Graduate Courses for Jewish Studies (JWST)

Schedule of Classes: Fall | Winter | Spring | Summer
(Only current and next semester available)

JWST 408 Honors Seminar in Jewish Studies (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Junior standing.
An in-depth exploration of a theme in Jewish history, literature, culture or thought. Course subject and readings will vary from year to year, but will generally cut across periods, locations, or disciplines. Students are expected to engage the course material critically and to use the seminar as an opportunity to develop an independent research agenda.

JWST 409 Research Seminar in Jewish Studies (3-4 credits)
Prerequisite: two upper-level courses in an appropriate area of Jewish Studies or permission of department. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Formerly JWST309.
A capstone course for Jewish Studies. Guides students through advanced source material and subject matter, research skills, and presentation techniques. A substantive paper based on independent research and analysis is one expected outcome.

JWST 419 Special Topics in Jewish Studies (3 credits)
Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.

JWST 451 Issues in Jewish Ethics and Law (3 credits)
Prerequisite: three credits in philosophy or Jewish studies (excluding Hebrew language), or permission of department. Also offered as PHIL433. Not open to students who have completed PHIL433 or HEBR451. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: PHIL433 or JWST451 or HEBR451. Formerly HEBR451.
Philosophical and meta-legal questions concerning the nature of Jewish law and its relation to morality.

JWST 452 The Golden Age of Jewish Philosophy (3 credits)
Prerequisite: three credits in philosophy or permission of department. Also offered as PHIL417. Not open to students who have completed PHIL417. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JWST452 or PHIL417.
Jewish philosophy from Maimonides in the 12th Century to the expulsion of the Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th Century. Topics include the limitations of human knowledge, creation of the world, foreknowledge and free will, and the existence of God.

JWST 453 Philosophy of Spinoza (3 credits)
Prerequisite: six credits in philosophy or permission of department. Also offered as PHIL424. Not open to students who have completed PHIL424. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JWST453 or PHIL424.
An investigation of the metaphysical, ethical, and political thought of the 17th century philosopher Benedict Spinoza.

JWST 459 Readings in Medieval Hebrew (3-4 credits)
Prerequisite: HEBR313 or permission of instructor. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs. Not open to students who have completed JWST466. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JWST459_ or JWST466. Formerly JWST466.
Readings and analysis of Hebrew texts and literature from the Middle Ages. Language of instruction in English; all texts in Hebrew.

JWST 468 Readings in the Hebrew Bible (3-4 credits)
Prerequisite: HEBR313 or permission of instructor. Formerly HEBR441 and HEBR442. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.
Readings in the Hebrew text of the Bible. Emphasis in close reading, grammar analysis, and modern interpretations of the Bible. Language of instruction English; all texts in Hebrew.

JWST 469 Readings in Rabbinic Hebrew (3-4 credits)
Prerequisite: HEBR313 or permission of instructor. Repeatable to 9 credits if content differs.
Readings in classical rabbinic texts and related corpora. Emphasis on grammar and reading skills as well as critical analysis of the material. Language of instruction: English; all texts in original language.

JWST 471 Modern Hebrew Literature in Translation (3 credits)
An exploration of modern Hebrew prose, poetry, and literary essays written from the 1880s through the present in Europe, Palestine, and Israel. An investigation of the challenges confronting authors such as Mendele Mokher Sforim, Avraham Mapu, Chaim Nahman Bialik, Dvorah Baron, S.Y. Agnon, and David Fogel as they tried to create a contemporary secular literature out of an ancient sacred language. All texts in English translation.

JWST 478 Readings in Modern Hebrew (3 credits)
Prerequisite: HEBR313 or permission of instructor. Junior standing. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Variable topics in Modern Hebrew Literature.

JWST 491 Judaism and the Construction of Gender (3 credits)
Also offered as WMST491. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JWST419X, JWST491 or WMST491. Formerly JWST419X.
The study of Jewish culture, religious practice, communal authority, and literature through the frame of such critical categories of analysis as gender, sexuality, masculinity, power, ethics, and the feminine.

JWST 493 Jewish Women in International Perspective (3 credits)
Prerequisite: one course in Women's Studies, preferably WMST200 or WMST250. Also offered as WMST493. Credit will be granted for only one of the following: JWST493 or WMST493.
Using memoirs, essays, poetry, short stories, films, music and the visual arts, course will interrogate what it means/has meant to define oneself as a Jewish woman across lines of difference. Focus is largely on the secular dimensions of Jewish women's lives but will also explore the implications of Jewish law and religious practices for Jewish women. Our perspective will be international, including Ashkenazi and Sephardi women.

JWST 498 Advanced Language Module for Jewish Studies (1-3 credits)
Prerequisite: HEBR212, JWST282, or permission of department.
A supplementary language module for students enrolled in designated Jewish Studies classes. Language of instruction English, texts in original language.

JWST 499 Independent Study in Jewish Studies (1-3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 6 credits if content differs.

JWST 600 General Seminar in Jewish Studies (3 credits)
Introduce graduate students to the fields, problems, and basic methods of research in the comtemporary practice of Jewish Studies. Consideration of chronological and historiographical problems, questions of the development of Jewish thought and literature and Jewish religious and cultural history in four rough chronological periods: Biblical Israel, Judaism in Antiquity, Judaism in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, and Modern Judaism.

JWST 609 Supervised Instruction-Practicum in Jewish Studies (1 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department.
Supervised instruction or supervised practicum in Jewish Studies. Intended for graduate students whose course work includes field work or classroom teaching.

JWST 619 Directed Readings in Jewish Studies (3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Independent Study in Jewish Studies. Readings and papers.

JWST 648 Readings in Jewish History (3 credits)
Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Focus on the central issues in Jewish history as well as the key historiographical debates on those issues.

JWST 658 Readings in Jewish Thought and Culture (3 credits)
Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Examines key issues in the development of Jewish thought and culture.

JWST 678 Readings in Jewish Literature (3 credits)
Repeatable to 09 credits if content differs.
Examines selected themes or literatures in the development of Jewish literary traditions.

JWST 699 Independent Graduate Readings in Jewish Studies (1-3 credits)
Prerequisite: permission of department. Repeatable to 12 credits if content differs.
Independent readings or guided research in a field of Jewish Studies with a member of the Jewish Studies graduate faculty.

JWST 719 Readings in Jewish Studies (3 credits)
Repeatable to any number of credits if content differs.
Course exposes students to significant primary and secondary material on selected topics as well as the major methodological problems covered by professional scholars working on these topics.

JWST 799 Masters Thesis Research (1-6 credits)
Repeatable to 6 credits.
Research and Writing the Masters Thesis in Jewish Studies.