American Jewish History (HIS 457) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine the Jewish experience in America; discuss the central events and personalities in American Jewish history from colonial times to the present; and examine events in American history and its effects on Jewish life in America.
Instruction:
Major topics include: a study of the American Jewish community from its colonial beginnings to the present, emphasizing such topics as, waves of Jewish immigration; patterns of Jewish settlement; economic activities; communal ties; philanthropic organizations; diversity within Jewish religious affiliation, with an emphasis on the various streams of the American Judaism; and challenges of traditional Judaism in America.
Early Modern Jewish History (HIS 355) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine and discuss the Early Modern Jewish History utilizing primary and secondary texts and documents. Discuss central events and personalities in Jewish history from the 1700’s to the 1880’s; examine the impact of emancipation, revolutions and reactions in Europe and changes arising from political, social, and economic developments and mass movements during the early modern period, on Jewish communities around the world; and analyze the impact of the forces and events of world history upon Jewish history.
Instruction:
This course examines the early modern period of Jewish History. Topics include: Emancipation; Reform; French Revolution; Hassidic movement; Yeshiva; Enlightenment; Czar; Pale; and Mussar movement. The course also deals with the rise of nationalism, social movements, religious, cultural, social, political, and economic developments, and their impact.
History of the Oral Law (HIS 385) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: analyze the development of the Oral Law (Torah She’baal Peh), from Sinai to the redaction of the Talmud; Identify key personalities in the chain of tradition; identify the important works of Torah, their functions and impact; and discuss key concepts in the transmission of Torah.
Instruction:
A study of the history and development of the Jewish tradition, emphasizing the evolution and transmission of the Oral Law from Sinai to the redaction of the Talmud. Topics include the primary components of the Oral Law; methods of codification; masters; legal authority; and impact of historical context and settings.
History: Medieval Spain (HIS 375) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine and discuss the historical period of medieval Spain utilizing primary and secondary texts and documents.
Instruction:
A study of the major historical, cultural and political events, involving or affecting the Jewish people, in medieval
Spain, emphasizing the lives of influential figures. Topics include the lives of R. Shmuel Hanagid; R. Yehudah Halevy; Jewish age of poetry; Maimonides, his life and works; controversies and bans on the works of Maimonides; Disputation; Columbus and the discovery of the New World.
History: Mishnaic Period (HIS 365) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine and discuss the major historical, cultural and political events and trends in Jewish history from the fall of Betar through the completion of the Mishna, emphasizing the lives of influential figures.
Instruction:
This course is an in-depth study of the major historical, cultural and political events and trends in Jewish history from the fall of Betar through the completion of the Mishna. Topics include the Bar Kochba revolt; the impact of the Bar Kochba revolt; Hadrianic persecutions; Mishna; daily life in Mishnaic and Talmudic times; and the transition from the Mishnaic to Talmudic era.
Jewish Folklore (HIS 455)
Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: study Jewish folklore and examine its impact at that time and its impact on the future of the Jewish people; describe various events throughout Jewish history from the Jewish perspective; compare and contrast events from different eras of Jewish history; and utilize primary sources to research a chosen topic in Jewish History.
Instruction:
This course examines a variety of episodes in Jewish history or folklore, much of which are stranger than fiction. Major topics include: Jewish Perspectives of Early Christianity; Rabbinic controversy; Forgers and Forgeries of Jewish texts; and the Golem.
Modern Jewish History (HIS 360) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine and discuss the Modern Period of
Jewish History utilizing primary and secondary texts and documents. Discuss central events and personalities in Jewish history from the 1880’s to the present; and examine the impact of revolutions and reactions in Europe and changes arising from political, social, and economic developments and mass movements during the modern period, on Jewish communities around the world.
Instruction:
The course studies topics from the modern period of Jewish History, the 1880’s to the present. Topics include emigration to America; World War I; Zionism; World War II; the State if Israel; and the impact of social movements, religious, cultural, social, political, and economic developments.
Modern Middle East (HIS 470)
Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: analyze the history of Jews in the Middle East; examine the historical relationship between Islam and Judaism and the Arabs and Jews; and examine primary and secondary texts.
Instruction:
A study of Jews and the Modern Middle East. Focusing on the transition to modern times in the Middle East; Messianism; impact and European intervention on behalf of non-Muslims; social, economic, and cultural transformations; Zionism and Mideast Jewry; Arab and Jewish nationalism; World War II; and Mideast, Israel, and new diasporas.
Response to Modernity (HIS 455) Objectives:
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: examine the Rabbinic response to general culture in modern times; define modernity and its challenges to traditional Jewish life; analyze world events and its impact on general culture; examine general culture and its impact on the Jewish communities; examine the emergence of new forms of religious and political expression among Jews as a response to emancipation; and discuss and contrast the differences between Western and Eastern Europe in terms of emancipation, religious reform.
Instruction:
Students will study the factors that influenced Rabbinic responses and the variety of responses these influences helped to generate. Topics include: world events and its impact on general culture; general culture and its impact on the Jewish communities; cultural differences between Eastern and Western Europe; the Torah only approach; Torah and Derech Erez approach; and Rabbinic personalities including Rabbis Bernays, Ettlinger, Hirsch, Hildesheimer, Dessler and Schwab, and their views and differing approaches relating to modernity.
Survey of Jewish History I (HIS 200)
Objectives: Demonstrate knowledge of Jewish history; describe the Jewish peoples relationships with the countries in which they resided; describe the major victories and conflicts that the Jewish people experienced; identify events that led to key turning points in Jewish history; identify key figures and place in Jewish history; and describe the influence of other cultures on different Jewish communities.
Instruction: Students will survey of the history of the Jewish people from ancient to modern times. Students will examine the intellectual, political and social history of the Jews and their interactions with peoples across time and place.
Survey of Jewish History II (HIS 201)
Objectives: Demonstrate knowledge of Jewish history; describe the Jewish peoples relationships with the countries in which they resided; describe the major victories and conflicts that the Jewish people experienced; identify events that led to key turning points in Jewish history; identify key figures and place in Jewish history; and describe the influence of other cultures on different Jewish communities.
Instruction: A continuation of Survey of Jewish History I. Students will survey of the history of the Jewish people from ancient to modern times. Students will examine the intellectual, political and social history of the Jews and their interactions with peoples across time and place.
Religious Observance in the Holocaust (HIS)
This course will analyze religiously-oriented responses of the victims of Nazi perpetrations. Specifically, it will focus on understanding the mindset of Jews during the Holocaust as they relate to Torah and mitzvos. The course is split into five units: (1) Introduction; (2) Voluntary suicide in the face of violations of religious morals; (3) The decision to adhere to the mitzvos even under the most dire circumstances; (4) Rebuilding a shattered life and psyche via finding meaning in the Torah; (5) A culminating unit that integrates earlier units.
Survivors and Their Struggles (HIS)
This course will analyze the long-lasting effects that the Holocaust had on its survivors. Specifically, it will focus on understanding the various emotions that survivors deal with on a daily basis. The course is split into five units, with an introduction and cumulating essay that integrates the units.
The units are: (1) Survivor guilt; (2) Understanding the inability of survivors to relate to their new environment; (3) The loneliness experienced by survivors; (4) Survivor anger and guilt; (5) The legacy of survivors.
Acts of Righteousness – Acts of Brutality (HIS)
This course will analyze specific acts of Nazi brutality and contrast them to acts of righteousness and self-sacrifice. The course is split into three units, with an introduction and cumulating essay that integrates the units. The units are: (1) Breakdown of the family unit; (2) Dichotomy between the acts of righteousness and acts of brutality; (3) Heroes and Villains.