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Course Offerings

As always, check BU Brain for the latest updates, course descriptions, details and registration.   

SPRING 2025

Hebrew | Israel Studies | Judaic Studies | Religious Studies | Yiddish

HEBREW 

HEBR 102 - Hebrew II - Gen Ed: WL2

Cross listed: HEBR 502
Time: M/W 9:40 AM -10:40 AM| T/R 10:05-11:05 a.m.
Instructor:  Orly Shoer
Second semester of the communicative introduction to the language and its culture. Provides a thorough grounding in reading, writing, grammar, oral comprehension, and speaking. Prerequisites: HEBR 101 with a grade of C- or equivalent or permission of instructor. 

HEBR 204 - Intermediate Hebrew - Gen Ed: WL3

Cross listed: HEBR 504
Time: M/W/F 10:50 AM-11:50 AM
Instructor:  Orly Shoer
Intermediate-level language and culture course with emphasis on the reading of literary and non-literary texts, grammar and writing. Prerequisite: HEBR 103 with a grade of C- or equivalent or permission of instructor. 

HEBR 312 - Texts and Conversations II - Gen Ed: WL3

Cross listed: HEBR 506
Time: M/W/F 1:10 PM-2:10 PM
Instructor:  Orly Shoer
In this course students will advance their Hebrew language skills through reading, discussing and writing about a variety of short fiction and nonfiction texts and visual material. Writing practice and reviewing of grammar will be incorporated through the presented materials. Taught in Hebrew. Prerequisites: HEBR 204 with a grade of C- or equivalent or permission of instructor.

ISRAEL STUDIES

ISRL 205 - Becoming Israeli – Gen Ed: H

Cross listed: JUST 205 / COLI 280F
Time: T/R 11:40 AM-1:05 PM
Instructor: Lior Libman
At the center of Becoming Israeli stands a protagonist in the process of becoming: a youngster being educated, learning about themselves, about the world, and about life, overcoming obstacles, maturing, forming their identity. In this class, we will explore the thematic and structural characteristics of such narratives, focusing on Israeli examples in their historical and cultural contexts. We will look at tensions between the individual and their society in the moral and psychological development of the protagonist, and will delve into questions of national affinities, class, gender and sexuality in their passage from childhood to adulthood. The course is an Area Course in Literature for the Minor in Israel Studies, a Literature Course for the Major/Minor in Hebrew, and an Area Course in Israel Studies for the Major/Minor in Judaic Studies.

ISRL 315 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Gen Eds G, N 

Cross listed: JUST 315 / ARAB 385C / HIST 385J
Time: M/W/F 10:50 AM - 11:50 AM
Instructor: Shay Rabineau
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Israel-Palestine comprises the territory that lies between the Mediterranean Sea (on the west), Lebanon (in the north), the Gulf of Aqaba and the Sinai Peninsula (on the south) and the Jordan River (on the east). Although it covers a small geographic area and includes a relatively small population (compare present-day Israel's 8 million citizens with Egypt's 90 million), the dispute between the two rival sets of nationalisms which claim the sole right to control this territory has remained at the forefront of international attention for more than half a century. This course will examine the origins of the Arab-Israeli dispute from the mid-nineteenth century through the founding of the state of Israel and expulsion/flight of three quarters of a million Palestinians from their homes till the present day. Among the topics to be examined: the social history of Palestine up to Zionist colonization, the origins of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, varieties of Zionism, Zionism and colonialism, seminal events and their consequent symbolic connotations (the 1936 "Great Revolt," the 1948 "Nakba" [disaster]) and creation of the state of Israel, the construction of a national consensus in Israel, 1967 and its aftermath, the intifada, and the redefinition of the conflict as a result of Oslo, the second intifada, the security fence, HAMAS, Hizbollah and the Lebanon War. 

ISRL 324 - The Kibbutz in Israeli Culture – Gen Ed: H

Cross listed: JUST 385B
Time: T/R 2:50 PM-4:15 PM
Instructor: Lior Libman 
The course focuses on representations of the kibbutz, a unique Israeli social formation which aimed at combining Zionism and Socialism, nation-building and the construction of a new, just society. Throughout the past hundred years, the kibbutz has been portrayed in countless literary texts and visual images. In this class, we will analyze and discuss selected literary and cinematic works from different genres and periods to examine the history of the kibbutz-image and the relationship between it and the kibbutz’s history, while also asking, in a broader context, how social and political visions are shaped in, and are shaping, images. Texts will be read in translation. No previous knowledge is required, but for students who took Intro to Israeli Lit. this course will be a continuation of their studies. The course is an Area Course in Literature for the Minor in Israel Studies, a Literature Course for the Major/Minor in Hebrew, and an Area Course in Israel Studies for the Major/Minor in Judaic Studies.

JUDAIC STUDIES

JUST 202 - Jewish History 1500 to Modern - Gen Ed: G

Cross listed: HIST 385E
Time: T/R 10:05 AM - 11:30 AM
Instructor: Dina Danon
This course surveys the major historical developments encountered by Jewish communities beginning with the Spanish Expulsion in 1492 up until the present day. We will first explore the features of the “early modern” period, such as mercantilism and large-scale demographic shifts, and chart the ways in which they transformed the traditional position of the Jew in society. We will then shift to the modern period, which saw a dramatic reordering of political, social, economic, and cultural life. We will study the various ways in which Jews across the world engaged with emerging notions of nationality, equality, and citizenship, as well as with new ideologies such as liberalism, socialism, nationalism, imperialism and antisemitism. We will examine differing patterns of acculturation and assimilation, as Jews adopted numerous ways to negotiate the tension between the “particular” and the “universal.” By focusing both on European Jewry as well as the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa, we will chart not one all-encompassing model of Jewish modernity, but a more complex story that unfolded from Marrakesh to Berlin, from Istanbul to Vilna and beyond. This course satisfies the core and survey requirements for Judaic Studies majors and minors.

JUST 280J -  Secular Jewish Identities - Gen Ed: H, W

Cross listed: ISRL 280A / HIST 285D
Time: T/R 1:15 PM -2:40 PM
Instructor: Allan Arkush
This course will focus on the emergence and development in modern times of essentially non-religious definitions of Jewish identity and strategies for maintaining Jewish survival. It will explore writings of the most important modern Jewish secularists as well as the programs for action outlined and implemented by Jewish secularist leaders and movements.

JUST 284B - Jews and Crime – Gen Ed: W 

Cross listed: HIST 281L
Time: T/R 02:50 PM - 04:15 PM
Instructor: Jonathan Karp
This course examines both the stereotypes surrounding Jewish criminality and specific cases of Jews’ actual involvement in organized criminal activity, from medieval “fences” to criminal gangs in eighteenth-century Germany, smuggling rings in nineteenth-century Eastern Europe, sex traffickers in 1890s Argentina, and the rise of Jewish mobsters like Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Meyer Lansky in twentieth-century America. We will try to put Jewish criminality in historical perspective, examining the role it played in non-Jews’ perceptions and in the Jewish community’s own efforts to come to terms with the reality and image of criminals in their midst. Students that have taken the 300-level of this course will not receive credit for the 200-level course.

JUST 343 - Post Holocaust Lit - Gen Ed: C, H

Cross listed: ISRL 386K / COLI 331F / ENG 380J
Time: M 4:40 PM -7:40 PM
Instructor: PW Burch
This course addresses primarily fiction and memoir written after the Holocaust by second- and third-generation descendants of survivors of the Shoah.  Central to our reading will be issues of representation, authenticity, the role of memory, the problems and limits of language, questions of trauma, the phenomenon of post-memory, and the development of post-Holocaust Jewish identities.  Note: Not appropriate for first-year students.

JUST 342 ​- American Jewish Thought​ - Gen Eds: C, D, H, USD
Cross listed: RELG 380D
Time: T/R 01:15 PM - 02:40 PM
Instructor: Randy Friedman  
This course offers both a historical and a theological study of the American Jewish community, from its origins through contemporary times. We engage central historical and sociological studies of American Jews in relation to Protestant, Catholic, and Baptist Americans, as well as other minority groups. We will also examine central philosophical and theological texts in American Judaism. Students will also read short works of American Jewish literature. We will examine how specific Judaic thinkers transform aspects of the Judaic tradition to fit the challenges of religious life in the modern and democratic age, and the response(s) to this transformation. Question include: the relationship between theology and democratic culture, challenges to inherited religious traditions, the influence of feminist thought on religious practice, and the place and function of religious authority. The final third of the term will be spent analyzing rabbinic rulings on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

JUST 380G - Christ & Jews in Islamic Spain - Gen Ed: G, H, I, T, W

Cross listed: AFST 370 / MDVL 382H / ARAB 386H / WGSS 383B / RELG 380G
Time: T/R 11:40 AM - 01:05 PM
Instructor: Moulay Ali Bouanani
This course acquaints students with the contribution of Muslims, Christians and Jews to Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain & Portugal), from the eighth century to the 1400's.   In the Islamic far west, Andalusian society was different from what existed in the Arabic-Islamic East and far more developed and sophisticated than any civilization Europe had known. During this time period, Al-Andalus was the most materially advanced area of Europe. Ethnic (Arabs, Iberians, North Africans) and religious minorities such as Christian Muwallads and Mozarabs enjoyed a high degree of tolerance and, like the Jews, formed prosperous and erudite communities. Women were, with the exception of those of Baghdad, the envy of even other Arabic-Muslim women. Cordoba was the most splendid city on the European continent with magnificent buildings, gardens, libraries, baths. There was a stable political system that facilitated opulence, education, beautiful homes, well-designed cities and towns, art and scholarship. This course will examine the civilization and culture of Islamic Spain and the contribution of each of the religious groups to its greatness.

JUST 384A - American Jews 1776-1945 – Gen Ed: W

Cross listed: HIST 380J / ISRL 380A
Time: W 04:40 PM - 07:40 PM
Instructor: Allan Arkush                   
This course will examine the religious, social, cultural and political evolution of the American Jewish community from the establishment of the United States to the end of World War II. Topics include: mass immigration, religious diversification, confrontations with antisemitism and the role of America’s Jews in America’s wars.

JUST 384G- Blockchain, Crypto & Jewish History – Gen Ed: W

Cross listed: ISRL 385A / HIST 385L
Time: T/R 11:40 AM -1:05 PM            
Instructor: Michael Kelly  
In this course, students will learn what blockchain, crypto and the decentralization movement are and what they can mean for History and the Humanities, with Jewish History as our historical case study. The next stage in the development of the Digital Humanities is its integration of distributed ledger technology in the form of blockchain. The Humanities are only beginning to think about how to productively communicate with and deploy the world of blockchain and its decentralized technology and political mission in its profession. But what is already clear is that blockchain and its array of tools will force the Humanities and Higher Education as a whole to rethink and transform or face becoming outmoded and disconnected from the public, becoming historical relics instead of historical agents. But, how precisely will blockchain decentralize History and the Humanities, and what will this mean for Jewish History?

JUST 432  - Sephardi Diasporas – Gen Ed: C, G, I, N, T

Cross listed: ARAB 480F / HIST 441 / HIST 560B        
Time: R 02:50 PM - 05:50 PM
Instructor: Dina Danon
This course traces the Sephardi community from its medieval origins until the present day. Starting with al-Andalus and the “Golden Age” of Spain, we will track developments such as the Reconquista, the Inquisition, and the Expulsion of 1492. We will then follow the paths Sephardi took Jews after the Expulsion, to both western Europe and the Americas and to Ottoman lands. Among the themes we will discuss in this post-Expulsion period are the emergence of converso and crypto-Jewish identities as well as the importance of mercantile and kinship networks. Moving to the Ottoman Empire, we will trace the reconstitution of Sepharad in the lands of Islam and the establishment of a Ladino-speaking heartland in the eastern Mediterranean. Moving to the modern period, we will study how Sephardi Jews navigated the profound political and cultural changes of the modern period, among them westernization, colonialism, and nationalism. We will explore the dislocation wrought by the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War I through the eyes of its Sephardi subjects, and then study their devastating and often forgotten experience of the Holocaust. Finally, we will study the position of Sephardi and “Oriental” Jews in the State of Israel as well as in 21st century Jewish communities across the globe.

JUST 441 - Holocaust Fiction - Gen Ed: C, H

Cross listed: ISRL 385B / COLI 480T / ENG 450J
Time: W 4:40 PM -7:40 PM
Instructor: PW Burch
Issues of memory, representation, and voice are addressed in the reading of Holocaust fiction. The class reads through the prism of the literature of witness novels and short stories—most by Holocaust survivors—including works by Appelfeld, Fink, Borowski, Grynberg, Lustig, Nomberg- Przytyk, Rawicz, Kosinski, and Wiesel. Several short papers, mid-term examination, and final examination are required. Accompanied by a speaker/lecture series. Notes: prerequisite, sophomore standing; not appropriate for first-year students. Required texts may include: Lawrence Langer, Art from the Ashes (Anthology), Piotr Rawicz, Blood from the Sky, Jerzy Kosiński, The Painted Bird, Elie Wiesel, Gates of the Forest, Hans Keilson, The Death of the Adversary, David Grossman, See Under: Love, André Schwarz-Bart, The Last of the Just.

JUST 484C -  Death,Soul&Afterlife in Judaism - Gen Ed:

Cross listed: ISRL 480A / RELG 480D / HIst 484B
Time: T/R 10:05 AM - 11:30 AM
Instructor: Jonathan Karp
It is widely but erroneously believed that traditional Judaism lacked concepts of an afterlife, of reward and punishment after death, heaven and hell, or the devil. Although Jewish approaches to these concepts differed from those of Christians and Muslims, they were still present and important in premodern Jewish life. This course offers an overview of Jewish notions of afterlife and the soul from the biblical period to the rise of nineteenth-century Reform Judaism. We will show not just that the myth of no afterlife is false but that it arose out of a conscious effort to redefine Judaism in terms regarded as respectable and modern. This course can satisfy a Judaic Studies “survey” requirement.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

RELG 101 - Religions of the World - Gen Ed: G, H

Cross listed: JUST 100 / AFST 180E / ANTH 180C
Time: M/W/F 10:50 AM -11:50 AM
Instructor: Douglas Jones
This course is intended as introduction to the study of religion in this sense. What does it mean to approach various religions from an academic perspective? How do we, as outsiders at a public university, discuss different traditions responsibly? Answering questions like these and developing our skills as scholars of religion is of no small importance in an increasingly global society. This class will take a thematic approach to a number of traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Prominent themes include the history of “Religious Studies” as a discipline, religion and popular culture, religion and violence, the history of utopian thought, and the status of new and controversial movements across the globe.

RELG 111 - Philosophy of Religion - Gen Ed: H, W

Cross listed: JUST 111 / PHIL 111 / COLI 180L
Time: T/R 10:50 AM-11:50 AM
Instructor: Randy Friedman
This introductory course will explore the many philosophical questions which emerge from a study of religious thought. Topics will include the nature of religious subjectivity, divinity, prayer, sacrifice, and faith. We will study some central biblical and non-Western stories and narratives and literary, philosophical, and theological responses to them. Students will practice techniques of textual exegesis and directly engage texts. Note: This course is not open to students who have completed Introduction to Judaic Studies (JUST 101)

RELG 180B - Rivers in Literature - Gen Ed: 

Cross listed: COLI 180S / Germ 180X / ENVI 180L
Time: M/W/F 01:10 PM - 02:10 PM
Instructor: Alexander Sorenson
This class examines the “place” of natural landscapes in literature by focusing on the river as a foundational site and symbol of the human imagination. Using the figural, narrative, and philosophical dimensions of the river as a lens, we will explore key epochs of literary history from ancient epics (e.g., Gilgamesh) to modern poetry (e.g., Seamus Heaney). A core question that will guide us is: how can rivers (and landscapes more broadly) function as guides through literary history, and why have cultures—especially in the German-speaking world—so often chosen the imagery of rivers in particular as a means for imagining and (re)constructing their own histories? Genres and epochs include: ancient and medieval epic poetry, Romanticism, Modernism and contemporary literature, along with art, film, music, and landscape architecture.

RELG 280B - Islamic Cultures in Africa - Gen Ed: D, H, T, W  

Cross listed: AFST 251 / COLI 280J / SOC 280B / ANTH 280V / ARAB 281E
Time: T/R 10:05 AM -11:30 AM
Instructor: Moulay Ali Bouanani

Islam has a rich cultural and artistic heritage in Africa. With a history that goes back to the seventh century, it is now a vital part of the African cultural landscape. This introductory course explores a range of Islamic cultural productions from the advent of Islam to modern times by Muslim men and women in different regions of Africa from North to South and from East to West. It will focus on religious didactic writings, literature, music, architecture and documentary films in studying the syncretism of Islam and indigenous African religions and/or cultures, and in highlighting the unifying cultural influences of the religion. The course will also attend to the distinctive character of the vast contemporary post-colonial cultural productions in music (religious & profane), film, architecture and literature in large African metropolises with significant Islamic populations, and it will devote attention to the underlying factors and issues of artistic production of Muslims of Africa.

RELG 312 - Radical Religious Movements - Gen Ed: 

Cross listed: JUST 312
Time: T/R 10:05 AM-11:30 AM
Instructor: Douglas Jones
This course focuses on movements that are deemed radical by their contemporaries. Topics will vary from week to week, though generally we will focus on the self-professed religious identity of these movements alongside their relationship with the broader religious culture. Do radical religions consider themselves radical? How do they communicate with, or seek to influence, the mainstream? Major themes include the proliferation of utopian and messianic movements in the seventeenth-century, socialism and religion, religion and violence, religion and suicide, the anti-cult movement in America, and the relatively recent appearance of sci-fi religions. Students who took RELG 212 course will not receive credit for 312.

RELG 361 – The Bible and Its Interpretations - Gen Ed: C, H

Cross listed: JUST 361
Time: M/W/F 2:20 PM -3:20 PM
Instructor: Douglas Jones
This survey course takes a comparative approach to the history of biblical interpretation by looking at diverse communities within the Jewish and Christian traditions. How have these communities used the Bible to understand their place in history, address present tribulations, and even predict the future? What major conflicts have arisen over the issue of interpretation? Some topics include the theme of movement in the Torah and rabbinical tradition, 18th and 19th century biblical scholarship, the meaning of allegory in Catholic and Protestant interpretation, and the so-called literal sense of scripture. We will also close by considering the issue of biblical interpretation as it relates to new religious movements in America. This course meets Judaic Studies major/minor survey requirement.

RELG 380G - Christ & Jews in Islamic Spain - Gen Ed: G, H, I, T, W

Cross listed: MDVL 382H / JUST 380G / AFST 370 / ARAB 386H / HIST 383A
Time: T/R 11:40 AM - 01:05 PM
Instructor: Moulay Ali Bouanani
This course acquaints students with the contribution of Muslims, Christians and Jews to Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain & Portugal), from the eighth century to the 1400's. In the Islamic far west, Andalusian society was different from what existed in the Arabic-Islamic East and far more developed and sophisticated than any civilization Europe had known. During this time period, Al-Andalus was the most materially advanced area of Europe. Ethnic (Arabs, Iberians, North Africans) and religious minorities such as Christian Muwallads and Mozarabs enjoyed a high degree of tolerance and, like the Jews, formed prosperous and erudite communities. Women were, with the exception of those of Baghdad, the envy of even other Arabic-Muslim women. Cordoba was the most splendid city on the European continent with magnificent buildings, gardens, libraries, baths. There was a stable political system that facilitated opulence, education, beautiful homes, well-designed cities and towns, art and scholarship. This course will examine the civilization and culture of Islamic Spain and the contribution of each of the religious groups to its greatness.

RELG 380H - Jesus Mary Joseph in the Quran - Gen Ed:  H, I, J

Cross listed: ARAB 385D / MDVL 380 T / COLI 380X
Time: M 02:20 PM - 05:20 PM
Instructor: Omid Ghaemmaghami
This course is an in-depth examination of Quranic portrayals of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. We will compare the Quranic and Biblical image and depiction of these figures and pay close attention to how Quranic translators and commentators have understood, interpreted, and negotiated their stories, with a focus on, among other things, their literary, ethical, religious, theological, mystical, artistic, and hermeneutical implications. Among the questions we will explore: Why do Joseph and Mary each have a Quranic chapter named after them (while Muḥammad does not)? Why does the Quran call the story of Joseph the most beautiful of stories? Why does the Quran appear to give Jesus more honorable titles than any other figure of the past? Does the Quran really deny the crucifixion of Jesus? What do these stories teach us about what it means to be a human? What do they convey about separation and union, glorification and humiliation, wealth and poverty, lover and beloved, love and hatred, grief and joy, authority and imprisonment, imagination and reality, suffering and triumph, and forgiveness and revenge (among other things)? Why was it historically significant for the stories of such Biblical figures to be adapted and retold in Arabia some six hundred years after the death of Jesus? Through close reading, analysis, and critical discussions, students will gain insights into the multi-layered interpretations and cultural resonances of these narratives. Weekly discussions will be based on reading of primary sources and scholarly literature in English

RELG 480B - Politics & Religion in Asia. – Gen Ed: C

Cross listed: PLSC 485Z / AAAS 481O
Time: M 03:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Instructor: Kristina Buhrman
A seminar on the topic of the role of religion in processes of state formation, legitimation, group identity and ethnogenesis, and political activities in Asian states. During the course of the semester, case studies from the intersections between politics and religion in Asian history will prompt students to investigate sources of political legitimacy, forces shaping group cohesion and motivation, the definition of religion, and the origins of the modern right to religious freedom. Through the course, students will become familiarized with the history of the study of religion since 1500. Examples from Europe, Africa and the Americas will be brought in for comparative purposes. Students will complete a semester-long research project analyzing the role religion played in politics or government at a historical context of their choosing, and draw conclusions about the possibility of separating the religious from the secular.

RELG 480C - Existential Problems – Gen Ed: H
Cross listed: ENG 450M
Time: T/R 02:50 PM - 04:15 PM
Instructor: Joseph Church
RELG 480C Existential Problems - A study of philosophical, religious, artistic, and psychobiological thought pertinent to contemporary existential problems with alienation, impermanence, and possible meaninglessness. We’ll read work by Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre, Tillich, Buber, McGilchrist, Dostoyevsky, Borges, Beckett, and Kafka, among others. And we’ll view relevant films by Aronofsky, Bergman, Fincher, Gondry, Kurosawa, Leigh, Lynch, Ki-Duk, and von Sternberg, among others. Lecture and discussion. For each meeting students come to class with a question or observation about the assigned material. Final grade based on this daily work, two shorter papers, engagement in discussion, consistent attendance. NOTE: I DO NOT ALLOW STUDENTS’ USE OF LAPTOPS OR PHONES DURING CLASS. NOTE: I want our first class meeting, Tuesday, January 16, to be as productive as possible: toward that end, in preparation for class discussion, I ask that you read Gordon Bigelow’s “A Primer of Existentialism” (posted on Brightspace) and develop a question or observation about something in the piece you find interesting.

YIDDISH 

Yiddish II - YIDD 102 - Gen Ed: WL2

Cross listed: JUST 180A/ GERM 241J / RUSS 280A / YIDD 502 
Time: M/W/F 1:10 PM - 2:10 PM
Instructor: Gina Glasman
Follows on from Yiddish 101 as students sharpen their linguistic skills with more complex sentence structure, a deeper knowledge of tenses and cases, and a broader vocabulary. In addition, we explore Yiddish culture through film, stories, folk sayings and the occasional joke! As always lyrics from Yiddish popular song provide the backbone of the class, and individual attention is a feature of the instruction. Note: interested students canjoin 102 directly without having taken 101. (Instructor permission needed)

Living in a Material World II - YIDD 280A - Gen Ed:

Cross listed: JUST 284A 
Time: T/R 4:25 PM - 5:50 PM
Instructor: Gina Glasman
This class will be dedicated to a single question: how can we use the artefacts of everyday life to better understand the history of an immigrant metropolis? To explore this question, we will focus on a specific city - New York - and a particular cultural vehicle, museums – institutions rooted in the notion that “objects” can speak!  In the Spring semester, students will create their own digital exhibit, using the themes, approaches and concepts we have explored together in class.  Students can chose to focus their research on any community within the complex urban fabric of either past or present-day New York City.

YIDD 354 - Modern Yiddish Culture - Gen Ed: H, J

Cross listed: JUST 354 / GERM 380K / RUSS 381D
Time: T/R 1:15 PM - 2:40 PM
Instructor: Gina Glasman
In the half century before the Second World War, a Yiddish ­speaking "Jewish Street" stretched from Buenos Aires to Boston, from London to Lodz, with many cities in between. What characterized the culture of this mostly urban and modernizing society is the subject of this class. Cinema and short stories, poetry and politics provide our vehicle to explore the world of Eastern European Jewry in a time of radical transformation and approaching catastrophe (all material is in English). Note: If a student has already taken a 200-level version of Modern Yiddish Culture they will not receive credit for this course.