157b / RLST 6160b, How the West Became Antisemitic: Jews and the Formation of Europe, 800–1500  Ivan Marcus

This seminar explores how medieval Jews and Christians interacted as religious societies between 800 and 1500.
HTBA

JDST 7261a / HIST 6229a / MDVL 7229a / RLST 7730a, Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times  Ivan Marcus

The course is a comprehensive introduction for GS students as well as YC students.  It serves as a window course to pre-modern Jewish history.  For YC students this can lead to taking seminars on more limited topics.  For graduate students it is a good preparation for comprehensive exams and provides a model survey course to be offered later on as an instructor.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

JDST 7445a / RLST 6430a, The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American Insurrection  Elli Stern

This seminar explores the history of right-wing political thought from the late eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the role played by religious and pagan traditions. This course seeks to answer the question, what constitutes the right? What are the central philosophical, religious, and pagan, principles of those groups associated with this designation? How have the core ideas of the right changed over time? We do this by examining primary tracts written by theologians, political philosophers, and social theorists as well as secondary literature written by scholars interrogating movements associated with the right in America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia. Though touching on specific national political parties, institutions, and think tanks, its focus is on mapping the intellectual overlap and differences between various right-wing ideologies. While the course is limited to the modern period, it adopts a global perspective to better understand the full scope of right-wing politics.
M 1:30pm-3:20pm

JDST 7680b / CPLT 6180b / GMAN 7090b, Walter Benjamin’s Critical Theory  Paul North

Careful analysis of central texts in Benjamin’s oeuvre in the context of his philosophical, political, and literary reading.
HTBA

JDST 8274b / HEBR 5780b, Languages in Dialogue: Hebrew and Arabic  Dina Roginsky

Hebrew and Arabic are closely related as sister Semitic languages. They have a great degree of grammatical, morphological, and lexical similarity. Historically, Arabic and Hebrew have been in cultural contact in various places and in different aspects. This advanced Hebrew language class explores linguistic similarities between the two languages as well as cultural comparisons of the communities, built on mutual respect. Students benefit from a section in which they gain a basic exposure to Arabic, based on its linguistic similarity to Hebrew. Conducted in Hebrew. Prerequisite: HEBR 5030, or placement test, or permission of the instructor.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

JDST 8295b / HEBR 5630b, From Biblical to Modern Hebrew  Dina Roginsky

This course aims to support students who have reading knowledge of Biblical Hebrew but cannot read or converse in Modern Hebrew. The course concentrates on reading and aims at enabling students to use Modern Hebrew for research purposes. The texts chosen are tailored to students’ particular areas of interest. Prerequisite: two years of Biblical or Modern Hebrew studies, or permission of the instructor. Conducted in English.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm