Text Box: Judaic Studies Program

Syracuse University

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General Courses

HEB 101 Hebrew I

4 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Introductory proficiency-based course which prepares students to understand, speak, read, and write in culturally authentic contexts. Activities are conducted in Hebrew. No prior experience or admission by placement testing.

 

HEB 102 Hebrew II

4 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Continuing proficiency-based course which develops communicative abilities in speaking, listening, reading, and writing in culturally authentic contexts.  Activities are conducted in Hebrew. Prereq: HEB 101 or admission by placement testing.

 

HEB 201 Hebrew III

4 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Continuing proficiency-based course which refines and expands previously acquired linguistic skills in culturally authentic contexts. Activities are conducted in Hebrew. Prereq: HEB 102 or admission by placement testing.

 

HEB 202 Hebrew IV

4 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Continuing proficiency-based course which further refines and expands linguistic skills in culturally authentic contexts. Incorporates reading, discussing, and analyzing texts as a basis for the expression and interpretation of meaning. Conducted in Hebrew. Prereq: HEB 201 or admission by placement testing.

 

Hebrew 301 Advanced Hebrew **New Course in Fall 2006**

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Study of Hebrew literature in the original, ranging from the Bible to the present.  In order to develop a historical sense of the language, students also read nineteenth-century works such as hasidic tales and Enlightenment satires.  Prereq: Heb 202 or the equivalent 

 

 

JSP/REL 107 Religion, Literature, Film **New Course in Spring 07**

3 credits – offered irregularly

A sampling of literary and cinematic approaches to religious life, focusing on Jewish and Christian communities.  Special attention to the Bible, Yiddish culture, post-Holocaust writing, and Israel; topics include land, tradition, humor, science, and violence.

 

 

JSP/REL 114 The Bible

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Jewish and Christian scriptures in their ancient Near Eastern and Hellenistic contexts, with particular attention to their literary forms, the history of their composition, and their role in the development of Western religions and cultures.

 

JSP/REL 135 Judaism

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Survey of Judaic ideas, values, and cultural expressions as found in biblical, talmudic, medieval, mystical, and modern texts.

 

JSP/REL 215 The Hebrew Bible

3 credits – offered every other year

The Hebrew Bible (often-called Old Testament) in English translation, with particular attention to its literary form, its cultural context in the ancient Near East, the history of its development, and its role in Western religions and cultures.

 

JSP/REL/LIT 231 Judaic Literature

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Survey of major works in the Judaic tradition, including Hebrew and Yiddish prose in translation. Themes include nature, culture, exile, humor, satire, and talking takhlis.

 

JSP 300 Selected Topics

1-3 credits – offered every semester

 

JSP/REL 302 The Temple and the Dead Sea Scrolls

3 credits – offered irregularly

History and literature of Second Temple Judaism including the canonization of scripture, origins of the synagogue, apocalyptic literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other developments leading to early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism.

 

JSP/REL 311 The Bible as Literature

3 credits – offered irregularly

A study of one literary genre (such as prose narrative, didactic poetry, or hymnody) through the books of the Hebrew Bible in comparison to other ancient literatures.

 

JSP/REL 331 European and American Judaic Literature

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Readings of 20th-century fiction and drama, focusing on works by Schnitzler, Kafka, Wiesel, P. Levi, Yezierska, H. Roth, I.B. Singer, Malamud, P. Roth, and Ozick.

 

JSP/REL/LIT 333 Yiddish Literature in Translation

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Survey of Yiddish literature, with special attention to the classic Yiddish authors, Yiddish theater, modernism, and Yiddish women writers. Themes of minority culture, class struggle, hasidism, and the decline of the Shtetl.

 

JSP/REL 334 Modern Judaism

3 credits – offered irregularly

The impact of modernity on Jewish life and thought.  Issues and themes vary.

 

JSP/REL/LIT 335 Israeli Literature and Culture

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Literary and cultural approach to the modern history of Israel, with special attention to conflicts that have arisen during the Zionist project.

 

JSP/REL 337 Shoah: Responding to the Holocaust

3 credits – offered irregularly

Historical, literary, and philosophical representations of, and responses to, the Nazi genocide. Philosophical, theological, and ethical challenges raised by the Holocaust.

 

JSP/PHI/PSC 379 American Slavery and the Holocaust

3 credits – offered irregularly

An in-depth study of the normative structure of both American Slavery and the Holocaust, focusing upon the ways in which each institution conceived of its victims and the character of the moral climate that prevailed in each case. Prereq: At least one previous course in political science or philosophy.

 

JSP/HST 392 History of the Holocaust

3 credits – offered irregularly

Study of the events and issues of historical interpretation in the Holocaust, 1933-1945. Attitudes and behavior of Nazi perpetrators, Jewish victims, and bystanders.

 

JSP/REL/PHI 435 Modern Judaic Thought

3 credits – offered every other year

The philosophical implications of Judaism’s encounter with modernity. Close readings of selected modern Jewish thinkers. Issues and figures vary.

 

JSP/REL 439 Senior Seminar in Judaic Studies

3 credits – offered at least one every academic year

Interdisciplinary study of special topics in the Judaic tradition.

 

JSP 490 Independent Study

1-6 credits – offered irregularly

 

JSP 500 Selected Topics in Judaic Studies

1-3 credits – offered irregularly

 

JSP/REL 516 The Torah/Pentateuch

3 credits – offered irregularly

Critical issues in the modern study of the Pentateuch, including its composition, literary form, and canonization; the clash of historical and literary methods in contemporary biblical criticism.

 

JSP 600 Selected Topics in Judaic Studies

1-3 credits – offered irregularly