Fall Term 2022 Courses

JST 324U | Historical Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) 
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Loren Spielman
MODE: Attend Anywhere
TIME/DAY(S): Tues/Thurs 12:00 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
(Due to Rosh Hashanah, the first day of class will be Thursday, September 29th)
LOCATION: LH 301 (NOTE: this room has been changed from PNT 208)
CRN: 14348

Curious about the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)? Where does it come from and what does it contain? What historical information can be learned from the Biblical stories of Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon?  This course investigates these issues while surveying the contents of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament.  We will examine some of the more famous stories in the Hebrew Bible in an academic environment with special attention to its literary and historical developments.  We will examine the connections between the Hebrew Bible and contemporary Ancient Near Eastern literature and compare their different world views.  We will also discuss the various sources and traditions of Israelite religion and engage with Biblical ideas about community, sanctity, social justice, prophesy, wisdom, and the nature of human suffering.

University Studies cluster: Interpreting the Past.

ENG 330U | Jewish and Israeli Literature ​
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Weingrad
MODE: Online instruction
CRN: 11156

This course looks at the Jewish encounter with modernity through literature.  The focus will be on literature produced by East European Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of great upheaval reflected in the emerging modern Hebrew and Yiddish literatures of the time.  We will read works by such classic modern Jewish authors as Sholem Aleichem, S.Y. Agnon, and H. N. Bialik.  In the second half of the course, we will sample literature produced after the 1930s, including Israeli literature and literature produced outside of Eastern Europe.

University studies clusters:  Global Perspectives and Examining Popular Culture

JST 335U Sex, Love, and Gender: Israeli and Palestinian Experiences 
Instructor: Nina Spiegel
MODE: Online instruction 
CRN: 14350

This course examines conceptions of gender in Israeli and Palestinian communities, investigating topics such as conceptions of femininity and masculinity, sex, love, beauty, work, and motherhood, and the impact of gender on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  In exploring these themes, we will investigate the history and experiences of a diverse array of communities, such as Jewish women of European, Middle Eastern, North African, and Ethiopian descent; Palestinian women of Muslim and Christian faiths; and LGBTQ+ people.  

No prerequisites are required. 

Note: This course can serve as an elective for the major and minor in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), and is also on the advisor-approved list for International and Global Studies’ Middle East certificate. 

University Studies cluster: Gender and Sexualities Studies

JST 372 / HST 372 | History of Antisemitism
INSTRUCTOR: Natan Meir
MODE: Attend Anywhere
TIME/DAYS: CANCELLED
CRN: 15163/15150

This course will chart the development of hostility towards Jews from antiquity to the present day. In lectures and discussion, students will gain an understanding of how anti-Jewish hostility has persisted over millennia even as it has adapted to individual historical and geographic contexts. Topics include anti-Jewish bias in the ancient world and foundational Christian sources; social and economic marginalization and expulsions in medieval Europe; the emergence of political and racial antisemitism in the nineteenth century; Nazi antisemitism; and contemporary expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment, including left- and right-wing antisemitism and conspiracy theories such as QAnon. 

JST 378U / HST 378U | Pagans, Christians and Jews
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Loren Spielman
MODE: Attend Anywhere
LOCATION:  PNT 208 (University Pointe)
TIME/DAY(S): Mon/Wed/Fri 12:45 p.m. - 1:50 p.m.
(Due to Rosh Hashanah, the first day of class will be Wednesday, September 28th).
CRN: 14349/14196

After Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in the 4th century CE, the Roman Empire underwent radical changes. Pagan sacrifice was outlawed, temples were closed, and new churches were built in every town, city and village. Heretics and Jews were forbidden from holding public office and owning Christian slaves. In this course, we will examine the story of the Christianization of the Roman empire from the mid-third century, when Christianity was still a small, largely insignificant movement, Judaism was reeling from the loss of its central temple, while shrines devoted to Isis, Mithras, and the traditional gods of the Greco-Roman pantheon dominated the landscape. By reading some of the ancient literature from late antiquity -- inscriptions and prayers, tales of martyrdom, stories about holy men and women, and the sayings of esoteric philosophers -- we will explore the changes that occurred as the Roman empire officially embraced and promoted the Christian faith.

Fulfills an elective requirement for the Classical Studies minor.

Fulfills University Studies cluster requirement: Interpreting the Past.

JST 380U/ HST 380U | The Holocaust
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Nichola Farron
MODE: Online instruction
CRN: 11664 / 11516

This course will introduce students to the Nazi-planned and executed genocide of European Jewry that has come to be known as the Holocaust. Although we will of course study the so-called "Final Solution" and the process of mass murder, the course aims to provide a broad and contextualized understanding of many aspects of the Holocaust. These include the German and European contexts for the rise of Nazism; the nature of antisemitism and its links to Nazi ideology and policy; the nature and definition of resistance; the question of the "bystanders"; and types of collaboration. The goal is to gain an understanding of the Holocaust as an aspect of many different kinds of history: Jewish history, German history, European history, the history of antisemitism, and perhaps also the history of human civilization (or absence thereof). As time permits, we will also touch upon how the Holocaust is understood and "used" in contemporary society.

University Studies cluster: Global Perspectives.

FILM 384U | Topics in American Cinema and Culture: Mamet
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Michael Weingrad
MODE: Online instruction
CRN: 11269

Considered by many to be America’s greatest living playwright, and screenwriter and director of numerous films from The Untouchables to Wag the Dog, David Mamet has spent a half century exploring masculinity, desire, knowledge, and the American soul. Let’s see how this Chicago-born, Jewish writer has treated these themes on screen, stage, and page. Films include Glengarry Glen Ross, The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide, Oleanna, Redbelt, and Spartan; plays include The Duck Variations and Speed-the-Plow; writings include The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews.

Fulfills University Studies cluster requirements: American Identities and Examining Popular Culture

Fulfills the BA Fine and Performing Arts requirement

HST 494 / 594 | Public History Seminar: Museums & Memory in the U.S. & Israel
INSTRUCTOR: Professor Nina Spiegel
MODE: Online - Scheduled Meetings
Meeting synchronously on Zoom - Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. and additional asynchronous instructional components available on Canvas.
CRN: 11528 / 11540

How is national memory formed? What is the role of memory in shaping a nation's sense of identity? This seminar examines the relationship between national history, memory, and museums in Israel and the United States.  We will investigate cultural debates that take place over the presentation of national history at public sites. Our comparative approach will facilitate our exploration of the ethos of national memory and the politics of cultural memory. This term the syllabus includes zoom visits by curators from museums around the country as well as Portland's Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJMCHE).

No prerequisites are required.