Fall 2022 Courses
Religion, Gender, and Law: The Case of Israel
Legal Studies 190 - SEM 004
Prof. Masua Sagiv, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law; Shalom Hartman Institute Scholar-in-Residence
The course will explore the intersection of gender, religion, and law in Israel, as manifested in social movement activism through law and society. The course will illustrate and reflect upon different strategies and spheres for promoting social change, by examining core issues involving gender, religion and law in Israel: religious marriage and divorce, gender equality in the religious establishment, spiritual leadership of women, free exercise of religion (at the Western Wall and Temple Mount), conversion, and segregation in education. Spheres of activism to be covered include parliament, state courts, alternative private initiatives and courts, and social media.
Civil and Human Rights: Israel
Legal Studies 190 - SEM 005
Prof. Michal Tamir, The Academic Center of Law and Science, Israel
Human rights in Israel have evolved in a unique way. Since the establishment of the State, the Supreme Court recognized and developed the rights through the interpretation of laws. For example, when the Supreme Court was required to rule on the authority of the Minister of the Interior to close a newspaper by virtue of a so-called “Press Ordinance,” it developed the freedom of expression and the conditions for its violation. All rights have evolved as relative rights that can be balanced with other rights and interests, and an explicit statute could have infringed upon them. In 1992, Israel underwent a “constitutional revolution” with the enactment of two Basic Laws focusing on protecting human rights. Some of the human rights are enshrined explicitly in the Basic Laws and other rights were interpreted by the Supreme Court as arising from “human dignity.” Today an explicit law cannot infringe upon rights and it is necessary that it also meet the requirements of the Basic Laws.
Philosophical Foundations of Education
Education 184
Prof. Hanan A. Alexander, University of Haifa
Systematic survey of educational thought with emphasis on the epistemological, logical and ethical foundations of the major philosophies of education.
Israel, Holy Land, Palestine: Tourism Imaginaries and Practices
Anthropology 189
Prof. Jackie Feldman, Ben-Gurion University og the Negev
The territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan has been viewed as the land of the Bible, cradle of civilization, ancestral homeland, tinderbox of conflict or sun-drenched paradise. Through pilgrimage and tourism, Israelis and Palestinians present their own identities and understandings in negotiation with various Western imaginaries. Through the prism of anthropology, we will examine this contact zone as a mirror of Israeli and Palestinian society. Examples will include heritage sites, Christian pilgrimage itineraries, Holocaust memorials, museums, visits to former Palestinian villages, volunteer activism, and gay tourism.
Islam in Israel: Religious and Socio-Cultural Identity Dilemmas of the Arab-Muslim Minority in Israel
Jewish Studies 123
Prof. Muhammad Mudi K Al Atawneh, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
This course will map Israel’s social structure, identify its implications for social and economic inequality, and shed light on its role in structuring political loyalty, conflict and action. It will introduce students to relevant concepts and theories from sociology and political science, and findings from comparative research, that aid understanding of the Israeli case and place it in a broader perspective.
Israel: Politics and Society
Political Science 191 (Junior Seminar)
Prof. Ron E. Hassner, Helen Diller Family Chair in Israel Studies, UC Berkeley
The seminars will generally be led by ladder-rank faculty members in the subfields of Political Theory, Area Studies, American Politics, International Relations, and Comparative Politics. These intense writing seminars will focus on the research area of the faculty member teaching the course. The seminars will provide an opportunity for students to have direct intellectual interactions with faculty members while also giving the students an understanding of faculty research.
Graduate Courses
Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Memory
Psychology 290B
Prof. Daniel Levy, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University
No course description available.
Topics in Corporate Governance: A Comparative Analysis of Israel and the US
Berkeley Law 251.11
Prof. Roy Shapira, Radzyner Law School, Reichman University
What vectors affect the behavior of business corporations? In law school, we tend to focus on corporate and securities laws. But in reality, corporate governance is also (indeed, very much so) a function of reputation concerns, media coverage, cultural norms, and the political environment. In this course we will look at these vectors in action in two different systems of corporate governance, namely, the U.S. and Israel. Tiny Israel is widely considered a global hub for innovation, leading the world in venture-capital investments per capita and startups per capita. But the so-called startup nation also suffers from problems in scaling-up, and from high degrees of economic concentration and a bevy of corporate governance debacles. What is it exactly in the American mix of laws, markets and morals that work differently than the Israeli mix? In the process of answering this question, we will dive into today’s most topical questions: can you hold directors personally accountable for not being attentive enough to increased societal demands (the “ESG” debate)? Are super-large corporations with market power ungovernable (the “anti-bigness” debate)? And so on. The course will be of interest not just to those keen on learning about the comparison between US and Israel, but also more generally to all those with interest in how business corporations operate and their role in, and impact on, society.
Spring 2023 Courses
Contemporary Judaism in Israel: State, Religion, and Gender
Jewish Studies 122
Prof. Masua Sagiv, Bar-Ilan University; Shalom Hartman Institute
The course will explore dynamics of change in issues of state, religion and gender in Israel, as manifested in social movement activism through law and society. The course will illustrate and reflect upon different strategies and spheres for promoting social change, by examining core issues involving state, religion, and gender in Israel: religious marriage and divorce, gender equality in the religious establishment, conversion, spiritual leadership of women, and free exercise of religion at the Western Wall (the struggle of Women of the Wall). Spheres of activism to be covered include parliament, state courts, alternative private initiatives and courts, and social media.
Comparative Constitutional Law: The Case of Israel
Legal Studies 174
Prof. Michal Tamir, The Academic Center of Law and Science, Israel
This course will provide an introduction to constitutional law using Israel as a case study. Topics include: Constitutionalism and judicial review, state neutrality and self-determination, minority rights, state and religion, Human Rights Law, the concept of “defensive democracy" and ban of non-democratic political parties, legal aspects of the fight on terror, freedom of expression, equality and anti-discrimination, social rights, and constitutional limitations on privatization.
Therapeutic Criminal Justice: A Comparative U.S.-Israel Perspective
Legal Studies 190 - SEM 004
Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law
Punitive justice is of the hallmarks of the carceral state. In the US, penal control has become the main social response to crime. However, during the last few decades some competing notions of justice have emerged and been applied in criminal legal systems. These notions include procedural justice, therapeutic-oriented justice, problem-solving justice, community justice and restorative justice. Using a comparative lens, this seminar will introduce a variety of therapeutic, restorative, and problem-solving mechanisms that have been developed and implemented in criminal justice systems both in US and worldwide. We will explore the potential of the criminal justice system, by adopting non-punitive notions of justice, to achieve goals that go beyond its classis, traditional goals, such as enhancing the well-being of its various stakeholders, empowering communities, restoring relationships between law breakers and victims, encouraging reconciliation, and providing holistic rehabilitation to law breakers. The seminar will address the tension between the criminal justice system’s traditional goals and the therapeutic-oriented goals, and discuss the question of whether the criminal justice system is the right setting to promote therapeutic goals.
Comparative Criminal Justice Reform
Legal Studies 190 - SEM 003
Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law
Modern criminal law has changed its face in the last decades. Plea bargains have become a common practice, pushing aside evidentiary hearings. The punitive-driven justice system has been characterized by critics as unfair, racist, inhuman both for offenders and victims, inefficient and expensive. New processes, models and approaches have emerged to address the various critiques: the adversarial model has been diluted by the inclusion of the victim as an acknowledged stakeholder in criminal proceedings; the role of the State as the sole authority for responding to crime has also been questioned, emphasizing the interest of the community in resolving conflicts; debate about the emotional effect of crime, and the resulting psychological needs of victims and offenders, has initiated reforms that promote apology and dialogue between victims and offenders; the growing awareness of the crisis of mass incarceration and distrust toward the legal system, has prompted rise in interest in problem-solving, therapeutic-oriented courts as well as in more radical initiatives inspired by the abolition movement. Using a comparative perspective, this seminar seeks to introduce the current American “multi-door” criminal justice system. We will examine a variety of punitive and non-punitive justice mechanisms that have proliferated in recent years as social responses for crime, including Arraignment Hearings, Problem-solving Courts, Restorative Justice processes, Diversion Programs, Community-based Interventions and even Social Media as an alternative arena for seeking justice. We will discuss the background for their emergence, explore their characteristics and look into their perils and promises. The students will take part in some experiential activities, such as conducting virtual observations of various criminal justice processes at the courtroom, exploring their traits, and comparing between their mode of operation and their goals as well as building a restorative justice circle. The seminar will also examine the influence of American criminal justice reforms and the deepening legitimacy crisis of mass incarceration on Israeli criminal justice system, and the ways Israeli criminal justice system embraced, as well as resisted and transformed American reforms in light of the specific history, culture and challenges of the Israeli context.
Advanced Studies in Education: Citizenship Education and Social Conflict -- Israeli and American Political education in Comparative Perspective
Education 150
Prof. Hanan A. Alexander, University of Haifa
Zionism and Israel
History 100M
Prof. Ethan Benjamin Katz, Dept. of History, UC Berkeley
This course is designed to engage students in conversations about particular perspectives on the history of a selected nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon as specified by the respective instructor. By taking this course, students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for, some combination of: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may also explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the complex political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors and subject will vary.
In Search of Lost Time: Memory in Legal Practice and Process
Legal Studies 190 - SEM 008
Prof. Daniel Levy, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University
Human memory plays a key role in legal thought, institutions, and procedures. In a wide range of circumstances – evaluating the reliability of testimony, appreciating challenges to judges and jurors in learning and retaining information presented during a trial, assessing intent and culpability for plagiarism, or considering the admissibility of a plaintiff’s repressed memories – assumptions about the nature of memory play a vital role. This course will explore recent progress in the understanding of the nature and brain substrates of human memory. For each topic, the relevant basic cognitive psychology and neuroscience information will be introduced in non-specialist terms. We will then consider the implications of those insights for philosophical attitudes, legal processes, and societal institutions.
Religion and State in Israel and the Middle East: A Comparative Perspective
Jewish 123
Prof. Muhammad Mudi K Al Atawneh, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
The religion-state question was and still is at the center of the intellectual and religious discourse in Israel and the Middle East. This course traces this discourse and its implications on various spheres of life with special emphasis on the tensions and the compromises between religion and state in the various spheres of political, social, cultural, economic, and intellectual interaction in Israel and the Middle East. Some fundamental questions to be addressed pertaining to the meaning of citizenship, national identity, human rights, ethnic and religious minorities, gender relations, democracy. The course consists of three main parts. The first part provides an overview of the critical history and philosophy of the separation of religion and state. The second part is dedicated to the modern discourse of religion-state in Israel and the Middle East through selected issues of religion and nationalism, secularism, religion and democracy, separation of religion and state, etc. The third part will be devoted to some case studies through which we will conduct a comparative analysis between four countries: Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. These countries represent different and central paradigms of religion-state relations in the Middle East.
War in the Middle East
Political Science 124B
Prof. Ron E. Hassner, Helen Diller Family Chair in Israel Studies, UC Berkeley
This class begins with a historical overview of war in the region. The second part of the class introduces theories that complement and elaborate on theories from PS124A: arguments about the relationship between war and resources,religion, authoritarianism, civil military relations, territorial disputes, sovereignty, and power. In the third part of the course, we will explore current policy concerns related to conflict in the region: Nuclear proliferation, terrorism, the civil war in Syria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drone warfare, and the U.S. role in the region.
Graduate Courses
Pedagogy of Difference
Education 290B
Prof. Hanan A. Alexander, University of Haifa
Education is often thought to entail the transmission or transformation of worthwhile knowledge across the generations. This requires a conception of what it might mean for something to be worthwhile. Acquiring such a conception involves answering the classical ethical question: “What does it mean to live a good life?” Crucial to any answer to this question is the assumption that human beings possess agency. But how can agency be cultivated without imposing one view or another on people in ways that undermine the very independence agency is supposed to be about? The three most common answers to this question in educational thought are “critical pedagogy,” “critical thinking,” and “educational criticism.” Each answer draws on a different philosophical tradition to use the term “critical” in ways that are distinct from one another, and each one also undermines the very independent agency it claims to advance. This course offers an alternative conception of criticism within which to cultivate the moral independence necessary for values education grounded in the diversity liberalism of Isaiah Berlin and the relational ethics of Martin Buber, Nel Noddings, and Emmanuel Levinas. It is called “pedagogy of difference.” After reviewing the relevant literature, the course will consider four projects in which these ideas were tested in Israel, one dealing with inclusion of marginalized populations in higher education, a second with dialogue between science education and religious education, a third with interdisciplinary middle school teaching and learning in the humanities, and a fourth with the measurement and assessment of values education.