JEWISH STUDIES IN THE UK 2007-08

The following is an attempt to survey Jewish Studies related degrees and course units currently on offer in the United Kingdom. It was conducted on behalf of the British Association for Jewish Studies and the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester by Daniel Langton. A search engine at the foot of this page is provided for ease of use. A similar survey has also been conducted for Holocaust Studies. See also the surveys for:

2000-01 (incl student numbers)
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
2007-08

The majority of the information was collated and confirmed from June-August 2004. Any institution wishing to add, update or correct information relating to its courses should email info@BAJSBulletin.org.

Details of UK Jewish Studies related PhD thesis titles can be found on the BAJS Bulletin website. 

MA Modern European Jewish History, Culture and Thought 

Although the MA will be conducted under the auspices of the University of Sussex, all courses will be held in central London on the premises of the Leo Baeck Institute/Wiener Library.

Modern European Jewish History and Culture (Dr Uffa Jensen, email: U.Jensen@sussex.ac.uk) Compulsory course covering the period from the early Enlightenment leading up to the destruction of Jewish life in Europe during the Holocaust, the course will focus on the delicate political and cultural interaction between Gentile and Jewish societies, enabling students to gain a deeper understanding of the fundamental changes in Jewish life during the period. Studying the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish history will help students examine some of the most important internal dynamics of general European history, as well as how European Jews constructed, asserted and coped with 'difference'. Other areas of analysis will include the importance of the Enlightenment, the legal and political processes of emancipation, the impact of the Great War on European Jewish history, the concept of Jewish renaissance and renewal and Zionist movements in the twentieth century. 

Jews, Power, and Intellectual History (Dr Raphael Gross, email: r.gross@sussex.ac.uk) The programme will explore Jewish culture and history through examination of the development of Jewish historiography, religion and the concept of Bildung. Special emphasis will be placed on German-Jewish thought during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as represented by writers such as Leopld Zunz, Hermann Cohen, Siegmund Freud, Franz Rosenzweig, Achad Ha'am, Walter Benjamin, Leo Baeck, Gershom Scholem, Hannah Arendt and Emmanuel Levinas. 

Jews in the Sciences and the Humanities (Dr Ute Deichmann, email: ute.deichmann@uni-koeln.de, and Dr Ulrich Charpa, email: u.charpa@gmx.de) Jewish scholars in the sciences and humanities became increasingly visible starting in the nineteenth century. Study of their experiences poses questions concerning the nature of scientific and academic research and their relationship to Jewish religious traditions. The programme will provide a broad survey of this topic, focussing on issues including science in the Talmud; Medieval and early modern Jewish attitudes towards science; legal emancipation in nineteenth-century Germany and the beginning of Jewish participation in academia; the relationship between Jewish scientists and scholars and national politics; the expulsion of Jews from German academia; the impact of German Jews on science and scholarship in exile.

Modern European Jewish Literature (Dr Lisa Silverman, email: lisa.silverman@yale.edu) From Sholem Aleichem to Else Lasker-Schüler, Heinreich Heine to Marcel Proust, the works of Jewish authors have shaped the way we consider the experiences of Jews in modern Europe. Approaching Jewish history from the perspective of literary analysis, the programme will survey novels, poetry and drama written by Jews in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, France, England and Russia (in English translation). Using both primary sources and secondary theoretical texts, it will consider how literature both reflected and shaped modern European Jewish life. Special attention will be paid to issues of Jewish writers among national European cultures, focussing on identity, gender and difference.

Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust (Ben Barkow, email: benbarkow@wienerlibrary.co.uk) Modern European Jewish history has been profoundly affected by anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and the study of anti-Semitism is crucial for our understanding of the wider social and cultural context of Jewish history in Modern Europe. The programme will trace the development of anti-Semitism in Europe, through its historical transformation under the impact of secularisation, the rise of nationalism, racial theories and globalisation. It will survey the development of historical writing on both anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, and will address forms of secular and religious anti-Semitism since the Holocaust.

UNDERGRADUATE:

Introduction to Judaism, BTh/Certificate in Theology for Ministry

POSTGRADUATE:

MA Jewish-Christian Relations (Anglia Ruskin)
Applications are no longer being accepted.

MSt (University of Cambridge)
In the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations
Four papers: Foundations, Scripture, History and Culture
Lecturers include Dr J. Aitken, Dr J.J. Meggitt, Dr E. Kessler, Ms L. Faltin, Dr R. Re Manning, Dr H. Spurling

Contact in the first instance Dr James Aitken, email: jka12@cam.ac.uk

The Master of Studies (MSt) Degree in The Study of Jewish–Christian Relations of the University of Cambridge is offered by the Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations (CJCR) in conjunction with the Faculty of Divinity and the Institute of Continuing Education.The MSt is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary programme, combining religious, biblical, philosophical and cultural studies, with history, political science and international relations and represents a unique opportunity for students to study for a qualification awarded by a University with a world-wide reputation for outstanding academic achievement. At the same time, they can enjoy a degree of flexibility (in relation to patterns of residency and attendance). Track B of the MSt is the first Cambridge degree programme to be taught substantially online. For more information please see www.woolfinstitute.cam.ac.uk/cjcr or contact Esther Haworth, esther.haworth@woolfinstitute.cam.ac.uk or 01223 741048. The Centre for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations and the Centre for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations comprise the Woolf Institute of Abrahamic Faiths.

University of Cambridge
Websites: www.divinity.cam.ac.uk/Judaism/ (Faculty of Divinity)
West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9BS, United Kingdom.
Tel 01223 763017, Fax 01223 763018.
and www.oriental.cam.ac.uk/hebrew1.html (Faculty of Oriental Studies: Hebrew & Aramaic)
Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA.
Tel 01223 335106, Fax 01223 335110.

UNDERGRADUATE:

Elementary Hebrew (Andrew Macintosh, email: AAM1003@cus.cam.ac.uk)

Intermediate Hebrew (Andrew Macintosh, email: AAM1003@cus.cam.ac.uk; Katharine Dell, email: KJD24@cam.ac.uk)

Advanced Hebrew (Andrew Macintosh, email: AAM1003@cus.cam.ac.uk; Robert Gordon, email: RPG1000@cam.ac.uk; William Horbury, email: WH10000@cam.ac.uk)

World Religions in Comparative Perspective (Tim Winter, email: tjw31@cam.ac.uk):  the Jewish part of this course looks at the themes of law and creation.

The Literature, History and Theology of the Exilic Age (Katharine Dell, email: KJD24@cam.ac.uk; Graham Davies, email: GID10@cam.ac.uk): The exilic age has long been regarded in scholarship as a watershed for the faith of Israel, with important theological understandings formulated in this period. This course seeks to give a thorough understanding of the literature, history and theology of the period leading up to the Exile, of the Exile itself and of the repercussions that followed it.

Judaism in the Greek and Roman Periods (William Horbury, email: WH10000@cam.ac.uk, James Carleton Paget, email jncp1@cam.ac.uk): This course aims to introduce the history, literature and religion of the Jews in the Greek and Roman periods, up to and including the war of Bar-Kokhba in the years 132-5.

Jewish and Christian Responses to the Holocaust (M.M. Tolstoy, email: MMT13@cam.ac.uk): The objective is to engage the students in a manner that is academically rigorous while enabling them to respond with sensitivity and compassion to the horrendous crimes perpetrated in the heart of Europe. In the Lent term, lecturers from outside the University contribute fully to the course, including a witness account from an Auschwitz survivor. Students will have the opportunity to see documentaries and feature films related to the Holocaust.

Life, Thought and Worship in Modern Judaism (Co-ordinator Tim Winter, email: tjw31@cam.ac.uk): This course introduces students to contemporary Judaism and gives them an insight into the development of Modem Judaism by looking at the life and outlook of the Jewish communities both in Britain and worldwide. It will demonstrate how Judaism relates to surrounding cultures and especially how it has responded to the challenges of modernity.

Poets, Prophets, Storytellers and Sages (Graham Davies, email: GID10@cam.ac.uk; Katharine Dell, email: KJD24@cam.ac.uk; Janet Tollington, email: JET40@cam.ac.uk): This course seeks to explore the diversity of literature that makes up the Old Testament and to assess the different social and theological contexts in which it arose. It involves study of texts of different genres with an interest in their social context and theological content, interest in scholarly methods and viewpoints and their diversity, evaluation of historical claims with the use of archaeological and ancient Near Eastern material.

The Holy Land (George Wilkes, email: grw1000@cam.ac.uk): This topic includes the concept of holiness in Judaism and whether it can properly be applied to territory; attitudes to the Land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem in classical Jewish sources; Reform and Orthodox attitudes to the Land and how they have changed during the 19th and 20th centuries; the history and ideologies of Zionism; the Jewish character of the 'Jewish State'; and finally a comparative element: do Jews, Christians and Muslims share a common understanding of the sanctity of Jerusalem?

Book of Exodus (Graham Davies, email: GID10@cam.ac.uk): The book of Exodus is one of the key books of the Old Testament. The story that it tells is one of the main elements in ancient Israel's origin traditions and it was of central importance for the definition of Old Testament belief in God and his relationship to his people and their response to him. The name of God, his deliverance of his people from slavery, the covenant at Sinai, the Ten Commandments and principles of worship are all dealt with here. Modern study of Exodus has used all of the standard exegetical methods and many comparisons have been made with non-biblical texts from the ancient Near East. The Exodus theme is also prominent in other parts of the Old Testament and in the post-biblical period the text has been drawn upon and elaborated in many different ways by both Jews and Christians up to the present day.

Judaism and Hellenism (William Horbury, email: WH10000@cam.ac.uk, James Carleton Paget, email jncp1@cam.ac.uk): This course focuses on Hebraic and Hellenic tradition in Judaism from the time of the later Old Testament books onwards. The period concerned runs from Alexander the Great to the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba uprising against Rome. It begins with the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, includes developments between the Old Testament and the New, and ends with the composition of the Mishnah in Hebrew.

One God? Hearing the Old Testament (Graham Davies, email: GID10@cam.ac.uk; Katharine Dell, email: KJD24@cam.ac.uk): Belief in God as it is presented ('heard') in the Old Testament is fundamental to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The aim of the course is to consider aspects of the nature, origins and development of this belief, including its similarities and dissimilarities to other beliefs held in the historical environment of the Old Testament, both in the surrounding nations and in ancient Israel itself. It will involve both the study and comparison of selected texts bearing on this theme from the Old Testament and consideration of archaeological and textual evidence from the ancient Near East. The intention is to be both theological and rooted in the history of religion and literature.

Israelite history and literature (RP Gordon, email: RPG1000@cam.ac.uk)
Aramaic texts (RP Gordon, email: RPG1000@cam.ac.uk; EC Hunter, email: ECDH1@cam.ac.uk; GA Khan, email: GK101@cam.ac.uk)
Biblical and Dead Sea texts (RP Gordon, email: RPG1000@cam.ac.uk)
Post-biblical Jewish texts (WJ van Bekkum, email: w.j.van.bekkum@let.rug.nl and Jeremy Schonfield, email: jeremy.schonfield@blueyonder.ac.uk) 
Modern Hebrew Language (R Williams, email: RW212@cam.ac.uk)
Modern Aramaic (GA Khan, email: GK101@cam.ac.uk)
Ugaritic mythological literature (RP Gordon, email: RPG1000@cam.ac.uk; GA Khan, email: GK101@cam.ac.uk)
History of the Hebrew language (GA Khan, email: GK101@cam.ac.uk)
The Cairo Genizah (GA Khan, email: GK101@cam.ac.uk; S. C. Reif, email: SCR3@cam.ac.uk)

POSTGRADUATE: (Faculty of Oriental Studies and Faculty of Divinity)

MPhil Old Testament Studies (Faculty of Divinity)
MPhil World Religious Traditions, including Judaism (Faculty of Divinity)
MPhil Modern Judaism (Faculty of Divinity)
MPhil Hebrew and Aramaic Studies (Faculty of Oriental Studies)
MPhil Classical and Modern Aramaic Languages (Faculty of Oriental Studies)
MPhil Classical Hebrew Studies (Faculty of Oriental Studies)
MPhil Rabbinical and Medieval Hebrew Studies (Faculty of Oriental Studies)
MPhil Modern Hebrew Studies (Faculty of Oriental Studies)

PhD Biblical & Jewish Studies (Faculty of Divinity)
PhD Jewish Studies related (Faculty of Oriental Studies)

University of Edinburgh, New College, Scotland
Website: www.div.ed.ac.uk/
School of Divinity, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX. United Kingdom. Tel (0)131 650 8938.

Hebrew 1 (David Reimer, email: David.Reimer@ed.ac.uk) The course introduces students to the main elements of biblical Hebrew grammar.

Hebrew 2 (David Reimer, email: David.Reimer@ed.ac.uk) This course will consolidate the students’ understanding of the Hebrew language gained in Hebrew 1. As the course progresses, texts of differing character and progressive and difficulty (prose and poetry) will be read, and students will acquire techniques for translating and interpreting such texts.

Advanced Hebrew Language 3/4
Advanced Hebrew Reading (Postgraduate)

Aramaic (Timothy Lim, email: limt@ed.ac.uk) This course will teach students the rudiments of the Aramaic language by a study of its vocabulary and grammar.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins (Timothy Lim, email: limt@ed.ac.uk) Detailed study of aspects of the Qumran community, the biblical texts from the eleven caves, and relationship to the beginnings of Christianity.

Method in Reading the Hebrew Bible (email H.Barstad@ed.ac.uk) The aim of this course is to deepen the understanding of methods used in the academic study of the HB/OT. The
weight is on contemporary methods.

“The ‘Jew’ in the Text”: Representations of the Holocaust and Jewish Identity 3/4 K. (Hannah Holtschneider, email: H.Holtschneider@ed.ac.uk) The aim of the course is to study the development of modern antisemitism from the 19th century onwards as well as the multiple factors that led to the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews in Europe. Further, the aim is to study responses to the Holocaust. Thus the course splits into two parts. The first part will consider historiographical approaches to the Holocaust, while the second part of the course introduces responses to the Holocaust in a variety of media (e.g. religious texts, literature, film, museums) and considers the significance of the Holocaust for the (religious) identities of contemporary Jews.

“A People Apart”? Explorations in Modern Jewish Thought 3/4 K. (Hannah Holtschneider, email: H.Holtschneider@ed.ac.uk) This course introduces different aspects of Jewish thought and culture by offering a twofold approach of historical overview and in-depth study of particular issues. The rich diversity of Jewish culture and thought is a central concern in the study of Judaism. This course offers the conceptual tools to access this diversity, while providing a focused discussion of the significance of contemporary Jewish thinkers and movements. This course offers insights into a range of historical and intellectual developments of Judaism since the beginning of the Emancipation of the Jews at the end of the 18th century. It introduces some of the most significant Jewish thinkers from the Enlightenment onwards. These figures are then discussed alongside the development of modern and contemporary Jewish movements. Further, the course focuses on issues which are currently debated in the Jewish communities of different countries. Examples of issues covered include Zionism and Israel , gender and religion, secular and religious identities.

University of Wales, Lampeter
Website: www.lamp.ac.uk/trs/ 
Department of Theology, Religious Studies & Islamic Studies, University of Wales, Lampeter, Ceredigion, SA48 7ED, United Kingdom. Tel 01570 424708, Fax 01570 423641.

UNDERGRADUATE:

Introduction to Judaism (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)
Understanding the Holocaust (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk) 
Wisdom of Judaism (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)
Elementary Hebrew (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)
Hebrew Bible (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)
Israel (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)
Judaism and Christianity (Dan Cohn-Sherbok, email: cohn-sherbok@lamp.ac.uk)

POSTGRADUATE: 

PhD/MPhil (Jewish Studies related)

Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Leeds
Website: www.leeds.ac.uk/fine_art/cejs/
Dept of Fine Arts, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom.

UNDERGRADUATE:

BA Jewish Civilisation

Reading Jewish Cultures (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)
Intensive Modern Hebrew Level 1 (Michele Fromm, email: m.fromm@leeds.ac.uk)
Intensive Modern Hebrew Level 2 (Michele Fromm, email: m.fromm@leeds.ac.uk)
Jews and Other Differences (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)
Rembrandt and the Bible (Valerie Mainz, email: v.s.mainz@leeds.ac.uk)
Unfinished Business: Trauma, Cultural Memory and the Holcoaust (Griselda Pollock, email: g.f.s.pollock@leeds.ac.uk)
Jewish Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)
Jews into Frenchmen? Identity, Nations and the French Revolution (Valerie Mainz, email: v.s.mainz@leeds.ac.uk)

MA Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Readings in Jewish Studies (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)
Modernity and the Jews (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)
Jews into Frenchmen? Identity, Nations and the French Revolution (Valerie Mainz, email: v.s.mainz@leeds.ac.uk)
Unfinished Business: Trauma, Cultural Memory and the Holcoaust (Griselda Pollock, email: g.f.s.pollock@leeds.ac.uk)
Society, Sign, Text and Subject (Fred Orton, email: l.f.orton@leeds.ac.uk)
Jewish Studies Dissertation (Eva Frojmovic, email: e.frojmovic@leeds.ac.uk)

PhD/MPhil (Jewish Studies related)

University of Leicester
Website: www.le.ac.uk/hi/
Department of History, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, United Kingdom. Tel 0116 252 2802, Fax 0116 252 3986.

UNDERGRADUATE:

Facing Modernity: Jews in Central and Western Europe (Claudia Prestel, email: cp59@leicester.ac.uk) 

Centre for Jewish Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Website: www.soas.ac.uk/
SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom. Fax 020 7898 4359.

UNDERGRADUATE:

BA Hebrew and Israeli Studies [Faculty of Languages and Cultures]
BA Study of Religions (Judaism) [Faculty of Arts and Humanities]
BA In Music (Jewish music) [Faculty of Arts and Humanities]

Single and joint honours degrees are available in these areas

Dept of the Study of Religions:
Judaism: Foundation
The Bible and Its Interpretation in Ancient Judaism
Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism
Representations of the Holocaust
The Daily Life of Jews in Antiquity
The Role of Women in Judaism
Jewish Identity from Ancient to Modern Times
Modern Jewish Thought

Dept of Hebrew and Israeli Studies:
Modern Hebrew Language
Intensive Modern Hebrew
Elementary Hebrew
Intermediate Hebrew
Introduction to Israeli Culture
Introduction to Israeli Literature
Jewish Art from Antiquity to the Modern Age
Modern Hebrew Poetry
Jews in Africa and Asia
History of Zionism
Israeli History and the Israeli-Palestine Conflict

Dept of Music:
Sacred and Secular Musics in Ancient and Modern Israel  
Jewish Music

POSTGRADUATE:

MA Hebrew and Israeli Studies [Faculty of Languages and Cultures]
MA Study of Religions (Judaism) [Faculty of Arts and Humanities]
MA In Music (Jewish music) [Faculty of Arts and Humanities]

Dept of the Study of Religions:
Judaism in Hellenistic and Roman Times
The Holocaust in Theology, Literature and Art
Family, Work and Leisure in Ancient Judaism
Judaism and Gender
Religion, Ethnicity and Nationhood in Judaism

Dept of Hebrew and Israeli Studies:
A Historical Approach to Israeli Literature
Modern Israel through its Culture
History of Zionism
Israeli History and the Israeli-Palestine Conflict 
Jews in Africa and Asia  

Dept of Music:
Sacred and Secular Musics in Ancient and Modern Israel

Contacts:
Hebrew and Israeli Studies: Colin Shindler cs52@soas.ac.uk)
Study of Religions: Catherine Hezser (ch12@soas.ac.uk)
Music: Abigail Wood (aw48@soas.ac.uk)
 

Dept of Hebrew & Jewish Studies, University College London
Website: www.ucl.ac.uk/hebrew-jewish/index.htm 
University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT. Tel 020 76797171.

The Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies is the only independent department in the UK, based at University College London. As the first university to open its doors to Women, Roman Catholics and Dissenters, UCL was also the first to admit Jewish students. This traditional link of the College with the Anglo-Jewish community is very much alive today.

UNDERGRADUATE

The degree programmes are taught by the department, in collaboration with other UCL departments and with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) which is situated within a short walking distance of the College.

BA Honours Hebrew and Jewish Studies
BA Honours Jewish History
BA Honours Italian and Jewish Studies
BA Honours German and Jewish Studies
BA Honours History (Central and East European) and Jewish studies


CORE COURSES FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

HEBR1001: A Survey of Jewish History & Culture in the First Millennium BCE (Mark Geller, email: m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). The emergence of Judaism from Old Testament religious institutions; the impact of Hellenism; sectarianism.
HEBR1002: A Survey of Jewish History & Culture in the First Millennium CE (Alinda Damsma, email: a.damsma@ucl.ac.uk). The First and Second Revolt against the Romans; the development of rabbinic literature in Palestine and Babylon; the use of archaeological evidence; the Jews under Roman rule and in the Byzantine period; the Babylonian academies; the Karaites; Judeo-Arabic literature; the Cairo Genizah.
HEBR1003: A Survey of Jewish History & Culture from 1000-1800 (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). The decline of the Gaonate in the East and the rise of new centres of Hebrew scholarship in Western Europe; the emergence of Jewish self-governing institutions; the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry; Sephardi Jewry to the expulsion from Spain; the Jewish philosophical and mystical traditions; the Marrano Diaspora; the mystical messianism of Sabbatai Zvi; Hasidism.
HEBR1004: A Survey of Jewish History & Culture from 1800-Present (Lars Fischer, email: l.fischer@ucl.ac.uk). The course explores the Jewish encounter with Modernity; the Haskalah of Berlin and Eastern Europe; the concepts of Jewish emancipation, acculturation, and assimilation; the movement for religious reform; the phenomenon of Antisemitism; Jewish nationalism and Zionism.
HEBR1005: Introduction to Classical Hebrew (Fiona Blumfield, email: uclhfio@ucl.ac.uk). In-depth introduction to the grammar and syntax of biblical Hebrew, using narrative texts. The aim of this course is to prepare students for reading the Hebrew Bible independently. It is relatively intensive and intended for absolute beginners. The course is based on the text book: Kelley, Page. Biblical Hebrew, An Introductory Grammar (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992); additional materials will be handed out in class.
HEBR1006: Modern Hebrew for Beginners (Dalia Yaron, email: yaronucl@gmail.com). Basic grammatical outline; intensive acquisition of vocabulary; reading of easy Hebrew texts (e.g. simplified newspapers); introduction to essay-writing and conversation over a fairly limited range of topics.

Those students who have already acquired some command of either Biblical or Modern Hebrew may be advised to take the 2nd year courses, HEBR7003 and HEBR7302, instead of HEBR1005 and HEBR1006.

COURSES FOR STUDENTS IN THE SECOND AND LATER YEARS
(Note: All students of the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies are expected to spend their third academic year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Undergraduates from UCL are able to attend the Hebrew University Ulpan, and benefit from the large range of courses in Jewish Studies offered by the Hebrew University. Students with an interest in archaeology will be able to participate in excavation work. All students willbe enrolled in the Rothberg School for Overseas Students. Students who, for personal reasons, cannot attend the Hebrew University will complete their full four year course at UCL.)

Course titles followed by an asterix, *, will not be offered in the academic year 2007/8. Students may register their interest in any of these courses, so that they might be offered and taken in the following year(s).

Biblical Hebrew Language and Texts

HEBR7001: Old Testament Historical Texts* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). About fifteen chapters selected from the historical books (Joshua-Kings, Esther and Ezra-Chronicles), studies with reference to philology, textual criticism, source criticism, archaeology and historical background.
HEBR7002: Pentateuchal Texts* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). About twelve chapters from the Pentateuch, including narrative, legal and poetic material, studies with reference to philology, textual criticism and historical background.
HEBR7003: Further Classical Hebrew (Fiona Blumfield, email: uclhfio@ucl.ac.uk) This course may be taken as a sequel to course HEBR1005. Further in-depth study of the grammar and syntax of Classical Hebrew. A fair selection of chapters from the Hebrew Bible will be read in class; students will be required to read a number of chapters independently. 80 lectures, 1 year.
HEBR7004: Old Testament Prophetic Texts I (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). About twelve chapters selected from the prophetic books, studies with reference to philology, poetic structure, textual criticism and historical background.
HEBR7005: Old Testament Prophetic Texts II*
HEBR7006: Old Testament Wisdom Texts * About twelve chapters selected from Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes and the Hebrew of Ecclesiasticus, studied with reference to philology, poetic structure, textual criticism and historical background.
HEBR7007 Old Testament Psalm Texts*
HEBR7008 Classical Hebrew (Advanced)*
HEBR7009 Pentateuchal Texts*

Post-Biblical Hebrew Texts

HEBR7201: Midrash* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). An introduction to the methodology of Jewish scriptural exegesis as followed in rabbinical circles in late antiquity, based on treatment of the creation narrative assembled in the early chapters of Genesis Rabbah. Comparison with the approaches of other systems - both pagan and Christian - to problems in cosmology, metaphysics and ethics.
HEBR7202: Medieval Jewish Exegesis of the Bible*
HEBR7203: Medieval Hebrew Prose*
HEBR7204: Medieval Hebrew Prose* . Specimens of halakhic, philosophical and literary texts, both original Hebrew compositions and Hebrew translations from Arabic. Attention will be paid to the evolution of technical vocabulary etc. for the translation of scientific texts, and to environmental influences on Hebrew genre and style.
HEBR7205: Mishnah with Talmud*
HEBR7206: The Beginnings of Hebrew Drama*
HEBR7207 Dead Sea Scrolls *. Selected readings from the sectarian literature of Qumran, such as the Manual of Discipline and Temple Scroll, with attention to the historical context of the Qumran community. Knowledge of Biblical Hebrew is required.
HEBR7208: The Hebrew Poetry of Medieval Spanish Jewry*
HEBR7209: Selected Hebrew Texts*
HEBR7210: Jewish Law and Society* (Sacha Stern, email: uclhsac@ucl.ac.uk). This course provides an introduction to Jewish, rabbinic legal sources and their development from the Mishnah and Talmud until the present day. By focusing on specific themes in halakah (Jewish law) such as laws regulating relations with non-Jews, it examines how Jewish law responded to social change and social reality, and how the study of Jewish law fits in to the more general study of Jewish history and society.
HEBR7211: Midrash: How Rabbis Read the Bible* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). Classical Rabbinic Judaism evolved around the oral and the written Torah. This course explores the rabbinic approach to scriptural interpretation by analysing various chapters of a variety of Midrashim, including Sifre Deuteronomy, the Mekhilta, and Bereshit Rabbah. We will focus on the rhetoric and argumentation of classical Midrashim in their literary, religious, and socio-historical context. Students will also be introduced to the recent scholarship of Jewish interpretation in Late Antiquity.

Modern Hebrew Language and Literature

HEBR7301: A Survey of Modern Hebrew Poetry*. The course will map out the major developments in Hebrew poetry since the establishment of the state of Israel, focusing on both cultural and poetic aspects of the writings of Amir Gilboa, Yehudah Amichai, Natan Zach and Dalia Ravikovitch.
HEBR7302: Modern Hebrew (Lower Intermediate) (Dalia Yaron, email: yaronucl@gmail.com & Lily Kahn, uclhlok@ucl.ac.uk). Modern Hebrew language at second year level. Grammar, written and oral practice. 100 hours, 1 year.
HEBR7303: Modern Hebrew (Higher Intermediate) (Dalia Yaron, email: yaronucl@gmail.com & Nir Cohen, email: n.cohen@ucl.ac.uk). Modern Hebrew at second to third year level. 80 hours, 1 year. Grammar, written and oral practice. Means of assessment: 1 exam (35%); course work (45%); oral skills (5%); oral exam (15%). Admission: This course may not be taken by students who have completed their year abroad.
HEBR7304: Advanced Modern Hebrew (Dalia Yaron, email: yaronucl@gmail.com & Nir Cohen, email: n.cohen@ucl.ac.uk). Modern Hebrew language at third to fourth year level. Advanced language work to enable students to communicate over a wide range of topics both in speech and in writing. 80 hours, 1 year. Grammar, written and oral practice. Pre-requisite: HEBR7302, year abroad, or HEBR7303.
HEBR7305: A Survey of Modern Hebrew Prose * (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). Social and political themes in Israeli literature from the 1930s to the 1980s.
HEBR7306: A Survey of Modern Hebrew Literature* Selected readings of both prose and verse in modern Hebrew literature, with attention to the cultural and social context.
HEBR7307: Hebrew Literature and the Holocaust * . The course will explore how the historical and moral devastation of the Holocaust has affected subsequent writing on the Holocaust in Hebrew and Israeli literature, over three generations. Questions addressed include the issue of authenticity in fictional writing on the Holocaust, the use of documentation, the function of comedy as a means of indictment, the significance of scriptural reference and the dislocation of traditional forms. Attention will focus on the work of Aharon Appelfeld, Dan Pagis, Yoram Kaniuk, David Shuetz and David Grossman.
HEBR7308: Modern Jewish Writing*
HEBR7309: Contemporary Israeli Literature*
HEBR7310: Feminist Issues in Israeli Womens Writing (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). A survey of feminist thinking in Hebrew literature. The course will study the development of feminist concepts and their manifestations in womens writing in Israel since the 70s. It will compare these expressions with feminist writing in English and American literature. The Hebrew texts will be followed by their translations into English.
HEBR7311: The Dialogue with the Bible in Modern Israeli Literature and Culture*
HEBR7312: Selected Topics: Nation and Narration* (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). The course will examine a selection of topics in Israeli fiction since the mid 70s. It will focus on the tension between collective images and individual identities. It will discuss literary work in the context of social and cultural changes in Israeli society. Hebrew literary texts will be read alongside translations into English.
HEBR7313: Advanced Modern Hebrew: Newspapers * (Ada Rapoport Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). This course involves wide reading in current Israeli newspapers and magazines. News items, feature articles and arts reviews will be studied and translated to and from Hebrew.
HEBR7314: Advanced Modern Hebrew: Non-Fiction * (Ada Rapoport Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). The course is designed to train students in the reading of scholarly literature currently published in Hebrew in Israel. This should enable them to use Hebrew items on the bibliographies which accompany most of the courses taught by the Department, items which, in many cases, are essential and not available in English.
HEBR7315: Advanced Modern Hebrew: Non-Fiction* (Ada Rapoport Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). The course is designed to train students in the reading of scholarly literature currently published in Hebrew in Israel. This should enable them to use Hebrew items on the bibliographies which accompany most of the courses taught by the Department, items which, in many cases, are essential and not available in English.
HEBR7316: Advanced Modern Hebrew: Newspapers (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk) This course involves wide reading in current Israeli newspapers and magazines. Feature articles and art reviews will be studied, along with news items. Attention will be paid not only to content but also to the evolution of the language.
HEBR7317: Family Politics in Israeli Literature (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). This course will look at the representations of the family in Israeli literature. It will discuss the following issues: The way ideologies shape family structures; The way nation building narratives use the family; Generations gap; The prevalence of childrens narratives in Israeli literature; The way women writers subvert familial narratives; Representations of parenthood and their perceptions by their children.
HEBR7318: Ideologies of Reading: Hebrew Texts Throught History's Looking Glass*
HEBR7319: Migration and Homelands in Israeli Literature (Tsila Ratner, email@ t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). The course will follow the changing attitudes towards migration and national homeland in contemporary Israeli discourse through their literary representations. It will discuss the construction of Homeland in Zionish ideology and the role of literature in shaping the nation building narrative which had presented Jewish migration to Israel as a process of return. The course will discuss the implications of this ideology on individual identity formation and social hierarchies. Current changes in Israeli discourse will be examined against the background of this construction, focusing on the emergence of immigrant narratives that contest the ideology of one and exclusive homeland. Special attention will be drawn to minorities’ and women’s discourses.
HEBR7320: War and Dissent in Israeli Literature (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk). The course will follow the literary representations of wars in Israel since 1948. It will emphasise the role literature has played in the formation of consensus vis-à-vis the justification of war and setting the fighters’ moral norms. At the same time, Israeli literature expressed dissent. This dialectics will be examined throughout the course, reflecting changes in the political circumstances, especially since the 1967 war.

Aramaic and Syriac Language and Texts

HEBR7401: Biblical Aramaic (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). The Aramaic portions of Daniel and Ezra, studied with reference to philology and historical background.
HEBR7402: Biblical Aramaic* (Mark Geller, email: m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). The Aramaic portions of Daniel and Ezra, studied with reference to philology and historical background.
HEBR7403: Further Syriac*
HEBR7404: Introduction to the Syriac Bible*
HEBR7405: Talmudic Magic * . Readings in extracts from the Babylonian Talmud of passages dealing with magic and incantations.
HEBR7406: Aramaic Papyri * About ten Aramaic papyri, studied with reference to palaeography, philology and historical background.
HEBR7407: Syriac*
HEBR7408: Targum (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). About six chapters drawn partly from the Pentateuch and partly from other Old Testament books, will be studied in Aramaic, with attention to language, textual criticism, and the mode of translation and interpretation.
HEBR7409: Introduction to the Babylonian Talmud (Sacha Stern, email: uclhsac@ucl.ac.uk). Grammar and Interpretation of the Babylonian Talmud. One chapter (comprising perhaps ten folios) from the Babylonian Talmud will be read in full, with attention to language, historical background, the modes of argumentation and the development of Jewish practice.
HEBR7410: Aramaic Incantation Texts * . This course will concentrate mainly on the large corpus of Aramaic incantation bowls from Iraq. The texts will be read for their contents, with relevant parallels to the Babylonian Talmud and Near Eastern magic, as well as for the grammar and syntax of Babylonian Aramaic. Some texts will be read from the autograph copies, for purposes of palaeography. Reading knowledge of Aramaic required.
HEBR7411: Further Talmud* (Sacha Stern, email: uclhsac@ucl.ac.uk). A sequel to HEBR7409 in which both philological questions and points of reference will be examined in greater depth.
HEBR7412: Introduction to Syriac*
HEBR7413: Intermediate Syriac* (Gillian Greenberg, email: jewish.studies@ucl.ac.uk). The course is suitable for students who already have some knowledge of basic Syriac and have read some Syriac texts and who wish to develop their language skills and to read more widely. The importance of the study of different manuscripts in transmission history is also studied.
HEBR7414: Jewish Aramaic Literature* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk). An introduction to Jewish postbiblical Aramaic literature, beginning with Targum Onqelos, including selected texts from Aramaic poetry, Genesis Apocryphon, Midrashim (Bereshit Rabbah or Echa Rabbah), Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, Targum Neofiti, Tosefta-Targum to the Prophets. All texts will be read in Aramaic, with detailed attention to language, the Hebrew original and the mode of translation, exegetical traditions and linguistic developments.
HEBR7415: Medicine in the Babylonian Talmud * . The course will be based primarily upon references collected in Preuss Biblisch-Talmudische Medizin (translated by Rosner) to diseases and remedies in the Bible and Rabbinic sources, thematically arranged, eg. gynaecology, opthalmology, general physiology, fevers, injuries, etc. Texts will be examined with manuscript variants, and analysed in the light of Babylonian and Greek medicine. Knowledge of both Hebrew and Aramaic is required.
HEBR7416: Introduction to Syriac (Gillian Greenberg, email: jewish.studies@ucl.ac.uk). The course will include a comprehensive introduction to Syriac grammar and syntax and study of a wide range of texts including passages from the Peshitta, the Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible and of the New Testament; texts from the period of the Church Fathers, and some secular texts.

Yiddish Language and Literature

HEBR7501: Yiddish Cinema*
HEBR7502: Yiddish Film*
HEBR7503: The History of the Yiddish Language * (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). Yiddish seen in the framework of Jewish Languages. The ethnic, geographical and historical factors that gave rise to the birth of the language and of its culture. Yiddish as a fusion language. Study of the earliest Yiddish texts. The spread of the language from Germany to Italy, Eastern Europe and the Ashkenazic diaspora. The decline of Yiddish in Western Europe. The dialects and the standard language. Sociolinguistic questions and the development of Yiddishism.
HEBR7504: Elementary Yiddish (Lily Kahn, email: uclhlok@ucl.ac.uk). A year-long (two term) class for students with no prior knowledge of Yiddish.
HEBR7505: Intermediate Yiddish (Lily Kahn, email: uclhlok@ucl.ac.uk). Instruction in the Yiddish language for students who have taken Elementary Yiddish or who can demonstrate an equivalent level of attainment. The main focus is on acquiring fluency in the reading of Yiddish source materials in a wide variety of registers.
HEBR7506: Advanced Yiddish * (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). Further instruction in Yiddish for students who have either successfully completed the intermediate course or who are of comparable ability. More demanding texts are studied and questions of advanced syntax and usage are addressed.
HEBR7507: The History of the Yiddish Language*
HEBR7508: Survey of the History of Yiddish Literature *. Secular and devotional genres in old Yiddish literature. Centres of printing and dissemination. The impact of the Haskalah and Hasidism on Yiddish literature. The growth of a new literary culture in Eastern Europe. The nineteenth century classics. The major centres in the inter-war period, Yiddish Modernism and post-war Yiddish literature.
HEBR7509: Yiddish Literature: Special Topics * . In this course, which is primarily intended for students who have already completed Advanced Yiddish and the Survey of the History of Yiddish Literature, specific topics in Yiddish literature are selected in consultation with the participants for the purposes of in-depth study.
HEBR7510: Selected Topics in Yiddish Literature*
HEBR7511: Yiddish for Historical Study (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). A year-long course designed to enable students of Jewish history, with special reference to the Holocaust, to read Yiddish material appropriate to their research.
HEBR7512: Introduction to Modern Yiddish Poetry*
HEBR7513: Selected Topics in Yiddish*
HEBR7514: Yiddish Memoirs*
HEBR7515: Yiddish Folk Literature * (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). Pre-requisite is to have completed equivalent of Elementary Yiddish. This course introduces students to a variety of Yiddish folk culture genres which include folksongs; folktales; proverbs and sayings, riddles and jokes. The study of Yiddish folklore and its prominent folklorists and ethnographers will be examined, with specific reference to the Folklore Section of the YIVO and the work of Sh. Anski's Ethnographic Expedition.
HEBR7516: Upper Intermediate Yiddish (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). More advanced Yiddish language study which continues on from Intermediate Yiddish (HEBR7505). The course will include readings from literature as well as newspaper and journal articles.
HEBR7517: Studies in Jewish Theatre: From the Purimspiel to Goldfaden*
HEBR7518: Itzik Manger and the Yiddish Ballad* (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). Students will be introduced to the Yiddish ballad genre beginning with the study of Yiddish folk ballads and within theoretical framework offered by ballad scholars. Itzik Manger’s theoretical approach to the ballad will be examined and his ballads will be studied. Ballads of other Yiddish poets will be studied and compared (Landau, Mani Leyb, Halpern, Kacyzne, Leyvik). Appraisal of Yiddish folk and literary ballad tradition. Completion of HEBR7504 Elementary Yiddish or equivalent is essential.
HEBR7519: I. L. Perets and Modern Yiddish Culture (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). This course will examine the enormous impact made by Yiddish author I.L.Perets (1852-1915) upon his Yiddish-speaking contemporaries and upon the development of modern Yiddish literature. The fiction, poetry, drama and essays of Perets will be closely studied (in Yiddish) and changes and developments in the author’s thinking as his writign evolved will be examined. Perets’s approach to the development of a modern secular Yiddish culture as a means of achieving Jewish self-determination through literature will be considered. The legacy of Perets’s literary work and thinking on trends which developed after his death will be studied.
HEBR4501: The Short Story and Novella in Yiddish * (Helen Beer, email: h.beer@ucl.ac.uk). Material will be studied from its content and style within a social, cultural and literary context.

Other courses on Semitic and Near Eastern Languages

HEBR7601: North West Semitic Inscriptions* Inscriptions in dialects of Hebrew, Moabite, Phoenician and Aramaic, with reference to palaeography, philology and historical background.
HEBR7602: Judeo-Arabic*
HEBR7603: Introduction to Ugaritic (Mark Geller, m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). The language of Ancient Canaan; texts from the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit (fifteenth to thirteenth centuries BCE). Pre-requisite: Some knowledge of Classical Hebrew. Suitable for students with an interest in Classical Hebrew.
HEBR7604: Sumerian Language (Mark Geller, m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). Introduction to Sumerian language, with text readings.
HEBR7605: The Sumerians* (Mark Geller, m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). This course covers the history and culture of Mesopotamia, including literature, art, archeology and historiography. Particular attention is paid to documentary evidence, rather than the chronological sequence
of events.
HEBR7606: Intermediate Sumerian (Mark Geller, m.geller@ucl.ac.uk). This course covers the history and culture of Mesopotamia, including literature, art, archeology and historiography. Particular attention is paid to documentary evidence, rather than the chronological sequence of events.

Jewish History

HEBR7701: Inter-Faith Disputations (Survey) * (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Rabbinic polemics with pagan religion and philosophy; the clash between Judaism and Christianity as reflected in the New Testament and the writings of the early Church Fathers as well as in rabbinic literature; medieval Jewish polemics with Christianity,Karaism and Islam; the emergence of systematic formulations of the Jewish faith as a response to these polemics; the public disputations of Paris, Barcelona and Tortosa; Judaeo-Christian polemics after the Reformation; the clash between Marrano Jews and rabbinic orthodoxy in the 17th century; the Frankist disputations of 1757 and 1759; the debate between Mendelssohn and Lavater; post-Emancipation polemics.
HEBR7702: Jewish Historiography (Survey) * (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Historical writings in the Bible and Rabbinic literature; Jewish historiography in the Hellenistic period; medieval histories and chronicles; historical, biographical, autobiographical and hagiographical works of the Early Modern period; the beginnings of modern historiography; 19th century Wissenschaft des Judentums; current historiographical schools; the historiography of the Holocaust.
HEBR7703: Jewish Historiography (Texts) * (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Selected readings in Hebrew from Josippon, Megillat Ahimaaz, 1st Crusade chronicles, Sefer ha-Kabbalah, Shevet Yehudah, Meor Eynayim, Yeven Mezulah, Hayey Yehudah or other relevant texts.
HEBR7704: Transition and Crisis in the Seventeenth Century *. The proliferation of the ex-marrano communities in Western Europe: the Jewish role in the rise of modern capitalism; the effects of the Thirty Years War, the 1648-49 massacres of the Jews in the Ukraine; the Sabbataean heresy.
HEBR7705: Jewry in the West: 1789 to the Present *. The course will examine the response of the Jews in Western Europe and in the New World to the impact of modernisation. Social, economic, cultural and political developments and their interaction will also be studied.
HEBR7706: Jewish Politics: Traditional and Modern * . This course will examine the development of modern forms of Jewish political thought and organisation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the evolution of traditional political behaviour, on the overlap of continuity and change, and on the comparison between the differing patterns of development in the West, in Eastern Europe, and the oriental communities.
HEBR7707: History of Antisemitism * . An examination of antisemitic thought and politics from the mid-nineteenth century until the post World War II period. Distinctions between anti-Judaism and antisemitism will be discussed; trends will be traced in Central, Western and Eastern Europe. Attention will be given to the Holocaust. Attitudes towards Jews in post World War II Europe, America and elsewhere will also be studied.
HEBR7708: Jews in Revolution and Revolutionary Jews *. This course will examine the impact of major revolutions (particularly those of 1789, 1848, 1905 and 1917-19) on the Jewish population, and the role played by Jews (whether collectively or individually) in revolutionary movements and in revolutions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
HEBR7709: Jewish Thought in the Modern Era*. This course will examine the major trends in the intellectual history of Jewry in the modern era. Religious, philosophical and political thought as developed both by individuals (Spinoza, Mendelssohn, SR Hirsch, Buber etc.) and by movements (the ideologies of Bundism, Reform Judaism, modern Orthodoxy etc.) will be studied.
HEBR7710: Major Trends in the History of Medieval Jewry*
HEBR7711: European Jewry and the Holocaust (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). The course places the events of the Holocaust in the context of twentieth century European history, the history of antisemitism and the history of post-emancipation European Jewry. It surveys the course of the Holocaust, analyses its causes and examines its impact on contemporary Jewry.
HEBR7712: Zionism and its Critics * . This course will examine the history of Zionism in the light of internal Jewish opposition and non-Jewish critiques of the movement since its emergence at the end of the nineteenth century.
HEBR7713: The Jews of Germany and East-Central Europe 1848-1938*
HEBR7714: History of the Jews in Russia * . The course will survey the social, economic, political and cultural history of the Jews in Russia, from the rise of the first Russian state, Kievan Rus, to the fall of the imperial government in 1917.
HEBR7715: History of the Jews in the Soviet Union*. The course surveys the political, cultural and economic history of the Jews from the time ofthe Revolutions of 1917 to the present.
HEBR7716: History of the Jews in Medieval Spain*
HEBR7717: The Soviet Union and the Holocaust* The course will examine the impact of the Holocaust, and the view of the Holocaust in official circles and in literature, within the Soviet Union.
HEBR7718: The Emergence of the State of Israel*
HEBR7719: War and Peace in Israeli History*
HEBR7720: Ukrainians and Jews* The course will survey the relations of Jews and non-Jews in the territory of historical Ukraine, beginning with the Jewish presence in Kievan Rus' and the Khazars. Additional topics will include the Jewish role in the colonisation of Ukraine, the Cossack War of 1648, Jews in the economic development of Ukraine; Jews and the Ukrainian national movement in the 19th century; the pogroms of 1881-2; the Russian Civil War of 1919-21 in Ukraine; Jews and Ukrainians under Soviet rule; the Holocaust on Ukrainian soil.
HEBR7721: Modern Jewish Politics (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). This course examines the emergence and development of the new Jewish politics in Europe and the United States in the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Proceeding thematically and geographically, issues of Jewish identity and its political expressions will be explored. Themes to be addressed include the contrasts between Jewish politics in eastern and western Europe and the United States, Jewish political subcultures, the varieties of Jewish nationalism, and the impact of World War I and the Holocaust on Jewish politics.
HEBR7722: Bystanders and the Holocaust*
HEBR7723: Jewish Refugees in the Nazi Era*
HEBR7724: The Comparative History of Genocide in the Twentieth Century*
HEBR7725: Jews of English-Speaking Lands* (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). An analysis of the development of Engish speaking English speaking Jewish communities from the 19th Century to the present, particularly in North America, the UK, Australia, South Africa and Mandate Palestine.
HEBR7726: The Peace Process in Modern Israeli Politics 1967-97 * (Neill Lochery, email: n.f.lochery@ucl.ac.uk). The class will survey issues of peace and war from the conclusion of the six-day war to the present. Special attention will be given to Palestinian-Israeli relations.
HEBR7727: The Politics of the State of Israel to 1967 * (Neill Lochery, email: n.f.lochery@ucl.ac.uk). The class will survey the political history of the State of Israel from its foundation to the six-day war of 1967. The evolution of Israeli political parties will be explored. Special attention will be paid to issues of security in Israeli national politics.
HEBR7728: Eastern European Jewish History through the Mirror of Literature *. The course will focus on the major turning points and developments in the history of the Jews in Eastern Europe (1772-present) through literature, both fiction and memoirs.
HEBR7729: Modern Jewish Historiography*
HEBR7730: The British Mandate in Palestine* On 15 May, 1948, British rule in the Holy Land came to an end, after just thirty years. Despite its brevity, the Mandate had a profound impact, and led to the creation of the Jewish state and the Arab-Israeli conflict. From its inception, the Mandate was based upon a contradictory premise that was never resolved; the promotion of a Jewish national home and the safeguarding of Palestinian Arab interests. This course will examine the origins and development of this policy, the growth of Jewish settlement under the British, the rise of Palestinian nationalism and the conflict that emerged between the two populations.
HEBR7731: The culture of Sephardic Jewry (Hilary Pomeroy, email: Hilarypomeroy@aol.com). A Survey of Sephardic Jewish Culture. This includes a wide range of topics such as Judeo-Spanish song and music, Judeo-Spanish language and literature, food and identity, saint veneration (Morocco and Israel), superstitions, illuminated manuscripts, synagogue architecture, etc.
HEBR7732: Women in Jewish Tradition* . A review of the position of women in the Jewish tradition from ancient Biblical through Classical, Rabbinic, medieval and modern Judaism.
HEBR7733: Jews and the Classical World*. The course will examine the cultural interaction between the Jews, on the one hand, and the Hellenistic World and the ascendant Roman Empire on the other, from Alexander the Great to the Bar Kochba rebellion, covering a period of almost half a millennium. This momentous period saw the rise of Rabbinical Judaism and the birth of Christianity. Its final years were marked by the extinction of the Jewish nation state. The major theme of this course will be explored with reference to literary, epigraphical and archaeological evidence. It will be shown how recent discoveries have supplemented the historical sources and improved our knowledge of the Jews in Classical antiquity, although they have also raised new questions.
HEBR7734: The Jews of German-Speaking Lands* (Michael Berkowitz, email m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk)
HEBR7735: Inter-Faith Disputations (Texts) * (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Selected readings from the Talmud and the Midrashim, Sefer Nizzahon Yashan, Nahmanides account of the disputation of Barcelona. Ibn Vergas Shevet Yehudah, Albos Sefer ha-Ikharim, Isaac Trokis Hizzuk Emunah or other relevant texts.
HEBR7736: History of the Jews in England *. The Medieval Jewish community in England from 1066 to 1290, the readmission of the Jews to England in the 17th century, Sephardi and Ashkenazi immigration, colonial settlements, emancipation, the influx of Jewish immigrants from Russia in the 1880s, to the present.
HEBR7737: European Jewry between Emancipation and Reaction *. An examination of how the Jewish question in Europe took on growing importance (symbolic, political) as a result of the conflicts between legitimacy and nationalism; the ancien regime and the ideologies of national rights; property and expropriation. The course will cover the period from the French Revolution to the early 1880s (the crisis of liberalism in East and Central Europe).
HEBR7738: Habsburg Jewry *. The course will examine the main trends in the development of Austro-Hungarian Jewry from the revolution of 1848 to the First World War, with particular emphasis on the role of the Jews of Vienna in the culture, society, economy and politics of the Empire.
HEBR7739: Historical Geography of Jerusalem*
HEBR7740: History of the Jews in Poland (Francois Guesnet, uclhhjs@ucl.ac.uk). A social, political and cultural history of the Jews in the Polish state from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics will include Jewish politics in the medieval and modern Polish state, Jewish-Gentile relations, and Jewish intellectual life.
HEBR7741: History of Zionism*
HEBR7742: Enlightenment and Emancipation*. The changing attitude of the non-Jewish environment to the attempts by the Jews in France, Austria, Germany, Holland, England and Russia to become citizens of their societies.
HEBR7743: Literary Responses to the Holocaust *. Literary works that have the Holocaust as their primary theme will be read in English translation. The authors and works chosen will illustrate a variety of perspectives and approaches, using a variety of literary forms prose and poetry, fiction, drama and autobiography.
HEBR7745: The Jews of Modern France*
HEBR7746: Migration and Transformation: the USA, the USSR and GB*
HEBR7747: Culture of Zionism* (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). The key aim of this course is to consider Zionism as a constructed nationalist movement and ideology. It will include a study of Zionist icons such as Herzl, Weizmann, Jabotinsky and Ben-Gurion.
HEBR7748: The Papacy and the Jews* The course will explore the relationship between the Papacy and the Jews from the Middle Ages to the present. Topics will include the evolution of Catholic doctrine on the Jews, the role of the Papacy as the protector of European Jewry, and selected cases in the modern relationship of the Papacy and the Jews, including the Mortari Affair, the attitude of the Vatican to the Nazi persecution of the Jews and post-Holocaust Catholic/Jewish relations.
HEBR7749: Comparative Peacemaking in Israel and Northern Ireland * (Neill Lochery, email: n.f.lochery@ucl.ac.uk). This course aims to provide students with knowledge of the recent developments in the Arab Israeli and Northern Irish peace processes. It also aims to provide an analysis of themes in peacemaking, ranging from the use of interim stage agreements to peace dividends and the need to educate wider populations to recognise benefits of peace.
HEBR7750: The Arab/Israeli Conflict (Neill Lochery, email: n.f.lochery@ucl.ac.uk). An analysis of the Arab Israeli conflict from its origins through to the present day. Special attention will be paid to the internal dynamics within both the Arab states and Israel, as well as the role of external powers in the conflict.
HEBR7751: The Transformation of Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe *. The course considers the criteria for defining the early modern period as a unique epoch in the cultural and intellectual history of European Jewry. Through an investigation of several major themes all relatively new factors in the shaping of Jewish culture and society from roughly 1492 to 1750 it argues that this period can be meaningfully demarcated as distinct from both earlier and later Jewish cultural experiences.
HEBR7752: Metropolitan Life: Jews and the City * This course is intended to engage the students in a comparative analysis of the changes that urbanism entailed for Jewish immigrants coming to a city such as New York; the nature of Jewish interaction with the city and with other groups in the city; and the implications for Jewish group life and Jewish/non-Jewish social relations of Jewish migration to suburbs outside the city.
HEBR7753: Ancient Synagogues in Ancient Israel: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery*
HEBR7754: Jews, Radicals, and Socialists in 19th Century Europe (Lars Fischer, email: l.fischer@ucl.ac.uk). Combining elements of political, social, and intellectual history, the course will focus on Socialist perceptions of matters Jewish, Socialist responses to the emergence of modern Antisemitism, Jewish participation in the Socialist movement, and the relationship between Jewish Socialism and Jewish Nationalism.
HEBR7755: Representations of Trauma: Holocaust Writing (Tsila Ratner, email: t.ratner@ucl.ac.uk; and other lecturers from the HJS, Dutch, German and French Departments). The course will examine, in English translation, selected literary texts on the Holocaust from a variety of languages and cultures.
HEBR7756: Jewish Multicultural and Multiculturalism and the Jews*. To examine the representation of the figure of the Jew in contemporary multicultural literature with the intend of providing students with a model for exploring the complexities of identity representation in fiction.
HEBR7757: Sephardic Jewry: From Golden Age to World Diaspora (Hilary Pomeroy, email: Hilarypomeroy@aol.com). The development of Sephardic communities encompassing Jewish life in Muslim and Christian Spain and the post-Expulsion period and establishment of new Sephardic communities in Western Europe and the New World.
HEBR7758: Rabbis, Language and Society in the First Millennium* (Willem Smelik, email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk) In the course of the first millennium CE, the Hebrew language came to be known as the Holy Tongue (leshon haqodesh). This course will focus on the development of this notion and as a corollary the evolving rabbinic reflection on the use of languages in various contexts such as the legal system, liturgy, Bible translation, and halakhic discourse. Drawing on modern literary theory, textual analysis and variant readings, selected texts will be read and analyzed in order to appreciate the variety and development of opinions, the correlation of the rabbinic illocutionary world and society, the distinction between oral and written literature, and archaeological as well as written evidence on contemporary practices.
HEBR7759: Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (Sacha Stern, email: uclhsac@ucl.ac.uk) This course assesses the complexity of Judaism and Jewish life in the period when Christianity arose, the attitudes of Jesus and his successors towards Jewish law and Judaism, and the process whereby Christianity ‘parted ways’ from Judaism and became a distinct, competing religion. The course includes a study of Jewish-Christian relations in the first few centuries CE.
HEBR7760: The Jews of Late Antiquity and the Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism (Sacha Stern, email: uclhsac@ucl.ac.uk) The purpose of this course is to explore the late antique, historical context in which rabbinic Judaism and literature emerged. We will explore the origins of the early rabbinic movement, in Jerusalem, Judaea, Galilee, and then Babylonia; the social and political conditions of Jews and rabbis in Roman Palestine and Persian Babylonia; the leadership of the rabbinic communities (with the institutions of Patriarch nasi and Exilarch); the complex relationship between the Palestinian and the Babylonian rabbinic communities; and the literatures (e.g. Mishnah and Talmud) which these communities produced.
HEBR7761: Anglo-Israeli Relations, 1948-2006 (Neill Lochery, n.f.lochery@ucl.ac.uk) The course will examine the relationship between the United Kingdom and Israel from 1948 until the present. It will focus on the key issues that determined the relationship such as arms sales from the UK to Israel, UK diplomatic policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict and in recent years the Middle East Peace Processes. The course will examine in detail the collusion between Israel and the UK during the Suez War of 1956. It will also examine the key relationship between the Foreign Office in Whitehall and Israel. The course will adopt a chronological approach – examining the key events and issues that impacted upon the relationship over time. The first session will cover the origins of the relationship, which went a long way to shaping the initial years of the relationship.
HEBR7762: Muslim-Jewish Relations: An Historical Overview (Adam Silverstein, email: uclhhjs@ucl.ac.uk) This course charts and analyses the history of Muslim-Jewish relations, from the rise of Islam in the 7th century C.E. until the First World War. The course will consider both the influence of Jews on the Muslim societies in which they lived and the influence of Muslim societies on the activities of Jews.

Jewish Philosophy and Spirituality

HEBR7801: The Ideal of Martyrdom in Jewish Tradition *. This course will comprise lectures on the history of mesirat nefesh for kiddush ha-shem (the martyrological ideal), and study of illustrative texts. The course will start with martyrology in Midrash, Talmud and the liturgy; it will continue with the events associated with the First Crusade of 1096, and the martyrological ethos expressed by medieval Franco-German pietists (Hasidey Ashkenaz). The spiritulization of this theme will be examined (as described by Katz and Shohet), and the way that in later Hasidism, the martyrological ideal played a significant role in the quest to transmit spiritual values to ordinary people. Texts studied will include Midrash, Talmud, Piyyut, Maimonides, R. Shneur Zalmans Likkutey Amarim, the Hanhagot of R. Elimelech of Lyzhansk, and selections from R. Dov Bers Shaarey Teshuvah and Shaarey Orah.
HEBR7802: Mystical Aspects of Judaism and Islam * Central themes, ideas and persons pertaining to the mystical traditions of Judaism and Islam, studied on the basis of relevant works from both traditions in English translation.
HEBR7803: Jewish Pietists of Medieval Germany: Readings from Sefer Hasidim * (Ada Rapoport Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Selected readings in Hebrew from Sefer Hasidim (ed.Wistinetzki-Friemann).
HEBR7804: The Messianic Heresy of Sabbatai Zevi (with texts) (Ada Rapoport Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). The popularisation of the Kabbalah in the 17th century; the main characteristics of the Lurianic Kabbalah and its messianic dimension; the success of Sabbataeanism as a Kabbalistic-messianic movement against the background of European millennarianism and conditions of crisis or transition affecting much of the Jewish Diaspora.; the historiography of Sabbataeanism; central themes in Sabbataean theology illustrated by readings in class from selected Sabbataean texts in Hebrew.
HEBR7805: The History and Literature of the Hasidic Movement* (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). The rise of Hasidism in the Ukraine in the middle of the 18th century and its rapid spread in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, against the background of the decline of the Polish kingdom, the collapse of centralised Jewish self-government in the region and the aftermath of the Sabbataean heresy. Central themes in Hasidic theology are illustrated by readings in class from selected Hasidic texts in Hebrew.
HEBR7806: Mystical Prayer in Judaism*
HEBR7807: Medieval Jewish Pietists under Islam *. The course will be built around texts written by medieval Jewish mystics and pietists who lived in Islamic countries (especially Egypt and Spain). The texts will be examined with reference to the Islamic pietistic and mystical tradition which is in some degree reflected in the Jewish texts.
HEBR7808: Rabbinic Eschatology *. The concept of the Messiah and the end-time will be studied in Hebrew rabbinic texts ranging from the Mishnah to the present century. The course will also deal with specific messianic movements over this time-range, as well as the Jewish response to Christian messianic claims.
HEBR7809: Early Jewish Mystical Texts * . Selected Hebrew and Aramaic sources for early Jewish mysticism.
HEBR7810: House of Maimonides * . An examination of medieval Jewish philosophy and thought centering on Moses Maimonides and his school.
HEBR7811: Hasidic Prayer*
HEBR7812: Hasidism and Modernity (Tali Loewenthal, email: n.loewenthal@ucl.ac.uk). Hasidic responses to rationalism, the increasing role of the woman and other features of modernity, studied in Hebrew sources. Prerequisite: Knowledge of Hebrew.
HEBR7813: Medieval Jewish Philosophy*
HEBR7814: Introduction to the Kabbalah*
HEBR7815: Introduction to the Kabbalah Readings from the Zohar * (Ada Rapoport-Albert, email: uclhara@ucl.ac.uk). Selected readings in Aramaic from the Zohar (ed. R. Margalioth) with a study of their contents.
HEBR7816: Medieval Jewish Philosophers on Prophecy and Revelation*

POSTGRADUATE

MA Language, Culture and History: Hebrew and Jewish Studies
MA Language, Culture and History: Modern Israeli Studies
MA Language, Culture and History: Holocaust Studies

HEBRG030 Graduate Seminar: Introduction to Holocaust Studies (Michael Berkowitz, email: m.berkowitz@ucl.ac.uk). The class will examine the Holocaust in historical context. Issues to be explored will include the co