TOPICS COURSE - 3 credits
(cross-listed with 01:840:394)
Does God have a body? If so, is it feminine or masculine? How do our sexual lives influence our understanding of God? What does the Zionist movement think about the Image of the Jewish Male Body? How does Israeli cinema influence the image of the Israeli soldier? What do different Jewish sects think about Queer life, and do they perceive modesty in Jewish life?
Students will enrich their understanding of both gender theories and sexual theories. They will learn about perceptions of the body and sexuality in Western societies in comparison to those in Eastern societies, gaining a deeper understanding of the key differences. Finally, they will gain the basic tools necessary to explore different Jewish texts and literature from the Bible, Talmud, Midrash, and Mystical (Hasidic) texts to Modern Israeli Poetry, literature and Cinema.
