Courses

Fall 2013

History Methodology Seminar
Dr. Deena Aranoff, Graduate Theological Union & Christopher Ocker, San Francisco Theological Seminary & Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HS-6025               Monday, 2:10PM-5:00PM                  Location: DSPT-1

This course will survey a variety of historical methodologies as they are commonly applied to the study of Christianity and Judaism. The seminar will pay particular attention to current scholarship and works of ongoing methodological importance. It will also refer to works of previous generations which have formed the background of current cultural-historical study of Christianity and Judaism. Seminar required of GTU doctoral students in history and expected of doctoral students in other areas declaring history as an allied field.

Jewish Biblical Hermeneutics
Dr. Deena Aranoff, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HSHR-3741         Tuesday, 9:40AM-12:30PM               Location: MUDD 204   

This course will examine the primary modes of Jewish Biblical hermeneutics since antiquity: rabbinic midrash, hellenistic variations, medieval grammatical interpretation, philosophical allegory, the mystical hermeneutics of medieval kabbalists, Hasidic homily, feminist approaches, pre-modern translations and Spinoza. In addition to attaining an understanding of these interpretive trends, we will examine the paradoxical function of the Bible as a site for innovation as well as conservation. One year of Hebrew language study is required.

Jewish Perspectives on Suffering & Life
Dr. Zvi Bellin- Ph.D., LPCC
Course ID: PS-2126                Wednesday, 12:40PM-3:30PM                      Location: CDSP 113

This course will explore the intersection between the experience of suffering and the search for personal meaning through a variety of Jewish pastoral perspectives. We will begin our course by exploring what a Jewish pastoral framework might look like and why it is a valuable approach in the study of Jewish text and life. Each week will focus on different views on the nature of suffering and life meaning from the relational to the communal to the liturgical. This course will expose you to selections from the Hebrew Bible and Talmudic tales that explore the main themes of the course. We will encounter the writings of Viktor Frankl, Martin Buber, the Warsaw Ghetto Rabbi (Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira), Rabbi Alan Lew, and other Jewish thinkers. This course will be geared towards students who will be applying the knowledge gained in academic and/or ministry settings.

Jews in the Modern World
Dr. Shaina Hammerman, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HSHR-2026                       Monday, 9:40AM-12:30PM                 Location: Hedco

This course will examine the phenomena and processes of Jewish modernization, including the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah), Hasidism, Socialism, Zionism, anti-Semitism, and the construction of a Jewish historical narrative. We will explore historical documents, historiography, literature, film, and other new media as we consider how Jews define themselves and are defined by others in the modern period.  This course fulfills the M.A. and Certificate requirements for the second half (modern-contemporary) of the year-long survey course in Jewish history and thought. Reader  responses, presentations, and research paper.

Jewish Identity & Race
Elizabeth Ingenthron, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HRHS-2034                     Thursday, 9:40AM-12:30PM              Location: Hedco

Race as a category is one that has changed in meaning and application in the history of the United States and globally. Jewish identity in terms of race also entails a complicated history. By reading texts on critical race theories along with research which focuses on Jewish identity and race, we will consider the significance of race studies and Jewish studies in dialogue and find what emerges in terms of questions, problems and proposals for the future.

UCB FALL 2013 COURSES

History 175B (Efron): Modern Jewish History

Jewish Studies 39H (Rosenblatt): Freshman/Sophomore Seminar:
"The Paradox of Survival: An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought"
Jewish thought since the Eighteenth Century is characterized by a commanding paradox. Whereas the Jews' entry into the modern world has witnessed their increasing secularization, Jews have, at the same time, been preoccupied with the relevance and significance of their ancient tradition. This introductory course will examine how a variety of modern Jewish thinkers have constructed and radically re-¬‐evaluated Jewishness in the light of modern experience. We will consider significant philosophers, novelists and poets and their understandings of concepts of the self, nation, history, and knowledge in relationship to their reconstruction of Jewish concepts such as justice, redemption, the stranger, holiness, exile and the Land of Israel.

L&S 120 (Hendel): The Bible in Western Culture
The ways that people understand the Bible are deeply linked with their ways of understanding and living in the world. We will explore the changes in biblical interpretation over the last two thousand years as a key to the shifting horizons of Western culture, politics, and religion. Topics will range widely, from the birth of the Bible to ancient heresies to modern philosophy, science, and literature. This will be a genealogy of western thought as it wrestles with its canonical text.

Jewish Studies 120 (Zaban): "Major Way Stations in Modern Hebrew Literature"
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with the major works of Modern Hebrew literature while exploring their historical and cultural background. The course will highlight themes such as Zionism, the negation of the Diaspora, the Israeli-Arab conflict, the literary response to the Holocaust, individualism vs. collectivity, gender & sexuality and ethnic tensions. Readings will consist of novels, short stories and poems in English translation

Music 74/139 (Spagnolo): Music in Israel
A wide-angled perspective on the different cultures voiced through music in Israel, including traditional, popular and art music, with a specific focus on the role of music in the formation of Jewish national culture in the Middle East from the end of the 19th century to the present. Jews who immigrated to Palestine from the four corners of the world brought with them a host of diverse musical cultures, many of which had never come in contact with one another before. These diverse worlds of sound developed through the 20th century, sharing common traits and joining (and clashing) in shaping “Israeliness.” As heard in Israel, “world music” appears under an unexpected and intriguing light. The study of this complex musical universe requires historical, musicological and anthropological tools.

Near Eastern Studies 139 (Kronfeld, Levin): Multiculturalism in Modern Jewish Literatures
This course will engage the diversity of voices in modern Jewish literatures, and the rich interplay between multiple languages and cultures which they express. We will focus on close reading of poems, short fiction and folklore, translated into English from Jewish languages such as Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, and Yiddish by authors of Eastern and Central European as well as Middle Eastern and North African extraction.

Near Eastern Studies 190 (Aronson-Lehavi): Contemporary Israeli Culture
This course will offer an overview of contemporary artistic creativity in Israel by studying works of worldly renowned Israeli authors and artists. The class will compare prominent works in drama, theatre, art, film and dance. It will foster an understanding of contemporary Israeli arts and culture and will focus on the interrelations between the universal and local dimensions of these works. Themes include representations of the Holocaust; religious and secular identities; intergenerational relations; immigration; individualism and collectivism; militarism and war; and feminist identities. All texts will be available in English.

Near Eastern Studies 190C (Duarte de Oliveira): Jewish Thought, Culture and Civilization
This course aims to study one of the civilizations that deeply marked and inspired Western culture. The Jewish tradition, one of the cornerstones of European and American culture, belongs to the group of ancient cultures originated in the Fertile Crescent, which throughout time crystallized in evolving oral and written references, around which fundamental moments of the relation between God and Humanity have been condensed and preserved. In this introductory course we will delve into the thought of Jewish authors that dedicated themselves to the study of their tradition in a particularly creative mode. Following a brief historical introduction to the socio-cultural context of Jewish life in the Biblical, Post-Exile and Second Temple periods, we will approach moments and topics considered crucial for the development of this living tradition.

Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies 39D (Aronson-Lehavi): Freshman/Sophomore Seminar: "Representations of the Holocaust in Theater"
This course deals with the challenge of representing and performing Holocaust-related materials in contemporary theater and with the ways in which such materials have been used to explore complex questions of the past and the present. We will study plays and theatre performances that employ experimental, thought-provoking, and often unsettling modes of representation in order to create powerful theatrical experiences, and analyze the aesthetic, social, and ethical issues that such performances evoke. The course will also engage with theories of documentary theatre, total theatre, cultural memory as performance, trauma and performance, and relations between the arts and the Holocaust more generally.

Yiddish 103 [German Dept] (Chaver): Topics in Yiddish Literature
Topic: Yiddish Literature in America.

Spring 2014 (CJS)

Jewish Life in Medieval Europe
Dr. Deena Aranoff, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HSHR-3739                     Monday, 9:40AM-12:30PM               Location: Hedco

This class will examine Jewish society and culture in medieval Europe from the tenth through the sixteenth centuries. We will explore features of Jewish communal life, interactions with Christian society, as well as intellectual and religious trends. Special emphasis will be placed upon original documents in translation. The great diversity of Jewish history and ideas during this period will allow us to develop a nuanced sense of the overall process of social and religious change in Jewish history. Seminar/Paper.

Gender and Talmud
Charlotte Fonrobert, Stanford University
Course ID: HRBS-4351          Wednesday, 9:40AM-12:30PM          Location: CDSP-113

This course will explore the construction of gender in the Talmud through close readings of significant legal passages in the treatment of women, marriage & gender. We will supplement this analysis of primary sources by reading in gender theory, both within & outside the field of rabbinics. Hebrew/Aramaic reading ability required.

Hellenism, Judaism, and Empire
Ashley Bacchi, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HS-3735               Thursday, 2:10PM-5:00PM                Location: CDSP-116

This course will explore questions of Jewish identity before and after the Maccabean Revolt. Students will be introduced to primary sources and recent scholarship concerning the interaction between Judaism and Hellenism in order to evaluate how both acceptance and rejection fostered transformation. This course will help students interested in Hebrew Bible and/or the New Testament illuminate what some scholars have described as the "Intertestamental" period. Gender, art, and archeology are some lenses this course will use in an attempt to gain insight into this diverse yet integrated time. Advanced MDiv, Masters, and Doctoral students interested in gaining an understanding of the style, content, and context of Jewish writings in the Hellenistic age. This literature is not confined to one perspective, and as such, exposes students to a wide spectrum of interpretations on Biblical literature and Jewish culture that can and were operating simultaneously. Seminar: class presentation; final research paper. All readings in English. Basic knowledge of Hebrew Bible required in order to appreciate what is being imitated as well as created. This course is taught by PhD student Ashley Bacchi with a Newhall Award, under the supervision of Dr. Deena Aranoff.

Love & Sex in Modern Jewish Literature
Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: RA-2217              Monday, 2:10PM-5:00PM                  Location: MUDD-204

The emergence of modern Jewish literature in the nineteenth century was accompanied by the secularization and Westernization of traditional Jewish marital structures, erotic practices, and gender roles. Modern Jewish literature both reflected and shaped these transformations, serving as a site for the negotiation of traditional and modern values around love and sex. We will trace this journey from the Haskalah to contemporary Jewish American and Israeli narrative prose; readings include Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, S.Y. Agnon, and Grace Paley. All literature will be provided in the original and English translation. Seminar/final paper required, no prerequisites.

Politics of Biblical Translation
Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: BSHR-4530         Thursday, 9:40AM-12:30PM              Location: Hedco

This course will follow the career of Bible translation from the composition of the  Septuagint to contemporary missionary translations. We will study translations narratives using post-colonialist theories to analyze the politics of cross-cultural transmission. Jewish and Christian texts will be contrasted.

Spring 2013

Reading Rabbinic Texts: Negotiating Theory and Practice
Dr. Dina Stein, Koret Visiting Professor in Rabbinics & Folklore
Course ID: HRHS-5200  Tuesday, 9:40AM-12:30PM        Location: MUDD 101
The course will provide an overall view of rabbinic literature - its main compositions and its literary - hermeneutic genres. It will also address possible historical contexts that may have informed it. Special attention will be given to the role Midrash plays in the rabbinic corpus as an underlying principle.

Jewish Folklore
Dr. Dina Stein, Koret Visiting Professor in Rabbinics & Folklore
Course ID: RSHR-4915    Wednesday, 9:40AM-12:30PM    Location: MUDD 101
What constitutes "Jewish Folklore"? What is (Jewish) folklore in the Bible, in Rabbinic literature, in medieval texts and in modern times? The definition of folklore involves cultural and textual assumption which in turn yield a variety of historical reconstructions. The course will address theoretical issues pertaining to the notion of folklore while focusing on specific texts from different periods, mainly rabbinic. 

Ancient-Medieval Jewish Civilization
Dr. Deena Aranoff, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HSST-2022    Thursday, 9:40 AM-12:30 PM            Location: Hedco at GTU
This course will examine Jewish civilization from its beginnings in ancient Israel through its development in medieval times. We will examine features of Jewish communal life, as well as the intellectual and religious currents among Jews in the ancient and medieval periods. This course will provide an understanding of the continuities and discontinuities in Jewish history and the overall process of cultural change in Judaism. This course is required for all M.A. and Certificate students at CJS. Weekly response papers/Final Exam.

Jewish Mysticism
Dr. Deena Aranoff, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: HRHS-5402    Monday, 9:40 AM-12:30 PM        Location: Hedco at GTU
This course will examine the ideas, narratives, theologies and practices that have been part of Jewish mysticism throughout the ages. We will proceed chronologically and thematically, exploring the variety of Jewish mystical trends as well as themes such as language, hermeneutics, gender, sexual imagery, nomian and antinomian aspects, messianism, symbolism and practices. We will consider the relationship between Jewish mysticism and surrounding religious systems as well as relationships between Jewish mysticism and other Jewish communal and rabbinic structures. Doctoral level seminar; at least year of Jewish studies required. Weekly Response Papers/Final Paper.

Levinas
Dr. Naomi Seidman, Graduate Theological Union
Course ID: CEPT-5410    Wednesday, 9:40 AM-12:30 PM        Location: Hedco at GTU
This course will explore the major writings of Emmanuel Levinas, with a special focus on the philosophical context of his work. Thus, the course will begin with a study of Husserl, Heidegger, and Rosenzweig’s phenomenological and existentialist writings. The last few sessions will be devoted to Levinas's writings on Jewish themes. Doctoral level seminar; preparation in Jewish Studies and/or philosophy required. Weekly response papers/final paper.

Ancient Themes/Modern Images

Rene’e Powell, MA Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union

Course ID: RA-1957        Friday, 12:40 PM-3:30 PM             Location: MUDD 102

This course explores Jewish artists from different historical periods and geographic locations. Students will examine how religious, cultural and social changes within the context of Jewish history have been expressed through visual representation. Our study will include analysis of complex issues of Jewish identity in relation to Jewish art, such as the impact of assimilation, anti-Semitism, and religious and political persecution. Particular attention will be paid to the question of why several Jewish artists, such as Lieberman, Rothko, Newman and Chagall chose to portray Jesus in their painting. This is a seminar with weekly discussions, which will require active participation and a few short reflection papers. [Auditors with Faculty permission]

CJS students can register with C.A.R.E (Center for Art and Religion)

Fall Courses-2012

REEL JEWS – IN AMERICAN MEDIA

Shaina Hammerman, PhD candidate, Graduate Theological Union

Monday, 6:00 PM-9:00 PM

Location: Hedco

Course ID: TBD

This course is devoted to an analysis of Jewish imagery in television, film, and the internet. We will examine the multiple meanings behind codes of Jewish (in)visibility often taken for granted by American artists and audiences. Students will: 1) follow the history of Jewish representation and involvement in creating popular visual media, 2) develop the skills to deconstruct images looking at everything from camera angles to costume to casting choices, 3) question the impact of visual media on perceptions of Jews as well as how Jewish identities are shaped by the pervasive use of their images. We will also address broader questions in current scholarship: the limits of representation; the formation of stereotypical identities through visual media; and how the status of "otherness" helps shape a "national" imagery. Reader responses and research paper.

THE CRAFT OF CRITICAL PROSE

Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, Graduate Theological Union

Tuesday, 9:40 AM-12:30 PM

Location: MUDD 206

Course ID: IDS-5030

This course is intended for doctoral & advanced (thesis-level) MA students who are interested in working on their critical prose skills. Weekly writing assignments. Workshop-style class format. Students will work on a publishable essay or conference presentation in the last four weeks of the class. Topics include: crafting & supporting an argument, finding a voice, oral presentation techniques, & proper format. [12 max enrollment; Auditors excluded.]

MODERN JEWISH THOUGHT

Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, Graduate Theological Union

Monday, 2:10 PM-5:00 PM

Location: GTU-HEDCO

Course ID: HSST-2024

This course will explore the work of modern Jewish thinkers from Spinoza through Buber, Rosenzweig, Heschel, and Levinas, as well as such movements as Hasidism, Zionism, and feminism. This course satisfies the requirements of the Center for Jewish Studies MA & certificate survey course.

JEW IN MEDIEVAL SPAIN

Susan Aguilar, PhD candidate, Graduate Theological Union

Thursday, 9:40 AM-12:30 PM

Location: TBD

Course ID: HS-3737

This course examines the diversity of Jewish experience in Spain from the 7th through the 15th centuries, encompassing both its "Golden Age" and the Expulsion. We will utilize a variety of readings - from Maimonides to anonymous women poets - to interrogate the opposing concepts of "convivencia" and conflict popularly used to describe the Sephardic experience. Seminar: short papers; final paper. All readings in English.

Spring Courses-2012

MEDIEVAL JEWISH PHILOSOPHY

Deena Aranoff, Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union

Tuesday, 9:40AM-12:30PM     

Location: Graduate Theological Union (HEDCO Room)  

Course ID: HSHR-5190

This course will examine Jewish philosophical trends from the tenth through the fifteenth centuries. We will examine the Aristotelian and neo-Platonic trends that were prominent in the Islamic cultural context and the ways in which these notions profoundly shaped the Jewish ideas of the period. Some questions that will emerge as part of our studies are: What is the definition of Jewish philosophy? What kinds of questions occupied Jewish philosophers in the medieval period? How did religion and philosophy combine to address these questions and how did they clash? How did Jewish thinkers reconcile reason with revelation? The course will also examine the impact of philosophical notions upon two significant aspects of Jewish intellectual life: mysticism and Biblical hermeneutics.

POLITICS OF BIBLE TRANSLATION

Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, Graduate Theological Union

Monday, 2:10PM-05:00PM     

Location: Graduate Theological Union (HEDCO Room)   

Course ID: HSHR-4531

This course will explore the history of Bible translation from antiquity to our own day, focusing on translation as political and cultural, as well as linguistic negotiation. Our goals will be to understand the historical emergence of major Bible translations and to acquire methodological tools drawn from translation studies to enable us to analyze these translations. Seminar/paper [Auditors with Faculty permission]

INTRODUCTION TO JUDAISM

Deena Aranoff, Center for Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union

Tuesday, 12:40PM-03:30PM     

Location: Pacific School of Religion (Mudd 102) 

Course ID: HSHR-2020

This course will examine the historical development of Judaism, its canonical texts, practices, calendar, and culture. We will survey important features of Biblical and rabbinic literature, Jewish mystical and philosophical traditions, as well as aspects of modern Jewish culture. Short paper/exam.

INTRODUCTION TO TALMUD AND RABBINIC THOUGHT: LAW, POLITICS, THEOLOGY

Noah Greenfield, PhD candidate, Joint Doctoral Program in Jewish Studies

Thursday, 9:00PM-12:00PM     

Location: Church Divinity School of the Pacific (room-113)  

Course ID: HSHR-2015   

The exciting field of rabbinics has been energized in the last few decades by cultural studies, literary, gender, post-colonial and various other critical theories. This course will consider the fruits of these projects within a framework in which rabbis have been neglected: the history of ideas. How can the rabbis be studied for their thought? In what way have they and can they contribute to theories of justice, politics and religion? This course will expose students to a wealth of primary rabbinic texts (in translation) and seminal theoretical sources which shed light on them.

Fall Courses-2011

JEWISH BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS

Deena Aranoff, Center for Jewish Studies GTU

Tuesday, 12:40PM-03:30PM     

Location: Church Divinity School of the Pacific (room-116)  

Course ID: HSHR-3741

This class will explore the variety of Jewish Biblical interpretive traditions. We will examine Hellenistic, Rabbinic (legal and homiletic), philosophical, mystical, Hasidic, modern-critical and poetic readings of the Bible. One year of Hebrew advised. Seminar/paper. 

METHODS: JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN HISTORIES

Deena Aranoff, Center for Jewish Studies,GTU

Christopher Ocker, San Francisco Theological Seminary and GTU

Monday, 9:40AM-12:30PM

Location: HEDCO Room

Course ID: HS-4125

This course will introduce a variety of historical methodologies as they are commonly applied to the study of Christianity and Judaism.  The seminar will pay particular attention to current scholarship and works of ongoing methodological importance. It will also refer to works of previous generations which have formed the background of current cultural-historical study of Christianity and Judaism. The course will survey varieties of cultural history and social history in the medieval period, before turning to the more thematic study of the concepts space and time in the history of Judaism and Christianity, with examples drawn from medieval and early modern Europe. Finally, the course will provide a forum for student research on conceptions, experiences, and formations of space and/or time in a period, religion or social group most relevant to the interests of each student.   PhD level course; seminar paper.

ISSUES IN MODERN JEWISH HISTORY

Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, GTU

Monday, 12:40-3:30     

Location: HEDCO Room  

Course ID:HSHR-2026  

This course will explore major issues in modern Jewish history, examining as well the rise of Jewish historiography and approaches to the writing of Jewish history. We will focus, in particular, on the origins and character of Jewish modernity in its intersections with Jewish memory and history.

This course fulfills the MA in Jewish Studies requirement for a survey course in modern Jewish history or thought.

LITERARY THEORY AND JEWISH STUDIES

Naomi Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture, GTU

Tuesday, 9:40-12:30     

Location: Graduate Theological Union (HEDCO Room) 

Course ID: HRHA-4000

This class will provide a survey of the major developments in literary theory in the twentieth century, beginning with Saussure and Russian Formalism and continuing with New Criticism, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism, Foucault, Queer Theory, Marxism and Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, Post-colonialism, and beyond. While the bulk of our work will be in reading these texts, we will occasionally read Jewish Studies critics whose work is in dialogue with these theorists, to explore promising overlaps and significant intersections and applications of literary theory for Jewish Studies.