Course Offerings
As always, check BU Brain for the latest updates, course descriptions, details and registration.
FALL 2023
Hebrew | Israel Studies | Judaic Studies | Religious Studies | Yiddish
HEBREW
Hebrew I - HEBR 101 - Gen Ed: WL1
Cross listed: HEBR 501
Time: M/W 9:40-10:40 | T/R 10:05-11:05
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 101 is the first semester of Modern Hebrew. The course is designed only for
students with very little or no previous experience in the language. It offers a communicative
introduction to Modern Hebrew language and its culture. It emphasizes all facets of
the language – comprehension, speech, reading, grammar and writing. The focus of instruction
is on enabling students to develop basic vocabulary and communicative skills in Modern
Hebrew centering on the students' immediate surroundings and simple daily activities.
By the end of the course students will be able to read and write short stories, voice
their opinion, converse and use basic grammar. Prerequisites: None
Hebrew III - HEBR 203 - Gen Ed: WL3
Cross listed: HEBR 503
Time: M/W/F 10:50 - 11:50
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 203 is the third course in the Modern Hebrew program sequence, and the last
course needed to fulfill the Binghamton University’s foreign language requirement.
It focuses on increasing students' confidence in using the language in different social
settings. This course is designed to advance the Hebrew learner to the intermediate-high
level by introducing complex grammatical structure forms and sentences. Grammar teaching
covers three of the main verb structures. The course concentrates on improving speaking,
writing, as well as, working on text analysis and comprehension skills. Prerequisites:
HEBR 102 with a grade of C- or better, a placement exam, or permission of the instructor.
Texts and Conversations I - HEBR 311 - Gen Ed: WL3
Cross listed: HEBR 505
Time: M/W/F 01:10 - 02:10
Instructor: Orly Shoer
Hebrew 311 is an advanced-intermediate Hebrew language and culture course that is
intended for students who wish to further develop their vocabulary building and practice
all four language skills, with an emphasis on reading comprehension, grammar, syntax,
composition, vocabulary building and conversation. Students will advance their Hebrew
language skills through reading, discussing and writing about a variety of texts,
with some emphasis placed on short articles. Prerequisites: HEBR 204 with a grade
of C- or better, a placement exam, or permission of the instructor.
ISRAEL STUDIES
Intro to Israeli Literature - ISRL 120 - Gen Ed: G, H
Cross listed: JUST 120 / COLI 180P
Time: M/W/F 10:50-11:50
Instructor: Lior Libman
This survey course introduces students to texts (poems, short stories, novels) and
themes (nation-building, conflict, gender constructions, ethnic and religious tensions)
in Israeli literature from 1948 to the present. We will place literary works within
their historical, cultural and political contexts and examine them to illustrate the
main features of the time. Texts will be read in translation. No previous knowledge
is required. The course is a Core Course for the Minor in Israel Studies, a Literature
Course for the Major/Minor in Hebrew, and an Area Course in Israel Studies for the
Major/Minor in Judaic Studies.
Modern Israel - ISRL 150 - Gen Ed: N
Cross listed: JUST 150 / HIST 150
Time: T/R 11:40-1:05
Instructor: Shay Rabineau
This course presents an overview of the history of Israel from its origins in the
Zionist movement to the present. Key topics include: political relations and international
diplomacy leading to the establishment of the state in 1948; Israel's wars with its
neighbors; conflict with the Palestinians; religion and government; internal divisions
between Ashkenazic and Sephardi/Mizrachi Jews; and Israeli cultural life. No previous
knowledge is assumed or required. Students who had taken the course under the original
number will not receive credit for re-taking the course with the new number.
Walking the Land - ISRL 321 - Gen Ed: H, O
Cross listed: JUST 321
Time: T/R 2:50-4:15
Instructor: Shay Rabineau
Walking The Land: Hiking and Pilgrimage in Modern Israel/ Palestine/ The Holy Land
- This course explores the religious traditions and political movements that have
attached significance to the act of walking the land between the Jordan River and
the Mediterranean Sea, beginning in the late Ottoman period and continuing to the
present day. Students who had taken the course under the original number will not
receive credit for re-taking the course with the new number.
Israeli Palestinian Conflict in Literature – ISRL 327 - Gen Ed: H, O
Cross listed: JUST 380C / COLI 380C
Time: W 3:30-6:30
Instructor: Lior Libman
The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been represented in a wide body of Israeli
and Palestinian literary works of varied genres. In this course, we will read, analyze
and discuss, side by side, poems, short stories and novels by both Israeli and Palestinian
writers exploring questions of homeland, exile and return, longing and belonging,
Self and Other. We will examine the relationships between historical, political and
literary narratives, and the ways in which images and metaphors both reflect and shape
national affinities. We will also juxtapose the geo-political conflict with other
core issues such as religion, ethnicity, gender and sexuality.
Nuclear politics of the Middle East - ISRL 386K - Gen Ed: G, N
Cross listed: JUST 386B / ARAB 386B / PLSC 389N
Time: T/R 1:15-2:40
Instructor: Hebatalla Taha
This is an International Relations/International Security seminar, dealing with how
nuclear politics have shaped the Middle East. We will start by covering the history
of nuclear politics and key concepts of nuclearization in international politics –
including deterrence, proliferation, restraint – as well as their critiques. We will
proceed to apply these theories to the Middle East, looking at the emergence of military
and non-military nuclear programs and reactions to them. The course deals with nuclear
bombs, energy, and other technology through a consideration of both their material
and symbolic dimensions. In addition, we will discuss the idea of a nuclear-weapon-free-zone
in the Middle East, including the impediments facing its establishment. The course
pays special attention to the Israeli nuclear program and Israeli nuclear policies
in the Middle East and beyond.
JUDAIC STUDIES
Philosophy of Religion - JUST 111 - Gen Ed: H, W
Cross listed: RELG 111 / PHIL 111
Time: T/R 8:30-9:55
Instructor: Randy Friedman
This introductory course will explore the many philosophical and methodological questions
which emerge from the study of religious thought. Topics will include the nature of
religious subjectivity, divinity, prayer, sacrifice, and faith. The course will be
divided into four sections, including Two Approaches to the Study of Religion (Freud
and William James); Foundations and Varieties of Faith (David Hume, Kant); Two central
biblical stories (Genesis 22 - The Binding of Isaac, and the Book of Job); and Critical
Study of Religion - including race and feminist theology. Students will practice techniques
of close readings of primary and secondary texts. In addition to the content of this
course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically.
Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared
to ask and answer questions. The course will require approximately 50 pages of reading
each week.
Jewish History Ancient to 1500 - JUST 201 - Gen Ed: G, N, W - *survey course*
Cross listed: RELG 280A / HIST 285E
Time: T/R 1:15-2:40
Instructor: Michael Kelly
This survey course examines the history, culture, philosophy, religion, and political
experiences of Jews from the Biblical period through the second temple period, to
the medieval period. Themes include the relationship between Jews, Christians and
Muslims, Jews under foreign political rule (Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans),
and the social and economic history of Jews in Europe through the middle ages.
This course satisfies the core and survey requirements for Judaic Studies majors and
minors.
The Jewish Short Story – JUST 251- Gen Ed: C, H
Cross listed: COLI 281F / ENG 283K
Time: M 4:40-7:40
Instructor: C. Beth Burch
The Jewish Short Story explores the genre of the Jewish short story as it evolves
from folktale into contemporary art form. The Jewish story or tale is vital to Jewish
tradition, for as the saying goes, “G‐d made man because He loves stories.” We will
study the technical aspects of the short story (character, setting, plot, etc.) and
read deeply to examine how these short pieces of fiction articulate Jewish life, history,
and tradition through the centuries, including our own. All stories will be in English,
some in translation. 20 pages of writing, mid-term and final exams.
Secular Jewish Identities – JUST 284D- Gen Ed: H, W
Cross listed: ISRL 280B, HIST 285D
Time: W 4:40-7:40
Instructor: Allan Arkush
This course will focus on the emergence and development in modern times of essentially
non-religious definitions of Jewish identity and strategies for maintaining Jewish
survival. It will explore writings of the most important modern Jewish secularists
as well as the programs for action outlined and implemented by Jewish secularist leaders
and movements.
The Nazi State - JUST 284A – Gen Ed:
Cross listed: GERM 241N / GMAP 281A / HIST 281K
Time: M/W/F | 10:50 - 11:50
Instructor: Harald Zils
The course looks at the Nazi regime in Germany between 1933 and 1945, at the organization
and inner functioning of the government and administration. Topics include the Nazi
rise to power, party structures, "Gleichschaltung" of society, economy, and media,
persecution of minorities, the situation of workers and peasants, the role of the
churches etc. Course taught in English.
Faith and Reason - JUST 311 - Gen Ed: C, H - *survey course*
Cross listed: RELG 311 / PHIL 311
Time: T/R 11:40-1:05
Instructor: Randy Friedman
This reading-intensive seminar will explore some fundamental questions in philosophy
of religion, focusing on the work of Maimonides, Spinoza and Kant. Topics will include
the nature of divinity, metaphysics, the supernatural, creation, revelation, religious
experience, and feminist philosophy of religion. Some questions will include: what
is God? How does one know about God? How do we account for and understand revelation?
What is the relation between God and morality and the good. In addition to the content
of this course, students will practice the process skills of reading and writing critically.
Students will be expected to read the texts carefully and to come to class prepared
to ask and answer questions. The course will require at least 100 pages of reading
each week. This course meets Judaic Studies major/minor survey requirement.
Holocaust Literature - JUST 341 - Gen Ed: C, H
Cross listed: ISRL 380C / COLI 380B / ENG 380M
Time: T 4:25 - 7:25
Instructor: Paul-William Burch
Students in this course read literature of the Holocaust, the Churban, or the Shoah—including
diaries, journals, memoirs, fiction, poetry, and works of popular culture, informed
by the belief that literary responses to the Holocaust are, as the poet Paul Celan
has written, in themselves "material evidence of that which-occurred." The course
includes works by First Generation writers, victims and survivors of the Shoah who
bear direct witness to the horror, as well as pieces by Second Generation writers—that
is, children and “offspring” of Holocaust survivors who bear witness to the witnesses
and to events that they did not live through but that shaped their lives.
Prerequisite: Sophomore standing. Cross-listed with English and Comparative Literature.
Not for First year students.
Jews & Christians in Conflict- JUST 363 - Gen Ed: H, W - *survey course*
Cross listed: RELG 380D / JUST 385G
Time: T/R 10:05-11:30
Instructor: Jonathan Karp
For Centuries, Christians and Jews have argued over which group possesses the one
true faith. This course surveys the shifting grounds of the debate from Antiquity
to the present. Topics include: the emergence of early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism;
the image of the Jew in medieval Christian literature and of the Gentile in Jewish
law and Kabbalah; the decimation of Jewish communities during the Crusades; and the
formal disputations between Jewish and Christian scholars. We conclude with a discussion
of efforts in the wake of the Holocaust to achieve a degree of rapprochement between
the faiths. 4 credits. Pre-requisite: The course does not require specific background
knowledge, but does demand the necessary intellectual maturity to read difficult historical
primary texts (in English), often of a complex philosophical and theological nature.
This course meets Judaic Studies major/minor survey requirement.
World War I and the Jews - JUST 380A - Gen Ed: G
Cross listed: ISRL 385Z / HIST 381N
Time: T/R 01:15 pm - 02:40 pm
Instructor: Allan Arkush
This course will investigate Jewish involvement in World War I, in all of the major
belligerent countries, as well as the ways in which the war altered the Jewish world.
Topics will include anti-Jewish pogroms on the Eastern Front, the rise in anti-Semitism
in the ranks of the German Army, the worldwide lobbying for the Balfour Declaration,
and the way in which the war reshaped Eastern European Jewry.
Vienna 1900: Modernism & Empire- JUST 386M- Gen Ed: A, H, T, W
Cross listed: ARTH 387B / COLI 380J / GERM 380V
Time: T/R 04:25 - 05:50
Instructor: Neil Pages
Course explores the ideas, impulses and implosions that accompanied the rise of Modernism
in Vienna around 1900. Like the multicultural, multi-ethnic empire of which it was
the capital, the culture of Habsburg Vienna at the fin-de-siècle was marked by fragmentation,
experimentation and contestation. Struggles with politics, identities and aesthetics
generated new ways of thinking (Freudian psychoanalysis), political movements (Zionism;
Marxism; fascism), radical experiments with art and architecture (Klimt, Schiele,
Loos, Bauer, Schönberg) and a lasting literary legacy (Schnitzler, Musil, von Hofmannsthal,
Trakl, Roth, Kraus, Zweig). By engaging specific works (buildings, paintings, texts)
across disciplines, students will develop skills in reading and interpretation and
gain an understanding of the cultural history of “Vienna 1900” specifically and theories
of Modernism generally. We will also question how eras and cultural legacies are constructed
and how cultures of memory are reflected in works of art, in historiography and in
literary works.
Public Opinion - JUST 389B
Cross listed: PLSC 340
Time: M/W 9:25 - 10:50
Instructor: Jonathan Krasno
Examines the nature and dynamics of public opinion in American politics with a focus
on the major trends in public opinion since World War II. Students examine different
approaches to measuring and understanding what drives public opinion. Moreover, they
focus on the effects of public opinion on the political process, including public
policy and elections.
Religion & the Enlightenment – JUST 480J - Gen Ed: C, I, N, T
Cross listed: HIST 484Q / HIST 560Q
Time: W 03:30 - 06:30
Instructor: Jonathan Karp
This course has two major aims: first, to investigate various approaches to religious
questions found in eighteenth-century Enlightenment literature, such as scepticism,
toleration, and Deism; and second, to survey important religious currents developing
contemporaneously with the Enlightenment but distinct from it, such as Methodism,
Pietism, and Hasidism. The course presumes that religion played a greater a role in
the intellectual life of the eighteenth century than it is usually given credit for.
Indeed, we will look in the eighteenth-century materials for some of the seeds of
modern religious life.
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Religions of the World - RELG 101 - Gen Ed: G, H
Cross listed: JUST 100 / AFST 180E / ANTH
Time: TR 02:50 - 04:15
Instructor: Michael Kelly
What does it mean to study various religions from an academic perspective? How do
we, as outsiders at a public university, discuss different traditions responsibly?
Answering questions like these and developing our skills as scholars of religion is
of no small importance in an increasingly global society. This class will take a thematic
approach to a number of traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam. Prominent themes include the history of Religious Studies as a discipline,
religion and popular culture, religion and violence, the history of utopian thought,
and the status of new and controversial movements across the globe.
Intro to African Religion - RELG 180D - Gen Ed: H, W
Cross listed: AFST 171 / ANTH 280L / SOC 180A
Time: T/R | 10:05 - 11:30
Instructor: Anthony Ephirim-Donkor
E. A. Wallis Budge defined African religion as “the worship of the souls of the dead,
commonly called Ancestor Worship.” Also, Diodorus, a Greek historian, wrote over 2,000
years ago that blacks were “the first to be taught to honor the gods and to hold sacrifices
and processions and festivals and other rites by which men honor the deity; and …
sacrifices practiced among the Ethiopians [black people] ... are those which are the
most pleasing to heaven.” Thus, the course reviews the history of religion as a discipline,
nature and phenomenon of African religion, conception of God and gods and goddesses,
ancestors and elders, witchcraft, and rituals and symbols that offer meaning to the
lives of believers.
Islam, News & Prevailing Opinions – RELG 280D - Gen Ed: O
Cross listed: ARAB 280H
Time: M/W/F 12:00 - 01:00
Instructor: Kevin Lacey
The course will draw attention to, and encourage discussion of, some of the more demonstrably
dubious or unproven tropes advanced by the media (domestic or international or both)
with respect to Islam and Islamic countries or communities. Some of the evincible
reverberations of such, in government circles as well as schools and universities
in the USA, not to mention “on the street,” will be touched upon. At the same time,
the course will welcome students’ submitting when they think the news media—or specific
outlets therein—“get it right,” and why. Interrogations of some of the premises and/or
conclusions of required readings and news reports will be welcomed. Required readings
are selected chapters of Covering Islam by Edward Said, some key passages of Said’s
Orientalism, Doug Sanders’s The Myth of the Muslim Tide, and selected passages from
Stephen Sheehi’s Islamophobia: The Ideological Campaign against Muslims
Arabic Civilization & Culture - RELG 380B - Gen Ed: G, H, I, T, W
Cross listed: AFST 372 / ANTH 380C / HIST 385C / MDVL 380S
Time: T/R 10:05 - 11:30
Instructor: Moulay Ali Bouanani
This course aims to give an overview of the Civilization and Culture of the Arab peoples
in Africa and elsewhere, starting with their origins and continuing through the present.
A selection of textsin Englishdealing with and pertaining to different aspects and
areas of Arabic life and culture will be read and discussed. The texts have been selected
with the intent to compare and analyze approaches in those written by Arab writers
and those written by non-Arab writers. Among the topics to be covered arebut not
limited to: The origins of the Arabs; pre-Islamic Arab society; Arab-Islamic society
and the Islamic Empire; Arabs in Africa and Europe, Arab-African (Amazigh) Epires,
Arabic-Islamic culture in Africa and its contribution to world culture; decadence
and fall of the Arab-Islamic Empire; European Infiltration and Colonialism (18-19
C); Independence and the creation of Nation-States. We will also analyze and discuss
modern concerns and problems of the area focusing on the Maghrib, the Sahel and West
Africa.
Jesus Mary Joseph in the Quran – RELG 380G - Gen Ed: C, H, I
Cross listed: ARAB 383Q
Time: F 01:10 – 04:10
Instructor: Omid Ghaemmaghami
This course is an depth examination of chapters and verses from the Quran that speak
of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. We will consider the image and portrayal of these figures
with their portrayal in the Bible. Special focus will be given to how Quranic translators
and commentators have understood, interpreted, and negotiated their stories. Among
the questions we will explore: Why do Joseph and Mary have a Quranic chapter named
after them? Why is Jesus the only figure to whom the Quran refers to as the “Word
of God” and the “Spirit of God”? Why was it historically significant for the stories
of such Biblical figures to be adapted and told in Arabia some six hundred years after
the death of Jesus? Extensive weekly readings include primary sources and scholarly
literature in English.
Politics & Religion in EA – RELG 480A - Gen Ed:
Cross listed: AAAS 481O / AAAS 582C
Time: TR 04:25 - 05:50
Instructor: Kristina Buhrman
A seminar on the topic of the role of religion in processes of state formation, legitimation,
and political activities in East Asian states. During the course of the semester,
case studies from the intersections between politics and religion in East Asian history
will prompt students to investigate sources of political legitimacy, forces shaping
group cohesion and motivation, the definition of religion, and the origins of the
modern right to religious freedom. Examples from South Asian, Southeast Asian, and
western history will be brought in for comparative purposes. Students will complete
a semester-long research project analyzing the role religion played in politics or
government at a historical moment of their choosing, and draw conclusions about the
possibility of separating the religious from the secular.
YIDDISH
Yiddish I - YIDD 101 - Gen Ed: WL1, G, O
Cross listed: JUST 180A / GERM 180C / RUSS 180A / YIDD 501
Time: M/W/F 01:10 - 02:10
Instructor: Gina Glasman
Yiddish 101 is the first semester of the Yiddish language course sequence and is intended for beginners. It introduces students to the Yiddish language and its culture. It emphasizes all facets of the language – comprehension, speech, reading, grammar and writing. The focus of instruction is on enabling students to develop basic skills.
Yiddish II - YIDD 102 - Gen Ed: WFL2
Cross listed: JUST 180B / RUSS 180R / GERM 180B / YIDD 502
Time: M/W/F 10:50-11:50
Instructor: Gina Glasman
Follows on from Yiddish 101 as students sharpen their linguistic skills with more
complex sentence structure, a deeper knowledge of tenses and cases, and a broader
vocabulary. In addition, we explore Yiddish culture through film, stories, folk sayings
and the occasional joke! As always lyrics from Yiddish popular song provide the backbone
of the class, and individual attention is a feature of the instruction. Note: interested
students canjoin 102 directly without having taken 101. (Instructor permission needed)
Living in a Material World I - YIDD 180A - Gen Ed: J, N
Cross listed: JUST 180C / HIST 180B
Time: T/R 4:25 - 5:50 p.m.
Instructor: Gina Glasman
This class will be dedicated to a single question: how can we use the artefacts of
everyday life to better understand the history of an immigrant metropolis? To explore
this question, we will focus on a specific city—New York—and a particular cultural
vehicle, museums—institutions rooted in the notion that “objects” can speak! In the
Spring semester, students will create their own digital exhibit, using the themes,
approaches and concepts we have explored together in class. Students can choose to
focus their research on any community within the complex urban fabric of either past
or present-day New York City.
