Jewish studies offers courses in History, Gender Studies, Classics, Philosophy, Religion, and Hebrew. See below for the courses offered for the 2022-2023 academic year.
HEBR 190 - Introduction to Modern Hebrew (Full Year)
For students with no (or a minimal) background in Hebrew. Introduces elements of grammar and vocabulary of modern Hebrew
HEBR 294 - Intermediate Modern Hebrew I (Fall)
An extensive grammar review with practice in speaking, writing, and translation, based on the reading of texts by modern Hebrew writers.
HEBR 301 - Topics in Hebrew (Winter)
Specialized study, as circumstances permit, of a particular author, genre, theme, movement, literary form or some combination of these elements.
HIST 220 - Jews on Film (Winter)
A history of the film industry from a Jewish perspective. Has Hollywood’s Jewish roots had a discernible impact on content? How has antiSemitism affected the way in which Jews and Jewish issues were represented on screen? Related subjects also covered in this course: radio, television, and comic books.
HIST 241 - Modern Jewish History
In this course, we will explore Jewish history from Enlightenment to the present day. The course will take in political, social, economic and cultural developments on a grand scale, exploring what modernity meant for Jewish people from Paris to Baghdad and beyond. Beginning with the emergence of new ideas on the ‘Jewish Question’ in the eighteenth century, the course will examine how these ideas of nationhood, identity, and assimilation affected Jewish communities across the modern world. We’ll explore the historical experience of Jewish people- from philosophers to merchants, refugees to soldiers- and their evolving place in broader economic, social and political systems. At the heart of the course will be the enduring narrative of the Jewish experience over the last three hundred years. We will consider how Jews have shaped the societies in which they have lived, and how they have been shaped in turn.
HIST 295 - The Holocaust (Fall)
The background to and processes of the destruction of the Jews of Europe between 1933 and 1945. Themes to be covered include: modern anti-semitism, Jewish communities in the inter-war era, Nazi racial policies, the Judenrat, the organization of the death camps, the attitudes of the Christian churches, the role of collaborators, the ideology of mass murder, and the questions of ‘compliance’, ‘resistance’, and ‘silence’.
HIST 306 - Holocaust: Problems and Interpretations (Full Year)
A fall/winter course taught in conjunction with HIST-295, the first half is a lecture that gives a broad overview of the Holocaust, and the second half is a seminar in which the main themes of Holocaust historiography are examined. Subjects to be covered: the difference between anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, the origins of the "Jewish problem", European nationalism in the inter-war era, Nazi racial policies before WWII, the rise of the police state, the organization of the concentration camps and death camps, and the victims, perpetrators, and by-standers of the Holocaust.
HIST 339 - Jews without Judaism (Fall)
This course explores the North American Jewish engagement with modern ideologies such as secularism, antisemitism, liberalism, nationalism, socialism, feminism, and neo-conservativism. Other specific topics include the secularization of universities; the recent retrenchment of Orthodox Judaism; and the resurgence of ‘popular atheism’.
HIST 344 - Insiders/Outsiders: Jewish Identity in the New World (Winter)
An examination of the path that led from the state-sanctioned racial profiling of immigrants in the late nineteenth century to current multicultural ideas and policies in Canada and the United States, with an emphasis on the role Jewish intellectuals, politicians, and community leaders played in developing and, sometimes, resisting such changes.
HIST 400 - Topics in History: Transnational Jewish Migration (Fall)
The history of the Jewish people is defined by movement: temporary or permanent, by choice or by force, to find community or to escape it. This course will explore migration in Jewish history from ancient times to the present day, considering how Jewish life was shaped by the experience of migration, and how Jewish migrants shaped the places they settled. Taking a transnational approach to the story of Jewish migration, this course will consider Jewish migration beginning with the biblical Exodus and ending with twenty-first century Jewish migrants in Germany and Israel. In between, we’ll explore exile, diaspora and flight across continents, taking in the Medieval Mediterranean, the era of mass migration to Europe and the Americas, the development of Zionism, and the Holocaust. Throughout, this course will explore the international networks of people, goods and ideas which animated the Jewish historical experience and continue to shape our world today.
HIST 402 - Topics in History: Transnational Jewish Migration (Winter)
The history of the Jewish people is defined by movement: temporary or permanent, by choice or by force, to find community or to escape it. This course will explore migration in Jewish history from ancient times to the present day, considering how Jewish life was shaped by the experience of migration, and how Jewish migrants shaped the places they settled. Taking a transnational approach to the story of Jewish migration, this course will consider Jewish migration beginning with the biblical Exodus and ending with twenty-first century Jewish migrants in Germany and Israel. In between, we’ll explore exile, diaspora and flight across continents, taking in the Medieval Mediterranean, the era of mass migration to Europe and the Americas, the development of Zionism, and the Holocaust. Throughout, this course will explore the international networks of people, goods and ideas which animated the Jewish historical experience and continue to shape our world today.
PHIL 367 - Jewish Philosophy (Winter)
An examination of key Jewish thought from Philo to Fackenheim, exploring such themes as the relationship between philosophy, literature, law, and religion; developments within Jewish philosophy; non-Jewish influences on Jewish thought and vice-versa. Contributions to contemporary philosophical work such as those in bioethics and postmodernism may also be considered.
RELS 234 - Judaism (Fall)
The development of modern Jewish thought and practice, including the Reform, Orthodox, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements. The consequences of the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
RELS 302 - Jews and Ecology (Winter)
A topic of current interest in Religious Studies not covered in other available courses. Description coming soon!