Fall 2025 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Description: This course will serve as a general introduction to the nature and history of Jewish Law. Among the topics to be addressed are: Narrative and Law, Religion, and Morality; Redemption of Hostages; Medical Ethics (End of life Issues and Issues of Consent); and AID (Artificial Insemination from Donor). Other issues will be discussed depending on time and will be chosen in consultation with the students. While secondary material will be assigned for background, the focus will be on the close reading of selected Jewish legal texts from the Mishnah and Talmud as well as such post-Talmudic texts as Maimonides鈥� great code of Jewish Law, the Mishneh Torah, and a variety of both medieval and modern responsa (judicial opinions). A key goal will be to acquire a 鈥渇eel鈥� for characteristic modes of halakhic (Jewish legal) thinking and reasoning, precisely through immersing oneself in the primary sources. A special feature of this course will be its havruta style: that is, for part of some classes, students will study and prepare the primary texts in havrutot (small groups).

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听: In this course we will listen to, read about, and discuss the multifaceted, virtuosic, esoteric Yiddish music of the Pale of Settlement during its 1000 year rise from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. Specifically, we will look at: the evolution of synagogue composition, chazzanut and cantors; Hassidic niggunim; song (folk song, art song, popular song, Yiddish musical theatre); 鈥淜lezmer鈥� i.e., Eastern European Jewish instrumental dance music; Post-Holocaust assimilating satire and fusions in America; the Yiddish 鈥渞evitalization鈥� or 鈥渞evival鈥�; and the living Yiddish music of today. A portrait will emerge of an incredibly rich, multi-layered, musical-cultural practice worthy of study and celebration.

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听The Jewish literary tradition entails a conversation pursued across times, places, languages, and genres. In this course we will overhear the conversation by reading works alongside those to which they respond. For instance, we will read parts of the Hebrew Bible along with Michal Lemberger鈥檚 After Abel, a collection of short stories about biblical women. For another instance, we will read stories by Der Nister (鈥淭he Hidden One鈥� in Yiddish, the pseudonym of Pinkhes Kahanovitsch) from the early twentieth-century along with Dara Horn鈥檚 2006 The World to Come, which adapts those stories. Familiarity with the source text enriches our appreciation of the responding text, and our recognition of conversation as a means of making a literary tradition. All texts will be in English. Format: lecture and discussion .

Evaluation:
Two written assignments, several short (ca. 500-word) responses, class preparation and participation.

Description: This course is an introduction to the history and literature of the biblical period, the earliest era of Jewish Studies. Its primary goal is to familiarize the student with the text of the Hebrew Bible, the historical context in which it came it be and the academic disciplines that contribute to its analysis, such as linguistics, archaeology, comparative literature and comparative religions.All texts will be examined in translation, and no prior knowledge of the Bible or its languages is required.

Texts:
Hebrew Bible in English translation. Other primary texts and secondary readings will be available on MyCourses or on reserve in the library.

Evaluation: Grades will be based on three short written assignments, a series of short 鈥渢hinking questions鈥� that emerge from the lectures as well as regular readings for each class from the Bible itself, attendance and participation.

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听The objective is to master basic communication in Modern Hebrew language. Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of basic structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and compositions will be assigned regularly, in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language.听

罢别虫迟蝉:听Shlomit Chayat et al.听Hebrew from Scratch, Part I

Evaluation:
60% four class tests
15% essays
20% oral presentation
5% class participation

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听A panoramic analysis of Israeli society through poetry, fiction, essays, interviews and testimonial narratives reflecting the country's historical, ideological and ethnic complexity. In English translation, we will read Oz, Amichai, Habibi, Har-Even and Yehoshua, as well as new authors from divergent ethnic, religious and ideological positions.

Description: The Nazi assault, organized robbery of rights and possessions, and eventual genocide of European Jewry is one of the most consequential events in both Jewish and world history. This course will provide an overview of the context, crimes of the perpetrators, and nightmarish experiences of the millions that fell victim to this Khurbn (Yiddish, 鈥渃atastrophe鈥�). Starting with the early 1930s, we will analyze how it was possible for the Nazis to come to power, what the first policies of persecuting Jews in Germany were, and how those policies escalated to expulsion, ghettoization, and mass murder across Europe. Towards the end of the semester, drawing on examples from Europe, Israel, Canada, and the United States, we will discuss contemporary cultural representations and the often-intricate politics of Holocaust memory.

Texts:

• Doris Bergen, War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust, Third Edition

• Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz
• Course Reader

Course Evaluation:
Attendance and participation: 15%
Primary Source Analysis: 25%
Midterm: 30%
Final Take-Home Exam: 30%

Description: From the seventh century until the early modern period, most Jews spoke Arabic and called the Islamic world home. This course explores the Jewish experience among Muslims from the rise of Islam through the eve of colonialism. By engaging close readings of primary sources and historical scholarship, students will learn how Jews under Islam indelibly shaped Judaism and Jewish practice, how engagement with Arabic in Islamic Spain led to the revival of Hebrew, and how the Jewish-Muslim relationship fared along the way. Through film and music, this course also probes themes of history and memory. Students with a particular interest in the modern era, especially the 20th and 21st centuries, are advised to continue on to JWST 334 (Jews and Muslims: A Modern History) in Fall 2025.

Texts:
Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole, Sacred Trash: the Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza (Schocken Books, 2011); Norman A. Stillman, The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1979).

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听This course offers an intellectual journey through centuries of Jewish thought, where philosophy and faith meet in a fascinating dialogue.

Are you curious about the nature of God? Should we believe in the God of the philosophers鈥攁 pure mind without a body or emotions鈥攐r in the God of the Bible, who sometimes gets so angry that his nose spits fire? Where should we turn for guidance鈥攑hilosophers like Aristotle or prophets like Moses? Which laws should we follow鈥攖hose revealed by God or those established by wise rulers?

These are just a few of the profound questions Jewish philosophers have wrestled with as they sought to reconcile their philosophical beliefs with their religious tradition. In this course, we will explore the answers Jewish philosophers proposed from Antiquity to the 17th century. We'll start with a sample of Greek philosophical texts and excerpts from the Bible and rabbinic literature to understand this dual legacy. Then, we'll delve into the works of key medieval philosophers, including Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, and Shem Tov Falaquera. Given that classical Jewish philosophy emerged within Islamic culture, we will also examine a text by the Muslim thinker al-Ghazali to appreciate this intellectual setting.

We'll tackle core issues such as God's existence, the creation of the world, divine providence, prophecy, the Law of Moses, the good life, and human perfection. In addition, we'll explore how Jewish philosophers justified the study of pagan and Muslim thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and al-Farabi. After all, if you have God's true word in hand, what is the use of reading Aristotle?

The course will end with selections from Spinoza鈥檚 Theological-Political Treatise, which challenges the foundational assumption of classical Jewish philosophy: the harmony of true philosophy and the Jewish tradition.

Evaluation:
Attendance and participation: 10%
In Class Mid-Term: 20%
Take home Final: 35%
Research paper: 35%

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听: Alongside Yiddish language acquisition, students will gain exposure to the historical development of the language and to the cultural richness of Ashkenazic Jewish life across centuries and continents. By the end of the course, students will be able to engage in basic conversation on everyday topics, demonstrating a functional grasp of spoken Yiddish. They will be able to read edited texts on familiar subjects, identify central themes, and extract key information from more complex materials with the support of a dictionary. Students will also be equipped to write short compositions on a range of daily-life topics and respond thoughtfully to interpretive questions based on class readings. The course builds familiarity with essential grammatical structures, including present, past, future, and conditional tenses; periphrastic and modal constructions; converbs; articles; adverbs and adjectives; pronouns; negation; word order; and complex sentence formation. While this course is the direct continuation of Introductory Yiddish 1 (JWST 281), it may also be taken by students with adequate prior knowledge. With any questions, please email the instructor or the ula.madej-krupitski [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Yiddish%20-%20Fall%202025) (Undergraduate Program Director).

罢别虫迟蝉:听. Abingdon: Routledge, 2011 (or any other edition); online and additional resources.

Evaluation:听Attendance, class participation, and homework; in-class quizzes; final project/exam.

Description: This course will explore the world of Jewish-themed documentary films. We will see how filmmakers in Canada, the US, Europe and Israel have used the lived reality of Jewish experience as a canvas for their documentary explorations. We will examine how Jewish identity is depicted across a wide spectrum of perspectives 鈥� related to variations in religious and national affiliations, cultural experience, the attachment to Israel, the connection to the Holocaust and the politics of gender and sexual orientation. We will try to understand how documentary films as 鈥渢he creative treatment of actuality鈥� function as an interface between reality 鈥渙ut there鈥� and the original, personal perspectives of filmmakers. Students are encouraged to developed individual responses to the films as triggers for personal explorations of identity, Jewish or otherwise.

Texts: Course readings

Films may include: Bonjour! Shalom! / Jews and Money / Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream / Dark Lullabies / Baghdad Twist / Trembling before G-d / Promises / The 鈥淪ocalled鈥� Movie

Evaluation:
6 film reflections 500-750 words each: 60%
Final Paper 2500 - 3000 words: 25%
Class participation / Presentation: 15%

Description: Looking beyond the borders of empires and nation states, this course aims to study the experience of Jews in Europe, vis-脿-vis those residing in the Middle East, North and South America, as well as Australia. While studying the key developments of the twentieth century, arguably the most transformative period in Jewish history, this course will pay particular attention to patterns of social and cultural exchange(s) between European Jews and their coreligionists elsewhere, along with the themes of migration, diasporas, memory, and material culture.

Texts:

• John Efron, et. al., The Jews: A History 3^rd edition
• Ava F. Kahn and Adam Mendelsohn ed., Transnational Traditions: New Perspectives on American Jewish History, 2014 (selections)
• Course Reader

Evaluation:
Attendance and participation: 15%
In Class Presentation: 25%
Test: 30%
Final Exam: 30%

Description: A brief introduction to the nature and history of Jewish law. Topics include: redemption of hostages; abortion; death and dying.

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听The objective is to master communication in Modern Hebrew language.

Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of basic structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and article analysis will be assigned in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language and the diversity of the Israeli society.

罢别虫迟蝉:听Shlomit Chayat et al. Hebrew from Scratch, Part I + CD

Evaluation:听
48% - 4 Class Tests (6%, 10%, 14%, 18%)
12% - Quizzes
12% - 2 In-Class Essays
10% - Compositions
10% - Oral Presentation
鈥�8% - Class Participation

Description: This course will focus on the classic medieval Jewish critique of medieval rationalist religious philosophy, the Kuzari, by the great philosopher, pietist, and poet, R, Judah Halevi. In addition to a close examination of major selections from the Kuzari itself, we will also study 鈥淒eliverance from Error,鈥� the classic autobiography of the outstanding Islamic critic of medieval rationalist philosophy, al- Ghazali, as well as relevant selected Hebrew poems from Halevi. Among the questions we will examine are 1) what are the similarities and differences between the world-views of Halevi and Al- Ghazali; and 2) whether there was any connection between Halevi鈥檚 critique of rationalist philosophy and his decision at the end of his life to leave Spain for the land of Israel.

顿别蝉肠谤颈辫迟颈辞苍:听The objective is to communicate on familiar topics in Modern Hebrew language.听Students will develop the four language skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing through the acquisition of the advanced structures of the language, i.e., grammar, syntax, vocabulary, as well as idiomatic expressions, in order to be able to communicate in Modern Hebrew orally and in writing. Communicative activities, oral practice, written exercises and compositions will be assigned regularly, in order to help integrate skills and reinforce learning. In addition, because the acquisition of a modern language also entails awareness of the culture of its linguistic community, the students will become aware of cultural elements associated with the language.

罢别虫迟蝉:听Edna Amir Coffin.听Lessons in Modern Hebrew: Level听II (2)听Publisher: University of Michigan Press听

Recommended Text:听Hebrew Dictionary听(Oxford, Eng-Heb, Heb-Eng Dictionary, Kernerman 鈥� Lonnie Kahn)

Evaluation:听
48% -听4听Class Tests听(6%,听10%,听14%,听18%)
12%听-听Quizzes
12%听-听2听In-Class Essays
14%听-听Compositions听
10%听-听Oral Presentation
4%听-听Class Participation听

Description: This course offers an opportunity to watch films from different periods of Israeli cinema spanning 1948 to the present. Conducted primarily in Hebrew with some assignments in English, students in this course will be invited to engage with the social, political, psychological and aesthetic dimensions of Israeli films. (This is primarily a language class and advanced Hebrew is required to enrol in this course; if you are unsure about your level of Hebrew please consult with the instructor.)

Description: This course explores the supernatural in Yiddish folklore, from fearsome golems and dybbuks to cunning demons. Through stories, films, and translated texts, students will examine how Jewish communities used folklore to reflect on faith, morality, identity, and the unknown. Combining literary analysis with historical and cultural context, the course traces the influence of these tales on Jewish life and broader traditions like magical realism and horror. No prior Yiddish knowledge is required; all materials are in translation.

Texts: Course Texts (Selections):

• Joachim Neugroschel (ed.), The Great Works of Jewish Fantasy and Occult (1976)
• The Golem: How He Came into the World (dir. Wegener & Boese, 1920)
• S. Ansky, The Dybbuk and Other Writings (ed. Walter Frisch, 2017)
• Rebecca Margolis, The Yiddish Supernatural on Screen (2024)

Description: The Holocaust was the systematic persecution and genocide of 6 million Jews by the Nazi State and its collaborators, between 1933 and 1945. The Nazis also persecuted and murdered the Roma and Sinti, sexual minorities, people with disabilities, political opponents, Slavs, and Jehovah鈥檚 Witnesses.

With what language can one articulate personal experience of and surrounding the Holocaust, experience that exceeds language? And not only how, but why, when, to whom, and as whom? In this course we will ask such questions as we study several diaries and memoirs about or surrounding the Holocaust, as well as reviews and academic studies of these texts. Aesthetics and ethics will guide our discussions, as we think about the effects of genre, stylistic choices, the gap between our knowledge and the writer鈥檚, authorial intent, the difference between historical experience and what the experience felt like, the importance of gender on experience and its communication, and how a story differs across tellings. Further, we will study how the editing, publishing, translating, adapting, and re-discovery of a text has informed how a text has been read. We will also consider oral testimony. This course emphasizes original research.

Texts:

• Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl (originally published in Dutch 1947)
• Elie Wiesel, Night (1956)
• Elie Wiesel, All Rivers Run to the Sea: Memoirs (1994)
• Primo Levi, Survival in Auschwitz: The Nazi Assault on Humanity (1947)
• Primo Levi, The Drowned and the Saved (1986)
• Ruth Kluger, Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered (1992)
• Aharon Appelfeld, The Story of a Life (1999)
• Abraham Sutzkever, From the Vilna Ghetto to Nuremberg: Memoir and Testimony, edited and translated by Justin D. Cammy (1946; 2021)

听

Evaluation:

Attendance, preparation, participation: 15%
Two 500-word responses on readings: 20%
Paper on reception of one of our books: 25%
Research paper: 40%

Format: Lecture and discussion.