Courses

Fall 2024 Courses

religious jewish women

Gender, Religion, and Law: The Case of Israel

Professor Masua Sagiv

The course will explore the intersection of gender, religion, and law in Israel, as manifested in social movement activism through law and society. Incorporating existing law with current discourse and issues around the suggested legal reforms and the fragility of Israeli democracy, 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, free exercise of religion (at the Western Wall and Temple Mount), and gender segregation in public places and in academia. Spheres of activism to be covered include parliament, state courts, alternative private initiatives and courts, and social protests.

hebrew

Introduction to Comparative Literature: Crossing Borders, or, How to Translate Hebrew Literature

Professor Yael Segalovitz

This course engages these complex questions, using Hebrew Literature and its translations into English as our primary lens. We'll explore the nature of translation by following the same Hebrew text in different English forms, by reading translators' reflections, by unpacking theoretical texts on translation, by analyzing works by Palestinian writers that navigate the spaces between languages and cultures, and through hands-on experiences with “translation” between different registers of English. 

jerusalem skyline

Learning from Jerusalem: Society and Space in a Shared City

Professor Noah Hysler Rubin

This seminar will explore the urban design of Jerusalem as a shared space: a sacred site and a national emblem for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It will rely on the reciprocal relationship between society and space, i.e., how different cultures produce different urban settings. We will explore how a city reflects its living societies and examine the tools and tactics different societies employ to shape their living spaces through urban design, architecture, and urban planning. Furthermore, we will ask: What does the shape of a city reveal about space and urban community? How does the urban landscape transmit hidden meanings? Finally, we will ask what happens when society changes, bringing with it its goals and means of design, and explore changes to the urban landscape that occur when cultures change and, with them, values, notions of holiness, and spatial design.

In Search of Lost Time: Memory in Legal Principle and Practice

Professor Daniel Levy

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. 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, including memory in restorative justice, and collective memory in public spaces and monuments.

Israel: Politics and Society

Professor Eran Kaplan

Lectures dedicated to the craft of research and writing will be interspersed with lectures about theoretical and empirical issues relating to the history and contemporary politics of Israel.  We will discuss the formation of the state, its geography and history, its political system, and its demographics.  Several sessions will be dedicated to Israel’s social and political challenges, to economic opportunities and obstacles, to U.S.-Israel relations, and to the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.  The Arab-Israeli conflict is not a focus of this class (it is a focus of another class of mine, PS124B, “War in the Middle East”) but students are free to address topics of international and national security in their papers for this class if they wish.

tel aviv skyline

History of Modern Israel: From the Emergence of Zionism to Our Time

Professor Ethan Katz

The class explores the history of the Zionist movement and the State of Israel in all its complexity and contradictions. What is Zionism? What are its roots? Is it a liberation movement? A religious cause? A colonial ideology? A set of state policies? And what is the relationship between Zionism and the modern State of Israel? How do Zionism and Israel look different when considered from the standpoint of Jewish, Palestinian, European, or Middle Eastern history? Exploring Zionism and Israel from its roots in the nineteenth century to the present, this class offers in-depth knowledge and discussion on all of these topics and more.


Spring 2025


Comparative Constitutional Law: The Case of Israel
Legal Studies
Masua Sagiv


Israeli Literature: Is There Such a Thing?
Comparative Literature
Yael Segalovitz


Modern Urbanism: From Antiquities to New Towns, Israel/Palestine as a Case Study
Architecture
Noah Hysler Rubin


Game Theory and Political Interaction
Legal Studies
Adi Ayal


Religion and Spirituality in Education: Israeli and American Cases
Education and Jewish Studies
Hanan Alexander


War in the Middle East
Political Science
Ron Hassner


Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought: Faith, Culture, and Education
Jewish Studies
Hanan Alexander


The Politics of Trauma: Old Vulnerabilities and New Forms of Agency in Conflict Zones
Anthropology
Keren Friedman Peleg