Brooklyn College, Spring 2016

Core Curriculum

CORC 3111 — Classical Jewish Texts: Moving Toward Modernity

Exploration of masterpieces of Jewish literature. Various genres of Jewish writings, including biblical, rabbinic, poetic, philosophical, mystical and kabbalistic. Examination of the extent to which modern Jewish literature adapted and/or broke away from earlier classical genres. A particular focus on the writings (and/or films) of Sholom Aleichem, Woody Allen, Ahad Ha’am and I.B. Singer. Satisfies Pathways College Option requirement.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 2:15 – 3:30 p.m., Professor Sharon Flatto

CORC 3205 — The Jewish Diaspora

Jewish Diaspora communities reflect global diversity and a cultural history of over 3,000 years. The Jewish Diaspora has survived despite confronting the repeated challenges of migration, acculturation and assimilation. Follow the Diaspora from the Middle East to Africa, Asia, Europe, America and beyond. Identify the cultural roots of Brooklyn’s Jews.

  • Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m., Professor Robert M. Shapiro
  • Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Professor Allan Amanik
  • Monday and Wednesday, 3:40 – 4:55 p.m., Professor Sarah Zarrow

Day Courses

JUST 2537 / CMLT 3624 —Yiddish Short Stories and Poetry in Translation

Reading a variety of Yiddish short stories and poetry written by both men and women. An introduction to the world of Yiddish-speaking Jewry rooted in Eastern Europe from the nineteenth century and in America in the twentieth century.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m., Professor Robert M. Shapiro

JUST 2540 / CMLT 3631 — Introduction to Israeli Literature in Translation

Introduction to Israeli literature from the beginnings of statehood to present day Israel. A focus on the diversity of Israeli writing, featuring authors from different ethnic and religious backgrounds and political perspectives. Exploration of tensions between “Jews” and “Arabs,” “natives” and immigrants, citizens and refugees, Ashkenazim and Mizrahim, and “religious” and “secular” Jews, while reflecting on what it means to be an “insider” or “outsider.”

  • Monday and Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m, Professor Beverly Bailis

JUST 3011 — Land and Cultures of Israel

Survey of the history, geography, art, theater, socio-economic and political structure of Israel. Analysis of its population, ethnic groups, minority absorption, acculturation, educational system, labor movements, kibbutzim, and social welfare. Analysis of the relationship of the state of Israel to the Jewish people.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:45 p.m., Professor Sara Reguer

JUST 3038 — Messianic Ideas and Movements in Jewish History

Major Jewish messianic trends and movements emerging from Bible up until present. Miracle worker? Apocalyptic warrior? Revealer of secrets? Or savvy politician? Explore the colorful careers of numerous messianic figures and pretenders, such as Jesus, Shabbtai Zevi, Ramhal and the Lubavitcher rebbe; intellectual and historical roots of these movements, ranging from mystical yearnings to Christian and Muslim influences; its popularization among various contemporary Hasidic and political groups.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 3:40 – 4:55 p.m., Professor Sharon Flatto

JUST 3489 — Jews of Brooklyn

Survey of Brooklyn’s history and the various Jewish communities that have made their homes there from the 1850s to the late twentieth century. What can Brooklyn’s Jewish history tell us about the borough’s own development? How can that history inform our understanding of New York City history, urban history in the United States, and American Jewish history broadly.

  • Tuesday/Thursday, 5:05 – 6:20 p.m., Professor Allan Amanik

JUST 3535 / CMLT 3625 — Holocaust Literature

Exploration of a variety of forms of Holocaust Literature, including both documents created during the Second World War and works produced after the war. What literary elements compose the memory of what happened during the Holocaust. How do the genres of Holocaust Literature serve various functions and purposes?

  • Monday/Wednesday, 2:15 – 3:30 p.m., Professor Robert M. Shapiro

JUST 4751 — Special Topics 1: Jews of Latin America

This course follows Latin American and Caribbean Jewish history from colonial rule to the twentieth century. It explores how and why Jews came to the region over time, the communities they built, and ties to countries of origin throughout Europe and the Middle East. Themes will include converso or crypto-Jewish origins; agricultural colonies in the era of mass migration; Jewish engagement with local politics as well as Latin American variants of Zionism, Socialism, Communism, and Yiddishism among others. Memoir, short fiction, and film will accompany our study.

  • Tuesday/Thursday, 2:15 – 3:30 p.m., Professor Allan Amanik

JUST 5531 — Independent Researches 1

Minimum of 9 hours conference and independent work§; 3 credits Independent research supervised by a faculty member. Approved topic. Weekly conference. Thesis or report. Writing-intensive course.

  • TBA, Professor Sara Reguer

JUST 5581 — Independent Study I

Minimum of 9 hours conference and independent work§; 3 credits each term Independent study supervised by a faculty member. Approved reading. Periodic conferences. Final examination or term paper.

  • TBA, Professor Sara Reguer

Evening Courses

JUST 3036/HIST 3102 — Mystics, Pietists, Heretics: Topics in Early Modern Jewish History

Explores the intellectual, political, and social history of the Jews from the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492 to the eighteenth century Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) movement. Emphasizes Jewish-Christian interaction, the Marrano Diaspora, messianism, the importance of the printing press, and the impact of other large cultural trends.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 6:30 – 7:45 p.m., Professor Sharon Flatto

CORC 3205 — The Jewish Diaspora

Jewish Diaspora communities reflect global diversity and a cultural history of over 3,000 years. The Jewish Diaspora has survived despite confronting the repeated challenges of migration, acculturation and assimilation. Follow the Diaspora from the Middle East to Africa, Asia, Europe, America and beyond. Identify the cultural roots of Brooklyn’s Jews.

  • Tuesday, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m., Professor Robert M. Shapiro

Hebrew

HEBR 1003 — Intermediate Hebrew I

Learn past and future tense verbs, grammar, and syntax. Israeli music and film supplemented. Open to students with rudimentary Hebrew background. (Not open to students with Hebrew Regents or the equivalent.)

  • Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 – 10:45 a.m., Professor Beverly Bailis

Graduate

JUST 7785 G — Independent Study

  • TBA, Staff

Program in Religion

RELG 3050/HIST 3315 — Jesus and the Christian Tradition

The emergence of the various portraits of “Jesus Christ” beginning in the 1st century. Examination of late portraits from the periods between the 5th and 11th centuries as conveyed through questions raised about free will. Also, portrayals from the early middle , middle, early modern, and post-modern periods as they relate the changes in socio-political and cultural shifts across Europe.

  • Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30 – 10: 45 a.m., Professor Lisa Schwebel

RELG 3060 / HIST 3390 — Special Topics in Religion: The Shaping of the Islamic World: From Origins to Modernity

A survey of the major historical developments and religious themes within the Islamic tradition from its origins to the present day. Topics include the Qur’an and its interpretation, Islamic law, theology, Sufism, and the Caliphate. The course raises broader theoretical questions including the nature of reason and revelation, science and religion, and politics and religion.

  • Monday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Professor Bilal Ibrahim

History Department

HIST 3212 — The Jews in Modern Europe:

European Jews in the modern period from the Sabbatian Heresy in 1666 to the rise of Hasidism and the Jewish Haskalah Enlightenment in Central and Eastern Europe, where the majority of world Jewry resided before the First World War, through the cultural blossoming in Poland and the Soviet Union and the tragic catastrophes of the interwar and Holocaust periods, followed by the postwar reconstruction under democracy in western Europe and Communism in Eastern Europe, and the miracle exodus of Soviet Jewry with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and beyond.

  • Monday and Wednesday, 3:40-4:55 PM, Professor Robert M. Shapiro