Current Course Offerings

HEBR 101  Introduction to Modern Hebrew I (Fall)

For students with no (or a minimal) background in Hebrew. This course introduces elements of grammar and vocabulary of modern Hebrew.

HEBR 102  Introduction to Modern Hebrew II (Fall)

For students who have basic knowledge of Hebrew and can read and write all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This course continues where HEBR 101 left off and proceeds to introduce elements of grammar and vocabulary of modern Hebrew.

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. Course details to be announced on website.
NOTE This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.

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 - Issues in History: History of Gossip in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity (Winter)

This course will explore the history of gossip throughout the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Gossip, or chatter about other people and their affairs, has been undervalued both as a historical force, but also as an object of study. We will thus be engaging in a relatively new intellectual adventure, reading old texts but with an eye to new ways of interpreting and understanding them. 

The course will show that even though gossip is often dismissed as unserious or harmful, few communities can function without it, and gossip has frequently been the motivator and guiding force behind things that are supposedly more “serious”. For instance, therapeutics, psychology, and politics have all secretly built upon the knowledge provided by gossip. 
  
In this course we will ask what “gossip” means, what it does, and how it has been understood in religious contexts. Beginning with an exploration of what gossip is, we will then move through a series of units covering: the role of gossip in the creation of religious movements; the demonization of gossip by religious authorities; the way gossip allows the creation of communities of resistance; and, finally the role of gossip in the formation of intellectual and theological cultures.

HIST 294 - The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Global Perspective (Fall)

The contention of this course is that we cannot understand the history of the current conflict in Palestine/Israel in terms of the region, religion or political ideology alone. Rather to understand this long conflict demands a global context. This course introduces students to several intersecting histories, primarily but not exclusively those of the Jews of Europe and the Muslims and Christians of Ottoman Palestine, provinces where ancient sites and cities of pilgrimage for three world religions are found. Over the semester, the class will be introduced to some of the principle actors, conditions, and events, as well as the global dynamics (such as the Cold War) that have frustrated peaceful resolution and the implementation of international law. In addition to studying the social dynamics of war and resistance, the course will introduce students to the cultural contributions of Palestinian and Israeli writers, musicians and film makers. 

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 330-003 - Topics in History: Global Transformations and Jewish Perspectives in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries (Full Year)

This course examines the development of modern Jewish thought and practice with a particular focus on mobility and minorities / minoritization as well as historiography especially in the Global age of imperialism, colonialism and nationalism, anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust. The cultural, social, and political lives of Jews have undergone tremendous transformations and dislocations over the past two centuries—a period marked by innovation, tragedy, and success. This course emphasizes how traditional Jewish life changed when Jews were granted political equality, economic opportunity, and religious freedom, and how non-Jews responded to Jewish emancipation, migration, social mobility, and nationalism.

HIST 339 Jews without Judaism (Fall)

Secular Jewish identities are the focus of this course, from the Enlightenment era onwards. Topics include Jewish engagement in the modern projects of liberalism, socialism nationalism, and modern Yiddish literature.

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 402-004 - Topics in History: Religious Minorities in Medieval-Early Modern Christendom (Winter)

This course takes a sociological and comparative historiographical approach to persecutions of religious minorities (Jews, Muslims, and so-called heretics) a in the emergence of modern Western nation-states.  Beginning with the early Crusades and concluding with the Wars of Religion and the Inquisition, students will: study  how anti-minority persecution helped lay the foundations of the Medieval kingdoms of Sicily, England and France ; reconstruct the dynamic of mass expulsions and mass murder in German cites during the Bubonic Plague; and investigate the  politics of ghettoization of Jews and Muslims  in early modern Italy, among other topics. In addition to course readings, class presentations, and general discussion, seminar participants will devote a research paper to a case study on the relationship between historic religious persecution and political institutions, identity, and social movements. 

PHIL 367 - Jewish Philosophy (Fall)

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 132 - Western Religions (Fall)

This course will examine Judaism, Christianity, Islam as well as some indigenous traditions and new religious movements. It will primarily consider these religious traditions in their historical context, looking carefully at their origins, sacred literature, and ritual life, though at times we will consider selected contemporary issues that highlight different religions' response to modernity.

RELS 234 - Judaism (Winter)

An introduction to the self-definition of Judaism through an analysis of the concepts of God, Torah and Israel past and present. Also, a preliminary study of the struggles facing Jews in Europe, the State of Israel and North America.

RELS 284 - God and the Holocaust (Fall)

"God and the Holocaust" is an interdisciplinary course on the Holocaust's effect on religion, ethics, and politics in the 20th and 21st centuries, which also draws comparative insights from other genocides. It examines the Holocaust's challenges especially concerning understanding of otherness, God, and evil, from both religious and secular perspectives. Additionally, the course explores the impact of the Holocaust on inter-religious dialogues, and critically evaluate the call for a Jewish homeland post-Holocaust.