CJS - Courses & Degree Programs

To register for classes, click here: http://gtusonis.jenzabarcloud.com

Summer 2024

Reading Modern Hebrew
Instructor: Aviv Peretz | Monday-Friday, 9:00am–1:00pm

The intention of this course is to learn how to read and translate modern Hebrew. We will focus on grammar and vocabulary to strengthen your ability to read, understand and translate passages. We will use class time to review grammar, verb conjugations, idiomatic phrases as well as practice translation and comprehension with a range of texts, including previous GTU modern Hebrew Exams. This course will culminate in an official GTU Modern Foreign Language Exam that will fulfill GTU's language requirement. Completion of the course does not guarantee a passing grade on the exam, but the course is geared toward giving you the tools needed for translation and comprehension. The Exam will be offered in the last week of the course by the instructor, but is also offered through the GTU during the third week of September, February and May. This course will meet in-person only, from 9am to 1pm daily at the GTU library building.

Fall 2024

HSST-2026  Reading the Rabbis
Instructor: Deena Aranoff | Tuesdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

This class will serve as an introduction to rabbinic literature. We will examine selections from the vast rabbinic corpus, with a focus on Talmud and Midrash. Our goal will be to acquire familiarity with a variety of rabbinic styles, to think critically about rabbinic culture, and to acquire general access and familiarity with the classical rabbinic library. We will also consider the historical development of rabbinic Judaism in its late-antique context.
 

Spring 2025

HRHS-2001  The Making of Jewish Culture
Instructor: Deena Aranoff | Tuesdays, 9:40am–12:30pm

This seminar will examine the making of Jewish culture over time. We will employ historical, literary, cultural, and feminist analyses as part of our investigations into ancient and medieval Jewish culture and history. We will begin with the Hebrew Bible and the culture of Ancient Israel. We will then consider the development of rabbinic Judaism in its late-antique context. We will then explore Jewish life from the ninth through the sixteenth centuries. We will assess features of Jewish communal life, as well as the intellectual and spiritual currents among Jews of this time. This course will allow us to appreciate the continuities and discontinuities in Jewish history and to acquire a more nuanced sense of the overall process of cultural production in Judaism. This course satisfies the ancient-medieval survey course requirement for the M.A. and certificate in Jewish Studies. This course is required for all M.A. and certificate students at CJS.

HSHR-4105 Homeland, Exile, and Diaspora in Jewish Tradition
Instructor: Sam Shonkoff | Tuesdays, 2:10pm–5:00pm

Jewish tradition brims with reflections on the “Land of Israel” and the binary of “homeland” and “exile.” These foundational images have been interpreted in vastly different ways throughout the centuries, from geographic sites and political principles to poetic devices and spiritual archetypes. This course will examine some major trends from ancient through contemporary times and will thereby shed light on the multifaceted landscapes of Jewish culture and spirituality. Contexts to be examined will include the Hebrew Bible, Talmud and Midrash, classical liturgy, medieval Jewish mysticism and philosophy, Hasidism, modern liberal Judaism, modern Zionisms, and contemporary diasporism.

HRFT-5000  Readings in Hasidic Mysticism: The Piaseczner Rebbe
Instructor: Sam Shonkoff | Thursdays, 2:10pm–5:00pm

This seminar is for students who want to plunge deeply into the religious language of Hasidism, a modern Jewish mystical movement born in the heartland of Eastern Europe. Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczno (1889–1943) was an exceptionally innovative and psycho-somatically sophisticated sage from this lineage, who sought to rekindle what he considered to be lost sparks from the dawn of the movement. A gifted teacher and leader, his writings offer something akin to a Jewish concept of "mindfulness." He is often remembered as the Rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto, as he served there with spiritual resistance through the final years of life, until his murder. We will read sources spanning from the 1920s through those final days. Student engagement with Hebrew will be encouraged, but translations will be provided.

This is an online GTU program that features a Jewish studies component. For more info, click here.