Spring 2006 Judaic Studies Courses

10 weeks
April 3rd - June 9th All classes open for credit or non-credit.

Adult learners may register by phone at 503.725.4832.
For syllabi, contact instructors by email.

A look at writing about Palestine and, since 1948, the State of Israel, by Americans, including American Jews who become Israeli citizens. The course discusses dynamics of American and Jewish identity, literary representations of Israel, concepts of holy land (both Israel and America), experiences of homecoming and displacement, and the capacity of writing to register conditions of war and terrorism. Readings range from Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad and Melville's Clarel to recent memoirs such as June Leavitt's Storm of Terror and Yossi Halevi's At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden.

An introduction to the evolution of antisemitism-prejudice or hostility toward Jews. Using original texts and selected articles, the course traces its transformation from a religiously-based animosity to a racially-oriented hatred and looks criticially at the concept of the "new antisemitism," antagonism toward Jews as a nation.

The Jewish experience in America as reflected and created in literature and film. Questions: How do we read and write about cultural artifacts? How does the construction of Jewish identity problematize ethnicity, class, and gender? What does it mean to be a Jew in America and to be an America influenced by Judaism?

Survey of Jewish history and culture from late antiquity to the threshold of modernity. Topics include Jewish life under Islam; Jewish life in medieval Spain; medieval Christian antisemitism; Jewish-Christian polemics in medieval Europe; kabbalah and Jewish mysticism; messianic movements.

Focusing on the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, a comparative study of past and recent genocides. Melson's Revolution and Genocide, and texts by Levi, Wiesel, Arlen, Morgenthau, and Power, as well as films, videotapes, short stories, poems and essays will be discussed and compared, and the treatment of genocide in historical and literary texts will be examined and analyzed.

EVENING COURSES

Introduction to Israel from its origin in the national hope of the Jewish people through the development of modern political Zionism to the foundations of the state and its modern history. Topics include modern Israeli political culture, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the current "Peace Process," Israeli religious life, music and folklore, Jewish identity and the creation of Modern Hebrew and revisionist readings of the founding of the State of Israel. Films, guest speakers, and web-based education are an integral part of the course.

Third in a three-course introductory sequence for study of grammar and syntax, literary texts, writing, and speaking. Prerequisite: Hebrew 102 or equivalent. For non-native speakers of Hebrew.

Third in a three-course intermediate sequence for study of grammar and syntax, literary texs, writing, and speaking. Prerequisite: Hebrew 202 or equivalent. For non-native speakers of Hebrew.

How do events such as war, the Holocaust, terror, and abuse impact victims, survivors, and their families through generations? Students learn about trauma and therapeutic strategies (neuro-biology, resiliency) to prepare for face-to-face interviews of victims and family or for internet conversations with Israelis (soldiers, settlers, Holocaust survivors, Palestinians). Dr. Lovenstein practiced as a psychologist in Israel for many years.

History and politics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

For program and placement information, contact Professors Robert Liebman liebmanr@pdx.edu or Michael Weingrad weingrad@pdx.edu.