JEWISH STUDIES (JWST)

This course seeks to explore the historically difficult position of minorities in the modern world, using the situation of Jews in Germany from the 18th century to the Holocaust as a case study. Previously offered as GERM 56.

The course explores selected themes and case studies pertinent to culture and society in modern Israel, with emphasis on debates about "Israeliness" in various cultural and social arenas.

This seminar explores the history and culture of medieval Spanish Jewry and how modern Hispanic societies have reimagined this past. We will interrogate how a fascination with Sephardic Jews overlaps with a variety of topics: national identity, anti-Semitism, liberal democracy, colonialism, exile, Holocaust memory, among others. We will think about the relevance of Jewish Spain to our present by working with a diverse group of cultural products from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.

Special topics course. Content will vary by each semester.

An introduction to the broad scope of Jewish history, culture, and identity, from biblical times to the 21st century and from the Middle East to the New World.

Introduces the essential elements of modern Hebrew structure and vocabulary and aspects of modern Israeli culture. Aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing are stressed.

Continued instruction in the essential elements of modern Hebrew structure and vocabulary and aspects of modern Israeli culture. Aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing are stressed.

This course introduces students to the various books of the Hebrew Bible and to the history and culture of ancient Israel, focusing on the formation of national identity, ancient conceptualizations of divinity, ritual practice, and modes of social regulation, all of which are set against the background of the ancient Near East. Honors version available.

This course surveys Jewish history and religion during the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods, from the destruction of the First Jewish Temple (Solomon's Temple) in 586 BCE to the Muslim conquest of Palestine (640 CE).

The course offers a comprehensive understanding of the development of Judaism from the late Middle Ages to contemporary times.

This course surveys the archaeology of Palestine (modern Israel and Jordan) from the Persian period (ca. 586 BCE) to the Muslim conquest (640 CE).

An examination of Judaism in its two major centers, demonstrating how different social and cultural environments shape very different interpretations and practices of the Jewish tradition.

This class surveys the history of the Jews from ancient to modern times. It focuses on the development of Jewish religion, culture identity, and politics in Jewish communities in the Western, Atlantic and Middle Eastern Worlds. It also explores the development of antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence.

Second-year instruction in the essential elements of modern Hebrew structure and vocabulary and aspects of modern Israeli culture. Aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing are stressed. An introduction to representative literary works is included.

Continued instruction in the essential elements of modern Hebrew structure and vocabulary and aspects of modern Israeli culture. Aural comprehension, reading, speaking, and writing are stressed. An introduction to representative literary works is included.

An examination of prophecy and divination in the Israelite-Jewish traditions and in their environments, including an analysis of the major biblical prophets. Honors version available.

An introduction to the culture and history of ancient Israel through an exploration of the language of the Hebrew Bible. Students will learn the essentials for basic engagement with biblical Hebrew, then consider what this linguistic evidence reveals about the historical and cultural background of the Hebrew Bible.

This course explores the linguistic background of the Hebrew Bible, giving special attention to the literary aspect of biblical interpretation. Specific topics include the forms of the Hebrew verb, prose and poetic genres in the Hebrew Bible, wordplay and repetition, narration and dialogue.

This course examines how contemporary thinkers have considered philosophy, ethics, and theology from a Jewish perspective. Methodological points of inquiry include: the role of interpretation in Judaism, revelation and redemption, authority and tradition, pluralism and inclusion, suffering and evil, gender and Jewish philosophy, and 20th-century approaches to God. Honors version available.

This seminar covers popular and pious literature written by and for Jews in the 15th to 18th century in German-speaking countries. Originally written in Old Yiddish, this literature preserved the popular European genres and nonfiction accounts of Jewish community and family life. Previously offered as GERM 225.

This course explores connections and interactions between Judaism and popular culture in the American context. We will consider what counts as religion by examining and interpreting a series of contemporary case studies drawn from film, television, radio, consumer culture, literature, stand-up comedy, and other media.

The course explores major periods and trends in Israeli cinema. Focus is given to issues pertaining to gender, ethnicity, and the construction of national identity. Honors version available.

A study of the role of Jews and the "Jewish question" in German culture from 1750 to the Holocaust and beyond. Discussions and texts (literary, political, theological) in English. Previously offered as GERM 270.

Course provides a comprehensive introduction to American Judaism, its various movements, institutions, theological, and liturgical characteristics, as well as its standing within the larger framework of religious life in America.

A survey of the Jewish experience in the United States from colonial times to the present, that examines connections and disjunctures with the experiences of Jews in the Americas more broadly. Topics include the social patterns and communal constructs of the various Jewish immigrations; modes of political engagement; and the diverse cultural practices through which American Jews have shaped their identities.

This course examines the history and culture of Jewish women in America from their arrival in New Amsterdam in 1654 to the present and explores how gender shaped this journey.

Anti-Semitism; the Jews of Europe; the Hitler dictatorship; evolution of Nazi Jewish policy from persecution to the Final Solution; Jewish response; collaborators, bystanders, and rescuers; aftermath.

We will study how contemporary literary and cinematic works of Central European intellectuals serve as reflections on the everyday life of this region. Readings and class discussions in English. Films with English subtitles.

This course examines the roles and representations of Jews in the world of the theater from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice to the present, considering dramas, operas, musicals, film adaptations, and films. Readings and discussions in English.

This course will explore artistic mediations of the Holocaust in literature, film, and beyond. It focuses on questions of representation, authenticity, appropriateness and uniqueness, the role of memory, the problems and limits of language in articulating the Shoah, and issues of trauma and justice. Readings and class discussions in English. Previously offered as GSLL 274.

This course examines Jewish American literary works in various genres from the nineteenth century to the present day. Together, we will interpret and critique the aesthetic and moral "worldview" of each work while simultaneously situating these works in the historical and cultural contexts in which they were created.

Third year of instruction in modern Hebrew with an emphasis on Israeli culture, literature, and media. Students will immerse themselves in language communication while exploring authentic materials that showcase the experience of immigration to Israel.

Third year of instruction in modern Hebrew with an emphasis on Israeli culture, literature, and media. Students will engage in language communication while exploring authentic materials that showcase the history of Zionism, the Hebrew language, and immigration.

The Renaissance (1300-1600) is known as a time of great artistic, scientific, and political renewal. But did Jews, the only religious minority in Europe, get an opportunity to benefit from and participate in that progress? This class studies the history of the Jews at a time of great cultural change.

The migration of Jewish populations from small towns to large cities in Eastern Europe altered notions of Jewish community, space, cultures, and identities. This course will explore the roles of ghetto and shtetl in both history and memory of the Jewish past, drawing on memoirs, literature, film, and photography. Honors version available.

This class will study the history of the claim that the Jews are responsible for Christ's death. Students will examine the power of this idea to travel through time and space and discuss how it is portrayed differently and with different purposes throughout history. Honors version available.

The relation between religious communities, their hopes and their agendas to the culture, politics, and law of the country has been a central feature of the Israeli state from its inception. Religious faiths, agendas, and affiliations have affected the character of the country, as well as its relationships with groups and governments around the globe.

This research-intensive course focuses on the ways religion and religious practices are represented in Israeli literature and media. The greater part of the semester will explore the variety of religious traditions in Israel within the framework of Zionist thought, gender and sexuality issues, and ethnic differences.

This course will investigate, through literature, film, and song, the encounter of Eastern European Jews and their descendants with Anglo-Protestant America over four generations.

Subject matter will vary with instructor but will always be focused on a particular problem or issue. Course description is available from the departmental office.

An overview of the literary and cultural movements in 20th and 21st century Poland as they relate to major historical changes of the century (World War I and World War II, Communism, Post-communism, accession to the European Union). All readings and discussions in English; readings available in Polish for qualified students.

This course examines the challenges posed to ethics and theology by the Holocaust. We will address philosophical and moral issues such as the problem of evil, divine omniscience, omnipotence, suffering, theodicy, representation, testimony, and an ethics of memory. Honors version available.

Focuses on the various collaborations, exchanges, and mutual enrichment between Israelis and Palestinians in the realm of culture, particularly literature and cinema. These connections include language (Israeli Jewish authors writing in Arabic and Palestinian writers who choose Hebrew as their language of expression), collaborating in filmmaking, and joint educational initiatives.

Employing Zionist and post- and anti-Zionist documents, treatises, and mostly literary and cinematic texts, this class will focus on the relations between language, Jewish-Israeli identity, and the notion of homeland. Previously offered as HEBR 436.

The seminar examines the developments in gender roles and in sexuality in contemporary Judaism.

This course is designed to examine Jewish life in Arab lands in the last century by examining culture, language, and the communal life that the Arab-Jews shared with their neighbors.

Explores the fictional representation of Jewish life in Russia and Poland by Russian, Polish, and Jewish authors from the 19th century to the present. Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.

Historical contexts and connections through artistic representation of the Holocaust and Soviet terror in Eastern Europe and the USSR. Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.

Fictional and autobiographical expressions of the Slavic and East European immigrant experience in the 20th century. Readings include Russian, Polish, Jewish, and Czech authors from early 1900s to present. Taught in English; some foreign language readings for qualified students.

This seminar examines Jewish stories, humor, ritual, custom, belief, architecture, dress, and food as forms of creative expression that have complex relationships to Jewish experience, representation, identity, memory, and tradition. What makes these forms of folklore Jewish, how do source communities interpret them, and how do ethnographers document them? Previously offered as FOLK 380/FOLK 505/JWST 380/JWST 505.

The history of modern Eastern, East Central, and southeastern Europe has been shaped by the ethnic and religious diversity of the regions. This course examines experiences in the Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman Empires and their successor states from the 19th century to the present day.

This course delves into the scintillating literary, visual, musical, and cinematic culture created by Jewish universalists seeking to build their new secular identity under the aegis of the Soviet Communist experiment in the aftermath of the 1917 Bolshevik coup. Surveys the works of Isaac Babel, Eduard Bagritsky, Marc Chagall, Sergey Eisenstein, Ilya Ehrenburg, Masha Gessen, Vasily Grossman, Osip Mandelshtam, and others. Taught in English; some readings in Russian for qualified students; films with English subtitles. Honors version available.

What makes an object "Jewish"? This seminar examines how we think about, animate, repurpose, and display "Jewish" objects in the public realm, cultural institutions, religious spaces, and the home. We consider how makers and users negotiate objects' various meanings within the domains of prayer, performance, entertainment, and exhibition. The class curates a final group exhibition of Jewish material culture based on original fieldwork.

Eastern Europe was one of the largest centers of Jewish civilization from premodern times to the Second World War, giving rise to important religious, cultural, and political developments in Jewish modernity. This course examines main developments of Jewish society from the late 18th century until the aftermath of the Holocaust.

This course explores ethnicity in the South and focuses on the history and culture of Jewish Southerners from their arrival in the Carolinas in the 17th century to the present day.

A comprehensive introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the different Jewish groups connected with them. Honors version available.

This is a course on ancient synagogues in Palestine and the Diaspora from the Second Temple period to the seventh century CE.

This course examines historical developments in the study of women and gender in Judaism. We will discuss efforts to challenge and revitalize Jewish tradition through the lens of gender theory and other critical interpretive approaches. Topics to be addressed include biblical interpretation, Jewish law, feminist Jewish theology and liturgy, the renewal of ritual, the rabbinic ordination of women, gender identity, race, sexuality, queer, trans, and non-binary approaches, and representations of these themes in various media.

This course explores German-Jewish writing before and after the Holocaust, focusing on the social and political position of Jews as a minority in German-speaking countries and how those are manifest in their writing and relation to the German language. Previously offered as GERM 466/JWST 466.

The course traces the past and continued canonical processes that define what the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament has been and is today, with a focus on the history of biblical interpretation.

This seminar examines selected topics in modern Hispanic Jewish culture, focusing on literature and film. Possible thematic approaches include identity, diaspora, migration, memory, statehood, life writing, and interreligious relations.

Required of majors and minors in religious studies with a concentration in Jewish studies; interested non-majors and graduate students may also enroll. Concentrating on a different theme each year, and taught by instructors affiliated with the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, the course offers intensive grounding in key areas of and approaches to Jewish studies. Combines exploration of broad topics with scholarly rigor and specificity.