CRN

94508

Distribution

C

Course No.

HIST 2131

Title

Foundations of Jewish Studies I: The Medieval Jewish Experience

Professor

Rona Sheramy

Schedule

Mon Wed 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm OLIN 306

Cross listed: History, Medieval Studies

This course will be an interdisciplinary examination of medieval Jewish civilization, with emphasis placed on introducing students to: 1) the different methods of studying the Jewish people (through history, religion, literature and philosophy); 2) the concept of "traditional Jewish society"; and 3) the features of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewries. After an overview of the development of Judaism through the rabbinic period, our focus will turn to the Jewish experience from the rise of Islam through the Spanish expulsion. We will address both the internal life of medieval Jews, (self-government, religious culture, philosophical movements, gender roles) as well as political, economic, and cultural interactions between Jew and non-Jew in Muslim and Christian lands. Class sessions will explore the ways in which medieval Jews worshipped, studied, organized communities, developed professions, related to governing powers, responded to crises, and alternatively resisted, drew from, and contributed to surrounding cultures. By exploring the medieval Jewish experience in communities throughout the Diaspora, this course will also illuminate the origins, development, and particularities of Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry. Finally, close readings of primary source materials in class, from rabbinic commentaries and women's prayers to poetry and philosophic tracts, will introduce students to the variety of sources with which to explore the Jewish experience, as well as to critical skills of scholarly analysis.

CRN

94509

Distribution

C

Course No.

HIST 2701

Title

The History of the Holocaust

Professor

Rona Sheramy

Schedule

Tu Th 11:30 am - 12:50 pm OLIN 101

Cross-listed: History

This course will use the tools of different disciplines to examine the tragic events of the Holocaust. We will explore central and difficult questions arising out of the Nazi era, such as: how could the destruction of European Jewry be perpetrated by one of the most advanced and sophisticated European cultures? What was the relationship between Christian anti-Judaism and the rise of the genocidal racial anti-Semitism in Germany? How did German political traditions lay the foundation for a Nazi dictatorship? Why did German citizens accede to the Nazi extermination program? How did European Jews respond to the unfolding crisis? What role did gender play in Nazi ideology and the experience of the victims? Could more have been done by the Western powers, American Jews, and the Catholic and Protestant Churches to aid European Jewry? Was the mass murder of the Jews "unique" or can it be compared to other twentieth-century genocides? We will also consider debates in Holocaust historiography, such as between the functionalist and intentionalist schools and over Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners.