Fall 2005 Judaic Studies Courses

10 weeks Sept, 26th - Dec. 11th All classes open for credit or non-credit. For community fees and registration, call 503.725.4832. For syllabi, contact instructors directly.

Transformations of Jewish life and culture since the middle ages, taught chronologically in historical context. Topics include: economic and intellectual developments in early modern Europe; the Jewish Enlightenment; religious reform; Hasidism; formations of modern Jewish culture and politics in 19th-century eastern Europe; Zionism and the State of Israel; the Holocaust; the development of American Jewry; and Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish encounters with modernity.

Survey of modern Jewish literary creativity in a variety of genres and from a variety of languages-all in English translation. Questions posed are:

1. How does modern Jewish literature make use of traditional religious texts such as the Bible?
2. How do writers portray the shtetl?
3. How is the Holocaust represented in Jewish vs. non-Jewish languages?
4. How "Jewish" is Israeli literature?

Authors: Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, S. Y. Agnon, Yehudah Amichai, Sholom Aleichem, Paul Celan, Patrick Modiano, and Orly Castel-Bloom.

A seminar structured around methods, historiography, and archival research into the history of Jewish women in the United States. Students read key secondary sources with a focus on major interpretations and the frameworks/approaches used by leading scholars, especially of the 19th and 20th centuries. Then, we will turn our attention to a case study for research: the archives of Neighborhood House, the first settlement house established in Portland in the early twentieth century, which was sponsored by the local section of the National Council of Jewish Women.
Prerequisite: HST 300 or instructor consent.

*WS 399: Women, Sexuality and Judaism - CANCELLED
Wednesday 5:30-9:10
Sixth Avenue Building 210
CRN 15078
Jonathan L. Seidel
jonseidel@aol.com
Syllabus

A survey of women and sexuality in Jewish law and practice from the perspectives of religious studies, anthropology, history, literary and cultural studies. Topics include marriage and divorce including contests over Agunah (the chained wife), the status of the witch and the sorceress, Niddah (laws of purity), clothing and cosmetics, and women's religious life including prayer groups, Torah study, and new women-originating liturgies and rituals. We also look at customs of childbearing, pregnancy, miscarriage and birthing in Jewish folk tradition. Readings in English from the Bible, Talmud, Zohar, responsa (answers to legal questions), and contemporary authors. Non-credit fee $300.

First quarter in a three-course introductory sequence for study of grammar and syntax, literary texts, writing, and speaking. For non-native speakers of Hebrew. Non-credit CRN 15478 fee $300.

First in a three-course intermediate sequence for study of grammar and syntax, literary texts, writing, and speaking. Prerequisite: Heb 103. For non-native speakers of Hebrew. Non-credit CRN 11477 fee $300.

The course investigates the nature of the sciences and the humanities by taking as a case study Freud's development of psychoanalysis. Students will have an opportunity to review secondary literature on the topic of Freud's Jewish background, asking the question of how Freud positions himself in relation to his cultural and religious heritage. For more information, see course website.

A study of the various kinds of literature contained in the Bible. An analysis of the ways in which the Biblical expression reflects the cultural and historical milieu of the Hebraic-Christian experience.

Narrative theory focuses on stories, distinguishing the story told in narrative form from whatever "real" events it supposedly recounts. This year the course concludes with A.B. Yehoshua's Mr. Mani (1990), a brilliant study of events taking place in Jerusalem between 1987 and 1848. The novel moves backward in time.

A survey of social, cultural, and political trends in the Middle East. Topics include the Ottomans, Safavid Iran, the Age of later Islamic empires, Middle East reforms, imperialism of the 18th and19th centuries.

This course will deal with the internal dimension of Middle Eastern politics, focusing on the nature of traditional politics, Islam and Islamic movements, the processes of modernization, the search for legitimacy, and the various institutions of politics in Middle Eastern countries.

An interdisciplinary survey of contemporary Middle Eastern societies from the perspectives of anthropology, geography, history, and politics.

September 18 - 19, Sunday and Monday
Portland State University
Broadway Building

Rashi conference honoring the greatest commentator on the Bible and Talmud who lived in France in the 12th century. Participants include Martin Lockshin, York University, Toronto; Ephraim Kanarfogel, University of Pennsylvania; Judith Baskin, University of Oregon; and Cecille Beyl, Portland State University. Sponsored by the Institute for Judaic Studies and PSU. For information: 503.246.8831.