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Jewish Studies Faculty Bookshelf

Check out books written and edited by our accomplished faculty members!

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Department of Jewish Studies

JS Course

  • Rabbis, Rebels, and Rationalists: The Jews of Eastern Europe

    hebrew 150px01:563:385
    (cross-listed with 01:510:385)

    Economic, legal, and political conditions of Jewish life from the 16th century to World War II. Forms of Jewish response: autonomism, messianism, Hasidism, emigration, and socialism.

    This course counts toward the Minor in Holocaust Studies.

  • Readings in Biblical Hebrew Poetry

    BiblicalHebrew01:563:434

    Prerequisite: a reading knowledge of ancient or modern Hebrew. 

    Note: this course is open to undergraduates as well as graduate students.

  • Readings in Biblical Hebrew Prose

    01:563:433 BiblicalHebrew
    (cross-listed with 01:840:427)

    Prerequisite: a reading knowledge of ancient or modern Hebrew. 

    Note: this course is open to undergraduates as well as graduate students.

  • Religion and Reproduction: Jewish and Christian Experiences

    Religion and Reproduction01:563:264
    (cross-listed with 01:840:263, 01:988:220, and 01:790:264)

    Religion plays a large role in shaping reproductive practices, norms, and policies. This course explores the intersection of religion and reproduction in the United States and Israel. During the semester we will focus primarily on pronatalism and abortion as two key aspects of reproduction. For each of these issues we will focus on how Jews and Christians, as well as Judaism and Christianity, in the US understand these issues, and wrestle with them internally. A few themes will continually arise: how religious ideas about kinship, women’s sexuality, and concern for demographic continuance are applied through forms of reproduction and reproductive interruption. For comparison, this class will also explore how religion shapes reproductive norms and practices in another national context. Looking at these issues within Israel, students will come to appreciate that religious positions are not monolithic but rather arise from particular cultural contexts. Furthermore, they will see how religion and reproduction intersect differently elsewhere. The course will be centered around ethnographic case studies of reproduction while drawing occasionally on historical analyses and philosophical commentaries. Gender and religion will form the two primary modes of analysis for the study of reproduction. At the end of the semester we will also consider how class and race shape reproductive ideas and practices in the US.

    This course fulfills Core requirementCCD.

  • Religion and Reproduction: Jewish and Christian Experiences

    Religion and Reproduction01:563:264
    (cross-listed with 01:840:263, 01:988:220, and 01:790:264)

    Religion plays a large role in shaping reproductive practices, norms, and policies. This course explores the intersection of religion and reproduction in the United States and Israel. During the semester we will focus primarily on pronatalism and abortion as two key aspects of reproduction. For each of these issues we will focus on how Jews and Christians, as well as Judaism and Christianity, in the US understand these issues, and wrestle with them internally. A few themes will continually arise: how religious ideas about kinship, women’s sexuality, and concern for demographic continuance are applied through forms of reproduction and reproductive interruption. For comparison, this class will also explore how religion shapes reproductive norms and practices in another national context. Looking at these issues within Israel, students will come to appreciate that religious positions are not monolithic but rather arise from particular cultural contexts. Furthermore, they will see how religion and reproduction intersect differently elsewhere. The course will be centered around ethnographic case studies of reproduction while drawing occasionally on historical analyses and philosophical commentaries. Gender and religion will form the two primary modes of analysis for the study of reproduction. At the end of the semester we will also consider how class and race shape reproductive ideas and practices in the US.

    This course fulfills Core requirementCCD.


    Spring 2023 taught by Professor Michal Raucher.

    Tuesdays and Thursdays, Period 5 @ 3:50 PM - 5:10 PM

    Have questions? You can email Prof. Michal Raucher at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


    Return to Course Schedule page 

  • Religion and Reproduction: Jewish and Christian Experiences

    Religion and Reproduction01:563:264
    (cross-listed with 01:840:263, 01:988:220, and 01:790:264)

    Religion plays a large role in shaping reproductive practices, norms, and policies. This course explores the intersection of religion and reproduction in the United States and Israel. During the semester we will focus primarily on pronatalism and abortion as two key aspects of reproduction. For each of these issues we will focus on how Jews and Christians, as well as Judaism and Christianity, in the US understand these issues, and wrestle with them internally. A few themes will continually arise: how religious ideas about kinship, women’s sexuality, and concern for demographic continuance are applied through forms of reproduction and reproductive interruption. For comparison, this class will also explore how religion shapes reproductive norms and practices in another national context. Looking at these issues within Israel, students will come to appreciate that religious positions are not monolithic but rather arise from particular cultural contexts. Furthermore, they will see how religion and reproduction intersect differently elsewhere. The course will be centered around ethnographic case studies of reproduction while drawing occasionally on historical analyses and philosophical commentaries. Gender and religion will form the two primary modes of analysis for the study of reproduction. At the end of the semester we will also consider how class and race shape reproductive ideas and practices in the US.

    This course fulfills Core requirementCCD.


    Spring 2024 taught by Professor Michal Raucher.

    Tuesdays and Thursdays, Period 5 @ 3:50 PM - 5:10 PM

    Have questions? You can email Prof. Michal Raucher at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


    Return to Course Schedule page 

  • Remembering the Holocaust: Holocaust Memory

    holocaust 01:563:360
    (cross-listed with 01:510:370) 

    This course explores works of Holocaust remembrance produced in the Americas, Europe, and Israel in an array of forms, including documentary and fictional film, radio and television broadcasting, museum displays, tourist practices, monuments, and visual art. As a Contemporary Challenges course, Remembering the Holocaust examines how remembrance of this genocide figures in contemporary social and cultural practices as a paradigm for deriving lessons from the past in order to respond to traumatic losses, address present social injustices, and prevent future acts of intolerance.

    This course fulfills Core requirement CCD.

    Hybrid course: Meets in person on Tuesdays ONLY, 12:10-1:30 PM, Miller Hall 115

  • Remembering the Holocaust: Holocaust Memory

    holocaust 01:563:360:90
    (cross-listed with 01:510:370:90) 

    This course explores works of Holocaust remembrance produced in the Americas, Europe, and Israel in an array of forms, including documentary and fictional film, radio and television broadcasting, museum displays, tourist practices, monuments, and visual art. As a Contemporary Challenges course, Remembering the Holocaust examines how remembrance of this genocide figures in contemporary social and cultural practices as a paradigm for deriving lessons from the past in order to respond to traumatic losses, address present social injustices, and prevent future acts of intolerance.

    This course fulfills Core requirement CCD.


    Spring 2023 taught by Professor Shandler.

    Hybrid Format:
    Mondays, Period 3 (12:10 AM - 1:30 PM) on campus
    & Online Asynchronous

    Spring 2023 Syllabus

    Have questions? You can email Professor Shandler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


    Return to Course Schedule page 

  • Remembering the Holocaust: Holocaust Memory

    holocaust 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

    Spring 2024 Syllabus

    Have questions? You can email Professor Shandler at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


    Return to Course Schedule page 

  • Remembering the Shtetl

    Yiddish Language01:563:260
    (cross-listed with 01:510:260)

    Discover how the shtetl-the kind of small town in Eastern Europe that was once home to most of the world's Jews-has become a key site of Jewish memory over the past century, through works of Yiddish literature, memoir, film, art, photography, and travel. (All readings in English translation; knowledge of Yiddish not required.)
  • Research and Writing in Jewish Studies

    Research and Writing01:563:464

    This course explores a major theme in Jewish studies and allows students to pursue their own scholarship, culminating in a major research paper. It is required of Jewish Studies majors and is usually taken in the junior or senior year.

    This course fulfills Core requirement WC.

  • Revolutionary Jews

    Research and Writing01:563:331
    (cross-listed with 01:510:378)

    This course will engage the modern Jewish involvement in the major revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: The United States in 1776, France in 1789, Western Europe in 1848, Russia in 1917, and the global student “revolts” of 1968. Focusing on revolutionary activity, the course will examine the political relationship of the modern Jewish community to the gentile authorities among whom they lived, investigate the differences among Jewish political options with the rise of mass politics, and explore topics such as nationalism, patriotism, socialism, communism, liberalism, and citizenship as lived and articulated by modern Jews. 

  • Sephardic History and Culture

    Sephardic Jewish History - Rutgers Jewish Studies course01:563:344
    (cross-listed with 01:510:391)

    Explore the history and culture of the Jews of Spain and Portugal from the fifteenth century to the present. Learn about Sephardi food and music as well as about the development of early modern mercantile networks, colonial expansion, and the evolution of Sephardic community and identity in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Americas.

    No prerequisites.

  • Springsteen and the Bible (mini-course)

    springsteen and the bibleJewish Studies: 01:563:381
    March 7-April 29, 2024

    Bruce Springsteen’s words and music have been part of the American landscape for nearly half a century. Throughout this period, biblical and religious themes have played an important role in his lyrics. This course will examine the shifting roles the Bible has played in Springsteen’s writing at different points in his life, and the sophisticated ways he has engaged the Bible. Special attention will be paid to key terms such as: Sin, Grace, and the Struggle Within. No prerequisites. The course is open to fans and non-fans alike.

    Professor: Azzan Yadin-Israel
    Monday/Thursday 10:20-11:40
    116 Miller Hall, College Avenue Campus

  • The Art of Genesis (mini-course)

    the art of genesisJewish Studies: 01:563:382
    March 7-April 29, 2024

    This minicourse explores the ways in which artists have engaged three key stories in the biblical Book of Genesis: Adam and Eve’s sin (The Fall of Man), Noah’s Ark, and The Binding of Isaac. Although artwork is generally valued for its aesthetic beauty, the course focuses on the ways in which select works interpret the biblical stories they illustrate.

    Professor: Azzan Yadin-Israel
    Monday/Thursday 12:10-1:30
    116 Miller Hall, College Avenue Campus

  • The Culture of Yiddish

    Yiddish01:563:245:01 

     (crosslisted as 01:470:280:01)

     This course will provide students with an overview of the language and culture of Yiddish, the traditional vernacular of Ashkenazic Jews for over 1,000 years. Students will learn about the distinctive structure of Yiddish as a fusion language and about the multilingual nature of its speakers. The course will continue with an overview of key areas of Yiddish cultural activity from the early modern period to the present, including religious life, political activism, secular literature, press, and the performing arts. Finally, the course will consider the role of Yiddish both during the Holocaust—when half of the speech community was murdered and its European cultural center destroyed—and afterwards, as both Jews and others forge new relations with the language. All course readings and materials will be in English. No prior knowledge of linguistics, of Yiddish or any other language, or of Jewish history or religion is required. 


     Spring 2024 taught by Prof. Jeffrey Shandler  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

     Tuesday / Thursday, 2:00-3:20 PM Miller Hall 116

    Spring 2024 Syllabus

    Have questions? You can email Professor Goldman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


    Return to Course Schedule page

  • Topics in Rabbinic Literature

    01:563:315rabbinic literature

    This course offers an introduction to rabbinic literature. Each part of the rabbinic corpus will be introduced and discussed, along with relevant non-rabbinic sources (the Dead Sea Scrolls, contemporary Christian and Pagan literature, and so on). Readings from the rabbinic sources will focus on the rabbinic conception of the relationship between the human and the animal world. All texts are in English and no prior exposure is required. 

  • Touching History: The World of Medieval Manuscripts

    touching history iconCrosslisted with Medieval Studies and Religion.

    An introduction to medieval manuscripts and to book culture from before the age of printing, with particular attention to the scribal transmission of ancient and classical texts (Bible, Homer, Qur’an, Beowulf, etc.).

  • Ugaritic

    Research and Writing01:563:405
    (cross-listed with 01:013:405)

    An introduction to Ugaritic, the ancient Semitic language most closely related to Biblical Hebrew.

    Students will learn to analyze the grammar of Ugaritic, especially in comparison to Hebrew and/or Arabic. They will gain familiarity with the myths and epics of ancient Ugarit, including their relationship to biblical literature.

    Prerequisites: Knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic, or Aramaic

  • Women in the Bible (mini-course)

    BibleIintro01:563:265 - 1.5 credits

    The role of women in the Jewish Bible/Old Testament stories; also addresses the question of the role of women in ancient Israelite society.

Statement on Addressing Antisemitism
The Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University addresses antisemitism by teaching students of all backgrounds about the complex history, and the changing manifestations and consequences, of antisemitism. Students are encouraged to engage thoughtfully with these subjects in courses such as Antisemitism; History of the Holocaust; Between Nazism and Communism; Jews, Heretics, and the Inquisition; Holocaust Memory; Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Medieval Spain; Modern Jewish History; and many others. The faculty works assiduously to create a safe intellectual environment for all Rutgers students to learn about these and other challenging subjects.

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