This class surveys Jewish history from the classical period to modern times. It covers: the destruction of the 1st Temple; the encounter with Hellenism; the Roman period; the destruction of the 2nd Temple; the rise and influence of rabbinic Judaism; the medieval era under Muslim and Christian rule; medieval antisemitism; Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah); and philosophy (Maimonides). For the modern era we will discuss: the Renaissance; the Reformation; the complex issue of Emancipation; coming to America; the growth of American Judaism; religious reform; modern antisemitism; and Zionism.

This course will examine historical, ethical, and religious issues arising from the Holocaust. We will discuss antisemitism and ideology; what communities were considered “other”; human motivation regarding collaborators, perpetrators, and bystanders; the role of individuals, organizations, and governments; the treatment of women; the ethics of resistance; the behavior of the Jewish Councils; and attitudes to the existence of God during and after the Holocaust. We will also compare the Holocaust to contemporary crises now occurring around the world.

Jews have been a religious and cultural presence in America since the colonial era, and the community of Jews in the United States today--some six million people--continues to make a significant contribution to the American religious landscape. This seminar will examine the history of the Judaic tradition in America and the vitality and variety of contemporary American Judaic life, from the arrival of the first Jews to the present, highlighting the emergence and continual development of the four branches: Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Reform. We will also examine the variety of ways in which Jews became part of the communal, social, and political landscape of America, and the roles they continue to play in American life today. We will then look at the practical aspects of working as Jewish professionals in American life and the different skills that are needed, whether one works in a congregational, campus, hospital, or organizational setting. 

A wide-ranging introductory exploration of the Jewish religious tradition, from its inception in biblical Israel though its rabbinic, medieval, and modern iterations. The central focus lies on the literary meanings and existential questions of the classical tradition, as well as on the relationships between texts, religious claims, and practices. We shall also consider some of the restatements, reformulations, and challenges to tradition that have arisen in modern times.

This course has two components. In the first half of the semester we will explore American Jewish history focusing on themes of particular importance to rabbinical students like the emergence of denominations and the evolution of the American synagogue. The second half of the course is a survey of the seminal Jewish thinkers who wrote in an American context such as Mordecai Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Joseph Soloveitchik, Judith Plaskow and others. We will ultimately be aiming to place our own historical moment and our own theologies within broader historical/theological frameworks. 

This course will examine Jewish theology in the medieval period with particular attention to three foundational thinkers – Maimonides, Saadyeh Gaon and Yehuda Halevi. We will also be tracing the historical and social developments within the Jewish community of the period – the rise and ultimate exile of Jews from the Iberian peninsula as well as the changing circumstances for Jews in Germany and France as a result of crusades and migrations.     

The calendar, with its cycle of sacred observances, is the great teacher of Judaism’s practices, values and theology.  Our study will explore key texts from the Bible to Hasidism, beginning with Shabbat, the core of sacred time, an embodied practice of immersive locatedness and emplacement that transforms somatic awareness with transformative effect. The holidays will be presented as an interplay between solar and lunar rhythms.  For every holy day we will attempt to uncover the ideas that motivate the rituals and that transform ceremonies into spiritual practices.  Hasidic texts will be read with an eye to interiority and the personal and collective quest for meaning.