ALWAYS refer to the Smith College Official Course Catalog for the most up-to-date information.  All courses are 4-credit unless otherwise noted.

Spring 2008

JUD 100y Elementary Modern Hebrew (Full year course – 8 credits)
Ilona Ben-Moshe
M W F 9:00-10:20 am
Seelye Hall 202
A year-long introduction to modern Hebrew in the context of Israeli and Jewish culture.  Equal development of the four language skills:  reading, writing, speaking and listening.  By the end of the year, the students will be able to comprehend short and adapted literary and journalistic texts, describe themselves and their environment, express their thoughts and opinions and participate in classroom discussions. They will write short essays and will listen to short stories and recorded dialogues.  No previous knowledge of the language is necessary.  Enrollment limited to 18. {F} Completion of this course (or its equivalent) is REQUIRED by Smith College for any student planning to study abroad in Israel.

JUD 225/REL 225 Jewish Civilization: Text and Tradition
Justin Cammy
M W 2:40-4:00 pm
Seelye Hall 306
A grand sweep of core narratives and beliefs that have animated Jews and Judaism from antiquity to the present.  Readings from the classical library of Jewish culture (such as Bible, Talmud, midrash, Passover Haggadah, mystical and philosophical works, Hasidic tales) and from modern Jewish literature, thought, and popular culture.  Focuses on dynamics of religious, cultural, and national reinvention at specific moments and places in Jewish history.  How do more recent expressions of Jewishness seek inspiration and authority from their engagement with text and tradition? {L, H}

CLT 277 At Home with Kafka:  Modern Jewish Fiction
Justin Cammy
M W 1:10-2:30 pm
Seelye Hall 204
What is modern Jewish literature?  Explores relationships between language and identity, diaspora and exile, political powerlessness and artistic vitality, homeless imaginations and imagined homecomings, folklore and avant-garde culture, the particularity of national experience and the universality of the Jew.  Readings by masters of 20th-century European fiction:  Sholem Aleichem’s uproarious Yiddish tales of Eastern Europe; Kafka’s haunting modernist parables; Isaac Babel’s passionate narratives of the Russian revolution; S.Y. Agnon’s Hebrew stories of spiritual loss and redemption; and I.B. Singer’s post-Holocaust demons, shlemiels, sinners, and refugees.  Also includes several literary memoirs.  In what way do these figures (and their critics) invent the narrative for what one historian recently called “The Jewish Century”?  Open to students at all levels. {L}

GOV 248  The Arab-Israeli Dispute
Donna Robinson Divine
T Th 9:00-10:20 am

GOV 323 Seminar in Comparative Government and Political Theory: Topic: Warring for Heaven and Earth: Jewish and Muslim Political Activism in the Middle East
Donna Robinson Divine
T 1:00-2:50 pm

REL 213 Prophecy in Ancient Israel
Joel Kaminsky
T Th 1:00-2:20 pm

REL 220 Jews and Judaism in the Ancient World
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal
Th 7:00-9:30 pm

REL 222 Sages, Strangers and Women: An Introduction to Rabbinic Literature
Michal Bar-Asher Siegal
Th 3:00-5:30 pm

SPN 246 Life Stories by Latin-American Jewish Writers
Silvia Berger
M W 1:10-2:30 pm

Fall 2008

JUD 100y Elementary Modern Hebrew
A year-long introduction to modern Hebrew in the context of Israeli and Jewish culture. Equal development of the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. By the end of the year, students will be able to comprehend short and adapted literary and journalistic texts, describe themselves and their environment, express their thoughts and opinions and participate in classroom discussions. No previous knowledge of the language is necessary. Enrollment limited to 18. {F} 8 credits.Completion of this course (or its equivalent) is REQUIRED by Smith College for any student planning to study abroad in Israel.
Ilona Ben-Moshe
Full year course, M W F 9-10:20 am

JUD 200 Intermediate Modern Hebrew
Continuation of JUD 100y. Emphasizes skills necessary for proficiency in reading, writing and conversational Hebrew. Elaborates and presents new grammatical concepts and vocabulary through texts about Jewish and Israeli culture and tradition, as well as popular culture and day-to-day life in modern Israel. Newspapers, films, music and readings from Hebrew short stories and poetry. Starts a transition from simple/simplified Hebrew to a more literate one, and sharpens the distinction between different registers of the language. Prerequisite: at least one year of college Hebrew or equivalent, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 18. Offered at Smith in alternate years. In fall 2008 this course is offered at Mt. Holyoke College; students should visit the Five-College online course guide to determine the proper Mt. Holyoke College course number for the purposes of registration. Van service from Smith to MHC will be provided.{F} 4 credits
Ilona Ben-Moshe
M W 2:40-3:55 pm; F 11:00-12:15 pm

JUD 225/REL 225 Jewish Civilization: Text and Tradition
A grand sweep of core narratives and beliefs that have animated Jews and Judaism from antiquity to the present. Readings from the classical library of Jewish culture (such as Bible, Talmud, midrash, Passover Haggadah, mystical and philosophical works, Hasidic tales) and from modern Jewish literature, thought, and popular culture. Focuses on dynamics of religious, cultural, and national reinvention at specific moments and places in Jewish history. How do more recent expressions of Jewishness seek inspiration and authority from their engagement with text and tradition? {L/H} 4 credits
Joel Kaminsky
M W F 11:00 am -12:10 pm

CLT 218 Holocaust Literature
Creative responses to the destruction of European Jewry, differentiating between literature written in extremis in ghettos, concentration/extermination camps, or in hiding, and the vast post-war literature about the Holocaust. How to balance competing claims of individual and collective experience, the rights of the imagination and the pressures for historical accuracy. Selections from a variety of artistic genres (diary, reportage, poetry, novel, graphic novel, film, monuments, museums) and critical theories of representation. All readings in translation. {L/H} 4 credits
Justin Cammy
T Th 9-10:20

FYS 163 The Holy Land
Suleiman Mourad
T Th 1-2:50

REL 210 Introduction to the Bible I
Joel Kaminsky
M W F 1:10-2:30

REL 221 Jewish Spirituality: Philosophers and Mystics
Topic: Jewish Mystical Traditions
Lawrence Fine
W 2:40-5:10

GOV 229 Government and Politics of Israel
Donna Robinson Divine
T Th 9-10:20

THE 220  Homelands: Mythmaking, Representation and Debate in Israeli Drama
Ellen Kaplan
M W 1:10-2:30, M 7:30-9:30 pm

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Five-College Courses in Jewish Studies, Fall 2008
(The list below is a sampling of courses that complement the Jewish Studies curriculum at Smith)

Amherst College
HIST 31 The Holocaust (Par Frohnert T Th 10:00-11:20)
RELI 41 Reading the Rabbis (Susan Niditch T Th 8:30-9:50)

Hampshire College
HACU 0186 Jewish Literature: Creative Betrayals: Secular Jewish Literature from the Bible to Modernity (Rubinstein, T Th 2-3:20)

Mount Holyoke College
JWST 231 Short Story/Hebrew Bible (Larry Lyke M W 11:00-12:15)
JWST 250 Intermediate Hebrew (Ilona Ben-Moshe 2:40-03:55, W F 11:00-12:15)
JWST 265 Holy Feast/Holy Fast (Lawrence Fine T Th 2:40-3:55)

University of Massachusetts, Amherst - Please consult Spire for a full list of UMass courses; the courses listed below are on topics not offered at Smith in 2007-08. Courses offered through Hillel or Chabad House at UMass do not count towards the major or minor in Jewish Studies at Smith.|
GERMAN 391K 01 Kafka (Jonathan Skolnik T Th 11:15 12:30)
GERMAN 597J 01 Jews & Germans (Jonathan Skolnik T Th 4:00-5:15)
JUDAIC 363 01 Negotiating Religion and State (Susan Shapiro W 2:30-5:15)
HEBREW 111 01 Elem Biblical Hebrew I (Shmuel Bolozky, time TBA)
HEBREW 361 01 Mod Hebrew Lit I (Shmuel Bolozky, T Th 1:00-2:15)
JUDAIC 374 1 Culture & Immigration in Israel (Olga Gershenson T Th 2:30-3:45)