Spring 2024 Courses
Kafka and World Literature
01:563:355
(cross-listed with 01:195:382 and 01:470:354)
The course will provide an introduction to Kafka's work and its impact on World literature. Kafka’s texts constitute a new level and quality of literature that has triggered innumerable responses in many languages, media, and discourses. He is generally recognized as an "international" author of a new type of "world literature." While the quality of the work is clear, it nevertheless tends to defy all attempts to approach it through traditional means of interpretation. In an effort to forge new ways of addressing the challenges posed by Kafka's work, the course seeks to locate it in a number of related contexts: at the crossroads of European modernity; within debates about Jewish languages, culture, identity, and music in the early twentieth-century and beyond; at the center of current controversies concerning the politically charged notion of "minor literature;" and perhaps most importantly as the source of inspiration for new works of art, literature, film, and music. Among the works to be considered are the introduction to his writing in “comix” form by Mairowitz and Crumb; the fiction of Haruki Murakami, Jorge Luis Borges, Achmat Dangor, JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, and Philip Roth; the music of Philip Glass; and philosophical works by Kierkegaard and Derrida. Readings also include canonical texts by Ovid, Homer, and Kleist, and critical/biographical works by Wagenbach, Canetti, Butler, Benjamin, Brod, Pawel, and others.
This course fulfills Core requirement AHo, AHp.
Taught in English. No prerequisites.
Spring 2024 taught by Professor Dominik Zechner
Mondays and Wednesdays @ 1:10 PM - 2:30 PM
Spring 2024 Syllabus
Have questions? You can email Dominik Zechner at
Dead Sea Scrolls
01:563:340
(cross-listed with 01:840:340)
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls represents one of the most dramatic archaeological finds of the 20th century. Since their discovery in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of intense study and debate, and have profoundly influenced the way in which we understand the Jewish sects of the Second Temple period, the origins of Christianity, and the rise of Rabbinic Judaism. In this class we will examine all of the major Dead Sea Scrolls, along with many of the more fragmentary ones, as we attempt to understand their historical context, in addition to their significance for later Jewish and Christian traditions. All readings are in English.
Spring 2024 taught by Prof. Gary Rendsburg
Have questions? You can email Prof. Gary Rendsburg at
Remembering the Holocaust: Holocaust Memory
01:563:360:90
(cross-listed with 01:510:370:90)
This Contemporary Challenges course examines Holocaust memory as a model for learning lessons from the past in order to respond to traumatic losses, address present social injustices, and prevent future acts of intolerance. The course analyzes the development of Holocaust memory from the end of World War II to the present. Examples studied include documentary and fictional film, video, radio and television broadcasting, museums, tourist practices, monuments, and visual art.
This course fulfills Core requirement CCD.
Spring 2024 taught by Professor Shandler.
Hybrid course: Meets in person on Tuesdays ONLY, 12:10-1:30 PM, Miller Hall 115
Have questions? You can email Professor Shandler at
Introduction to the Bible II: Prophets and Poetry
01:563:206
(cross-listed with 01:840:206)
This is the second course of a two-semester sequence. The main goal is to introduce students to the literature of the Bible – by which is meant the Bible as defined by the Jewish canon, what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. This course focuses on the Prophets, the historical backdrop of the prophetic message as revealed mainly through the book of Kings, and other relevant poetic material (Psalms, Job, etc.), which provide additional theological insights. Emphasis is placed on literary, historical, and theological matters. Special use is made of the numerous archaeological discoveries that have advanced our knowledge of ancient Israel. As such, the Bible is studied against the backdrop of ancient Near Eastern literature, history, religion, mythology, and law.
This course is open to senior citizen auditors.
This course fulfills Core requirements HST and AHp.
Spring 2024 taught by Professor Yaddin-Israel.
Mondays and Thursdays, Period 2 (10:20 AM - 11:40 AM)
Have questions? You can email Professor Yadin-Israel at
Jewish History I: Ancient and Medieval
01:563:201
(cross-listed with 01:506:271 and 01:685:208)
Explore the history of Jews and Judaism from ancient Israel’s earliest origins to the late Middle Ages. Learn about archaeological findings, analyze ancient and medieval texts and works of art, and examine how one of the world’s oldest religious traditions evolved in a global context.
No prerequisites.
This course fulfills Core requirement HST.
Required of all Jewish Studies majors and minors.
Spring 2024 taught by Professor Gary Rendsburg
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Period 4 (2:00 PM - 3:20 PM)
991: Jewish Languages Add-On Syllabus
Have questions? You can email Professor Rendsburg at