The core course at Bard College is Jewishness Beyond Religion: Defining Secular Jewish Culture with three other courses, Current Issues in Israeli Society, Politics and Culture; Diaspora and Homeland, and Jewish Women: Gender Roles and Cultural Change.
Jewishness Beyond Religion: Defining Secular Jewish Culture
Professor Cecile E. Kuznitz
In the pre-modern world Jewish identity was centered on religion
but expressed as well in how one made a living, what clothes one wore,
and what language one spoke. In modern times, Jewish culture became
more voluntary and more fractured. While some focused on Judaism as
(only) a religion, both the most radical and the most typical way in
which Jewishness was redefined was in secular terms. This course will
explore the intellectual, social, and political movements that led to
new secular definitions of Jewish culture and identity in the modern
period, focusing on examples drawn from Western and Eastern Europe and
the United States.
Some questions to be asked are: in what ways have Jews redefined
what it means to be Jewish in the modern period? Are some definitions
"better" than others i.e more correct, authentic, or successful? What
is the relationship between theories of Jewishness and the ways Jews
have actually lived their lives?
Primary Sources
Renee Kogel and Zev Katz, eds., Judaism in a Secular Age
Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World
Lloyd P. Gartner, History of the Jews in Modern Times
Course Schedule
1. Introduction: A kaleidoscope of Jewish identities
2. Background
Jewish Life in Pre-Modern Times
Lloyd P. Gartner, History of the Jews in Modern Times
Jacob Katz, "Ghetto Times," Out of the Ghetto
The Jewish World in the Early Modern Period
Gartner
3. The Start of Secularization in Jewish History
Spinoza - The First Secular Jew?
Yirmeyahu Yovel, Spinoza and Other Heretics
The European Enlightenment and the Jews
Gartner
4. Jewishness as (Only) Religion
Moses Mendelssohn and the Haskalah
Reform Judaism
5. Jewishness as Scholarship/Jewishness as Embourgeoisement
The Wissenschaft des Judentums (Science of Judaism) movement
Acculturation in Western Europe
Paula Hyman, "Paradoxes of Assimilation," in Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History
6. The Modern Jewish Revolution
The Origins of Modern Jewish Politics
M. L. Lillienblum, in Lucy Dawidowicz, ed., The Golden Tradition
H.N. Bialik, City of Slaughter
7. Jewishness as Nationhood
Zionism - Pinsker, Herzl, Gordon, Nordau
Pinsker in Arthur Hertzberg, ed., The Zionist Idea
8. Jewishness as Nationhood, continued
Zionism, continued - Ahad Ha'am, Borokhov, the Mizrachi
9. Jewishness as Nationhood, continued
Diaspora Nationalism - Dubnow and Zhitlowsky
Charles Sherman, The Bund, Galuth Nationalism, Yiddishism
Dubnow, "From Jargon to Yiddish," in Great Yiddish Writers of the Twentieth Century, ed. Joseph Leftwich
Dubnow, "Letters on Old and New Judaism," in Dubnow: Nationalism and History, ed. Koppel Pinson
Zhitlowsky, "What is Secular Jewish Culture?" in Leftwich
Zhitlowsky, "The Jewish Factor in My Socialism," in Voices from the Yiddish, eds. Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg
Diaspora Nationalism, continued
The Bund and the Folkspartey
Basil Vlavianos and Feliks Gross, Struggle for Tomorrow
Dubnow, "Letters on Old and New Judaism," in Pinson
Vladimir Medem, "The Youth of a Bundist," in Dawidowicz
10. Jewishness as Political Commitment
Soviet Jewish Culture
Robert Weinberg, Stalin's Forgotten Zion
Jewish Political Behavior in America: Radicalism and Liberalism
Moses Rischin, The Promised City
Deborah Dash Moore, At Home in America
11. Jewishness as Spite/Jewishness as Culture
The Holocaust in Jewish Consciousness
Emil Fackenheim, "The Exposure to Auschwitz and the 614th Commandment" and "Jewish Faith and the Holocaust," in The Jewish Thought of Emil Fackenheim
Jack Kugelmass, "Rites of the Tribe: The Meaning of Poland for American Jewish Tourists," in YIVO Annual
Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
12. Jewishness as Culture, continued
Jewish Literature in non-Jewish languages - the example of Kafka
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, "What is a Minor Literature?" in Deleuze, ed., Kafka: Towards a Minor Literature
Kafka, "For a Small Literature," in Mark Anderson, ed. Reading Kafka
Franz Kafka, selected stories
13. Jewishness as Culture, continued
Jewish Music: The Klezmer Revival
Mark Slobin, Fiddler on the Move
Articles by Frank London and Alicia Svigals in Judaism
Jewish Identity and the Arts
Stephen Whitfield, In Search of American Jewish Culture
14. Jewishness as Sensibility
Modernity and Mutability
Yuri Slezkine, The Jewish Century
Film: Zelig
Alienation and Alterity
Hannah Arendt, "The Jew as Pariah," in The Jew as Pariah
Isaac Deutscher, "Who is a Jew?," in The Non-Jewish Jew and Other Essays
15. Summing Up
Diaspora and Homeland
Frederic Brenner, Diaspora
Secular Humanistic Judaism Today: Summary and Review
Current Issues in Israeli Society, Politics and Culture
Professor Yuval Elmelech
This course is designed to acquaint students with the fundamental
political and social issues facing Israel today. The course will start
with a short overeview of the historical background and the
contemporary sociodemographic profile of Isarel. We will then discuss
major social and political cleavages - along religious, national and
ethnic lines - and the role that social institutions (e.g. education,
economy, political system) play in the construction of the these
divisions. In this section we will also explore current debates over
the definition of Israeli national identity, and the increasing
tensions between the Jewish outlook and the democratic values of the
state. The third part will cover the Israeli political system, the
formal institutions of power (e.g. military, parliament, government),
and some of the most critical political debates facing the Israeli
polity.
Texts:
Arian Asher. 2005. Politics in Israel: The Second Republic. CQ Press.
Goldscheider C. 2002. Israel’s Changing Society: Population, Ethnicity and
Development. Westview Press.
Oz, Amos. 1992. In the Land of Israel. Harvest in Translation.
Semyonov M. and N. Lewin-Epstein (Eds.). 2004. Stratification in Israel: Class, Ethnicity
and Gender. Transaction.
Shaked G. (Ed.) 1999. Six Israeli Novellas. Godine.
Course Schedule:
1. Introduction
2. Historical Background
Peretz D. and G. Doron. 1997. Historical Origins of Israel. (1-46) (Reserve desk,
Stevenson Library)
Arian A. Introduction. (1–18).
The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel
www.knesset.gov.il/docs/eng/megilat_eng.htm
Appelfeld Aharon. In The Isles of St. George. (Shaked 292-325)
3. The “New Jew”
Zerubavel Y. 2002. The “Mythological Sabra” and Jewish Past: Trauma, Memory and
Contested Identities.” Israel Studies 7 (2): 115-144.
Almog O. 2003. Dunce Cap. (RW, 138-158)
Oz A. A Cosmic Jew. (193-217).
Shabtai Y. Uncle Peretz Takes a Flight. (Shaked 122-153).
Recommended
Brenner, Rachel F. The Holocaust and Its Fifty-Year-Old Commemoration: Have
We Reached the Limit? (RW, 43-64).
Bartov O. 1997. Chambers of Horror. Israel Studies 2 (2): 66-88.
Gertz Nurith. Historical Memory: Israeli Cinema and Literature in the 1980s and 1990s.
(RW, 208-226)
Almog O. 2003. From Blorit to Ponytail: Israeli Culture Reflected in Popular
Hairstyles. Israel Studies 8(2): 82-117.
4. The Israelis: Sociodemographic Profile
Arian A. People of Israel (19-47).
Goldscheider C. Nation Building, Population and Development. (3-21)
Central Bureau of Statistics. 2007. Israel in Figures.
www1.cbs.gov.il/publications/isr_in_n07e.pdf (skim through)
5. Religiosity and Politics
Arian A. Religion. (348-363).
Rosenthal D. 2003. The Haredim: Jewish, Jewish, Jewish. (RW, 173-194).
Oz A. Thank God for His Daily Blessings (3-23)
Liebman Charles S. Secular Judaism and its Prospects (RW, 29-48)
Recommended:
Oz A. The Finger of God. (51-73)
Kopelowitz E. 2001. Religious Politics and Israel’s Ethnic Democracy. Israel Studies 6
(3): 166-190.
Oz A. An Argument on Life and Death. (A) 103-123; (B) 127-153.
Wald K. D., S. Shye. 1994. Interreligious Conflict in Israel: The Group Basis of
Conflicting Visions. Political Behavior 16 (1): 157-178. (JSTOR).
Oz A. On Light and Shade and Love. (183-189)
Rapoport T., Y. Garb & A. Penso. 1995. Religious Socialization and Female
Subjectivity: Religious-Zionist Adolescent Girls in Israel. Sociology of Education 68 (1): 48-61. (JSTOR).
Schweid Eliezer. Jewish Religion and Israeli Democracy (RW, 7-29)
6. Social and Economic Inequality
Goldscheider C. Resources of Inequality: Education, Occupation and Income. (135-155).
Elazar Daniel J. 1997. Education in a Society at a Crossroads: A Historical
Perspectives on Israeli Schooling. Israel Studies 2(2): 40-65.
Arian A. Political Economy. (48-61, 76-82)
Shafir G. and Y. Peled. Citizenship and Stratification in an Ethnic Democracy (S&L 365-
384).
Recommended:
Rosolio D. 2004. The Transformation of the Kibbutz: From a Classless to a Class Society
(S&L 143-154).
Swirski S. and Konor-Attias E. 2005. Israel: A Social Report.
www.adva.org/UserFiles/File/adva_israel_2005_english.pdf
Doron A. 2001. Social Welfare Policy in Israel: Developments in the 1980s and 1990s.
Israel Affairs 7 (4): 153-180.
Semyonov M., et al. 2002. Labor Market Competition, Perceived Threat, and
Endorsement of Economic Discrimination Against Foreign Workers in Israel. Social Problems 49 (3): 416-432.
Rosenhek Z. 2004. Migration Regimes, Intra-State Conflicts, and the Politics of
Exclusion and Inclusion: Migrant Workers in the Israeli Welfare state. (S&L 253-
280)
Ben-Porat A. 2004. Class Structure in Israel: From Statehood to the 1980s. (S&L 105-
118).
7. Ethnic Diversity: Introduction
Goldscheider C. Ethnic Diversity; Jewish and Arab populations of Israel. (23-43).
Goldscheider C. Urbanization, Internal Migration and Residential Integration. (89-107).
Kimmerling Baruch. The End of Hegemony and the Onset of Cultural Plurality. (RW,
112-129)
8. The National Divide: Non-Jewish Minorities
Goldscheider C. Arab Israelis: Demography, Dependency, and Distinctiveness. (65-89).
Sa’di Ahmed. H. 2004. Incorporation Without Integration: Palestinian Citizens in Israel’s
Labor Market. (S&L 231-252).
Rosenhek Z. and M. Shalev. The Contradictions of Palestinian Citizenship in Israel:
Inclusion and Exclusion in the Israeli Welfare State. (RW, 288-315)
Oz A. The Dawn. (155-181).
Recommended:
Ghanem Asad. The Palestinian-Arab Minority in Israel: Historical Background (RW, 11-
27).
Sa’di Ahmed. H. Catastrophe, Memory and Identity: Al-Nakbah as a Component of
Palestinian Identity. Israel studies 7 (2): 175-198.
Oz A. Just A Peace. (pp. 77-84).
Grossman David. “Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel. (RW,
250-277).
Rosenthal D. 2003. The Bedouin: Tribes, Tents and Satellite Dishes (pp. 278-291).
Rosenthal D. 2003. The Druze: Between Modernity and Tradition. (pp. 292-304).
Bernstein D. Expanding the Split Labor Market Theory: Between and Within Sectors of
the Split Labor Market of Mandatory Palestine. (S&L, 175-199).
Semyonov M. 1988. Bi-Ethnic Labor Markets, Mono-Ethnic Labor Markets, and
Socioeconomic Inequality. American Sociological Review 53 (2): 256-266 (JSTOR).
Abu-Saad I. 1997. The Education of Israel’s Negev Bedouin. Israel Studies. 2(2): 21-40.
Smooha Sammy. The Advances and Limits of the Israelization of Israel’s Palestinian
Citizens. (RW, 9-30).
Brenner R. F. 2001. The Search For Identity in Israeli Arab Fiction. Israel Studies 6 (3):
91-112.
9. Non-Jewish Minority: The “Ethnic Democracy” Debate
Dowty A. 1999. Is Israel Democratic? Israel Studies 4 (2): 1-16.
Gavison R. 1999. Jewish and Democratic? Israel Studies 4 (1) 44-73.
Hareven A. 2002. Being an Arab Citizen in Israel. (RW, 222-227).
Manna A. 2002. Being an Arab Citizen in a Jewish and Democratic State.(RW, 212-217).
Natur S. 2002. Israel as a State of All its Citizens. (RW, 228-232).
Recommended:
Smooha, S. 1997. Ethnic Democracy: Israel as an Archetype. Israel Studies 2.2. (198-
241).
Ghanem A., N. Rouhana, and O. Yiftachel. 1998. Questioning Ethnic Democracy: A
Response to Sammy Smooha. Israel Studies 3 (2) 253-268.
Espanioly H. 2002. A Jewish and Democratic. (RW, 233-236)
10. Ethnicity and Immigration: The Early Years
Goldscheider C. Immigration, Nation Building and Ethnicity. (43-65).
Gorny Y. 2001. The ’Melting Pot’ in Zionist Thought. Israel Studies 6 (3): 54-70.
Oz A. The Insult and the Fury. (28-48).
11. Ethnic Diversity: Eastern and Western Jews
Goldscheider C. Ethnic Diversity. (23-43).
Ben-Rafael E., and S. Sharot. Ethnicity and Society (RW, 3-23)
Yaar E. 2005. Continuity and Change in Israeli Society: The Test of the Melting
Pot. Israel Studies 10(2): 91-128.
Dahan-Kalev H. 2001. You’re So Pretty – You Don’t Look Moroccan. Israel Studies 6
(1): 1-14.
Recommended:
Yiftachel, Oren and Erez Tzfadia. Between Periphery and 'Third Space': Identity of
Mizrahim in Israel's Development Towns. (RW, 203-235).
Cohen Y. and Y. Haberfeld. 2004. Second Generation Jewish Immigrants in Israel: Have
the Ethnic Gaps in Schooling and Earnings Declined? (S&L 17-36).
Lewin-Epstein and M. Semyonov. 2004. Migration, Ethnicity and Inequality:
Homeownership in Israel. (S&L 419-446).
Shokeid M. 2001. On the Sin We Did Not Commit in the Research of Oriental Jews.
Israel Studies 6 (1): 15-33.
12. The “New” Immigrants
Adler Shmuel. Israel’s Absorption Policies Since the 1970s (RW, 135-144).
Paltiel et al. Immigrants From the Former USSR in Israel in the 1990s. (RW, 284-325).
Rosenthal D. 2003. The Russians. (RW, 130-147).
Ben-Rafael et al. Identity and Language: The Social Insertion of Soviet Jews in Israel.
(RW, 364-388).
Lazin Fred. Israel and Ethiopian Jewish Immigrants. (RW, 55-62).
Ben-David A., A. Ben-Ari. 1997. The Experience of Being Different: Black Jews
in Israel. Journal of Black Studies 27 (4): 510-527. (JSTOR).
Recommended:
Beenstock M. 1996. Failure to Absorb: Remigration by Immigrants into Israel.
International Migration Review 30 (4): 950-978. (JSTOR).
Swirski S and B. Swirski. Adva Center. Ethiopian Israelis: Housing, Employment,
Education. Equality Monitor 2002 http://www.adva.org/UserFiles/File/equ-mon-eth-eng.pdf.
Ribner D. S., and R. Shindler. 1996. The Crisis of Religious Identity Among Ethiopian
Immigrants in Israel. Journal of Black Studies 27 (1): 104-117. (JSTOR).
13. Women and Men
Goldscheider C. Changing Roles of Israeli Women and Men. (155-175).
Izraeli Dafna N. 2004. Gendering Military Service in The Israel Defense Forces (S&L
281-312).
Mizrachi B. 2004. Elite Educational Institutions and the Recruitment of Women into
National Elite Positions in Israel. (S&L 349-364).
Recommended:
Lubin O. 1999. Body and Territory: Women in Israeli Cinema. Israel Studies 4 (1):
175-188.
Sasson-Levy O. .2002. Contrasting Identities at the Margins: Masculinities
and Citizenship in the Israeli Army. Sociological Quarterly 43 (3): 357-384.
Herzog H. 1998. Homefront and Battlefront: The Status of Jewish and Palestinian
Women in Israel. Israel Studies 3(1): 61-85.
Haberfeld Y. and Y. Cohen. 2004. Earnings Gaps Between Israel’s Native-Born men and
Women. (S&L 313-330).
14. The Israeli Family
Goldscheider C. Marriage, Family, and Intermarriage. (195-217).
Spilerman S. Y. Elmelech. 2001. Israeli Attitudes about Inter Vivos Transfers. The
Levy Economics Institute. Working Paper No. 341. (www.levy.org).
Almog R. Shrinking. (Shaked, 3-36).
Recommended:
Rosenthal D. 2003. Marriage, Polygamy, Adultery and Divorce Israeli-Style (327-
356).
Friedlander D. C. Feldmann. 1993. The Modern Shift to Below-Replacement Fertility:
Has Israel’s Population Joined the Process? Population Studies 47 (2): 295-306. (JSTOR).
Katz R., N. Pesach. 1985. Adjustment to Divorce in Israel: A Comparison
Between Divorced Men and Women. Journal of Marriage and the Family 47 (3): 765-771. (JSTOR).
Okun B.S. 1997. Innovation and Adaptation in Fertility Transition: Jewish
Immigrants to Israel from Muslim North Africa and the Middle East. Population Studies 51 (3): 317-335. (JSTOR)
Semyonov and Lewin-Epstein. 2004. The Impact of Parental Transfers on Living
Standards of Married Children. (S&L 155-174).
15. Security, Militarism and Conflict
Arian A. Defense. (324-336).
Barak O. and G. Sheffer. 2007. The Study of Civil-Military Relations in Israel:
A New Perspective. Israel Studies 12 (1): 1-27.
Ben-Eliezer, U., 1995. A Nation-In-Arms: State, Nation, and Militarism in
Israel’s First Years. Comparative Studies in Society and History 37 (2): 264-285. (JSTOR)
Sagi A. 1998. The Meaning of Akedah in Israeli Culture and Jewish Tradition. Israel
Studies 3 (1): 16-24.
Levy Yagil, Lomsky-Feder Edna and Harel Noa. 2007. From “Obligatory Militarism” to
“Contractual Militarism:” Competing Models of Citizenship. Israel Studies 12 (1): 127-148.
Vinitzky-Seroussi V. 2000. ’A Knock on the Door:’ Managing Death in the Israeli
Defense Forces. Sociological Quarterly 41 (3): 391-412.
Arian A. 2005. Social Resilience in Israel, in The Concept of Social Resilience (pp. 10-
35). www.neaman.org.il/NeamanHeb/UpLoadFiles/DGallery/4598681163.pdf
Recommended:
Grossman D. Yani on the Mountain. (Shaked, 36-121).
Sasson-Levy O. .2002. Contrasting Identities at the Margins: Masculinities and
Citizenship in the Israeli Army. Sociological Quarterly 43 (3): 357-384.
Cohen Y. 1988. War and Social Integration: The Effects of the Israeli-Arab Conflict on
Jewish Emigration from Israel. American Sociological Review. 53 (6): 908-918. (JSTOR).
Bilu and Witztum. 2000. War-related Loss and Suffering in Israeli Society. Israel
Studies 5 (2): 1-31.
Peri, Yoram. 1996. The Radical Social Scientists and Israeli Militarism. Israel Studies 1
(2): 230-266
16. Political System and Political Culture
Arian A. Political Parties. (117-165)
Arian A. the Electoral System. (202-211)
Knesset English Homepage: www.knesset.gov.il/main/eng/home.asp
Arnoff M.J. 1993. The Origins of Israeli Political Culture. (RW, 47-63).
Arian A. Aspect of Political Culture (413-444).
Oz A. The Tender Among You, and Very Delicate. (85-101).
Recommended:
Sharkansky I. 1993. Israel’s Political Economy. In Sprinzak E. & L. Diamond (Eds.).
Israeli Democracy Under Stress. Lynne Rienner Publishers. (RW, 153-173).
Nachmias D., I. Sened. 2001.Governance and Public Policy. Israel Affairs 7(4): 3-
20.
Shalev M. 1999. Have Globalization and Liberalization “Normalized” Israel’s Political
Economy? (RW, 121-148).
17. The “Americanization” of Israeli Culture
Azaryahu M. 2000. McIsrael? On the “Americanization of Israel. Israel Studies 5 (1):
41-64.
Diamond J. S. 2000. ’And Never the Twain Shall Meet’? Reflections on the
Americanization of Israeli Culture. Israel Studies 5 (1): 330-336.
Recommended:
Cohen, Yinon. 1996. Economic Assimilation in the United States of Arab and Jewish
Immigrants from Israel and the Territories. Israel Studies 1.2 (MUSE)
Goldscheider C. The Jewish Diaspora and Palestine. (241-263).
18. Review and Conclusions
Diaspora and Homeland
Professor Cecile E. Kuznitz
In recent years the concept of Diaspora has gained widespread
popularity as a way of thinking about group identity and its
relationship to place. In an era of increasing migration and
globalization, individuals are both more likely to leave their homeland
and to maintain links on it. In this course we will read some recent
theoretical work on Diaspora and then examine the first and
longest-lived Diasporic minority group: the Jewish people, which has
maintained a distinct religious and ethnic identity during a worldwide
dispersion lasting two thousand years. We will look at how Jews’
attitudes towards homeland and Diaspora have changed over time, as
place has become increasingly important as a basis of secular identity
in the modern period. We will then examine other Diasporic groups,
including Africans and Southeast Asians. Readings will include
theoretical writings and literature as well as historical studies. For
a final project, students will choose to examine a group not discussed
in class.
Readings:
Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas: An Introduction
Jewish Publication Society, Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures
Raymond P. Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People
Michael Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora
Judith Brown, Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies
Schedule of Class Meetings:
1. Introduction to the course
I. Theoretical Frameworks
2. Defining Diaspora
William Safran, “Diasporas in Modern Societies: Myths of Homeland and Return,” Diaspora (Spring 1991), 83-99.
Khachig Tololyan, “Rethinking Diaspora(s),” Diaspora vol. 5 no. 1(1996): 3-36.
Robin Cohen, Global Diasporas: An Introduction, 21-29 and 177-187.
3. Defining Diaspora, continued; Jews and other Diasporics
James Clifford, “Diasporas,” Cultural Anthropology vol. 9 no. 3 (August 1994) 302-315.
Kim Butler, “Defining Diaspora, Refining a Discourse.” Diaspora vol. 10, no. 2 (2001): 189-219.
William Safran, “The Jewish Diaspora in a Comparative and Theoretical Perspective,” Israel Studies vol. 10 no. 1 (2005), 36-41.
Daniel Boyarin and Jonathan Boyarin, “Diaspora: Generation and the Ground of Jewish Identity,” Critical Inquiry vol. 19 no. 4 (Summer 1993), 714-723.
II. The Jewish Diaspora
4. Ancient Jewish History and the Invention of Diaspora
Scheindlin, 1-20 (skim) and 21-49.
In Tanakh: Gen. 11:27-13:18.
Ex. 2:23-3:17, 6:2-8, 23:23-33.
[assignment continues next page]
Num. 13-14:24.
Joshua 1:1-9, 6:1-20, 10:1-14, 21:43-22:6.
II Kings 17:1-23, 23:27-25:30.
Ezra 1-3, 6:14-22.
5. Early Jewish Reactions to Diaspora and Exile
In Tanakh: Lev. 26:3-44.
Jer. 32:1-5, 16-44.
Ezek. 37:1-14, 38
Psalms 137, 126.
Lamentations 1.
Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:1-12, and 40:1-11.
Philip Alexander, ed., Textual Sources for the Study of Judaism. 72-74.
Scheindlin, 51-69.
Eric Gruen, “Diaspora and Homeland,” in Diasporas and Exiles, ed. H. Wettstein, 18-37.
6. Jewish Religious Perspectives on Diaspora
Scheindlin, 132-136, 163-180.
Joseph Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 71-83.
Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, eds., The Jew in the Modern World, 177 and 183-187. (Hereafter MFR)
Norman Lamm, The Religious Thought of Hasidism, 513-537.
7. Rejection of the Diaspora in Modern Jewish Politics: Zionism
Scheindlin, 180-187 and 217-224.
In MFR: Bilu, 532-533.
Herzl, 533-538
Ahad Ha'am, 541-543
Mizrahi, 546
Zangwill, 550-55
Buber and Cohen, 571-577
Hazaz, 619-622.
8. Embrace of the Diaspora in Modern Jewish Politics: Diaspora Nationalism
In MFR: The Bund, 419-423.
Simon Dubnow, “Letters on Old and New Judaism,” in Dubnow: Nationalism and History, ed. Koppel Pinson, 76-115, 131-142 and 242-249.
9. Contemporary Diaspora - Israel Relations
Gabi Sheffer, “Is the Jewish Diaspora Unique,” Israel Studies vol. 10 no. 1 (2005), 1-35.
Caryn Aviv and David Shneer, New Jews: The End of the Jewish Diaspora, 1-20, 50-59.
10. Diaspora and Homeland in Jewish Art
Frederic Brenner, Diaspora, selected photos and essays.
Philip Roth, Operation Shylock, 17-48.
III. The African Diaspora
11. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Origins of the African Diaspora
Cohen, 31-42.
Michael Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora, 59-108.
12. Black Responses to Diaspora
Gomez, 109-175.
13. Pan-African and Back-to-Africa Movements
Gomez, 175-192.
Colin Legum, Pan-Africanism, 13-37.
Elliot P. Skinner, “The Dialectic Between Diasporas and Homelands,” in Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, ed. Joseph E. Harris, 11-37.
14. Varieties of Black Nationalist Thought
William Van Deburg, Modern Black Nationalism, 1-18, 23-31, 40-58, 64-72, 78-83, and 275-294.
15. African – African-American Relations: A Personal Account
Philppe Wamba, Kinship, 71-135.
16. Migration Patterns in the African Diaspora
Gomez, 193-218.
Cohen, 127-153.
IV. The South Asian Diaspora
17. Overview of the South Asian Diaspora
Cohen, 57-81.
Judith Brown, Global South Asians: Introducing the Modern Diaspora, 9-58.
18. South Asians Creating New Communities
Brown, 59-111.
19. South Asians Looking Forward and Back
Cohen, 105-115.
Brown, 112-170.
20. Literature and Film of the Indian Diaspora
V.S. Naipaul, Literary Occasions, 35-44 and 181-195.
Jhumpa Lahiri, The Interpreter of Maladies, selections.
Films: Mississippi Masala, dir. Mira Nair
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, dir. Stephen Frears.
V. Other Case Studies of Diasporic Groups
21. Armenians, Chinese, Lebanese
Cohen, 42-55, 83-104, and 187-196.
22. Guest speaker: Prof. Jeffrey Jurgens, Anthropology
VI. Student Presentations
23. Student presentations
24. Summary and Review
25. Final Examination
Jewish Women: Gender Roles and Cultural Change
Professor Cecile E. Kuznitz
Introduction:
This course will draw on both historical and memoir literature to examine the lives of Jewish women and men and their changing social, economic, and religious lives across the medieval and modern periods. We will consider the status of women in Jewish law and then look at issues including forms of women’s religious expression; marriage and family patterns; the differing impact of enlightenment and secularization on women in Western and Eastern Europe; and the role of women in the Zionist and labor movements in Europe, Israel, and the United States. Among the central questions we will ask is how women’s roles changed from the medieval to the modern period. Did modernity in fact herald an era of greater opportunity for Jewish women? How did their experiences differ from those of Jewish men?
Readings:
The following books may be purchased in the bookstore or found on reserve in Stevenson Library:
Judith Baskin, Jewish Women in Historical Perspective
Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law
Glikl of Hameln, Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
Mark Raider and Miriam Raider-Roth, The Plough Women
Puah Rakowsky, My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman
Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People
Pauline Wengeroff, Rememberings
All other readings are available on-line on Reserve Web as indicated on the syllabus by (RW).
Schedule of Class Meetings:
Week 1 - Introduction to the course
Week 2 - The status of women in traditional Jewish society
Rachel Biale, Women in Jewish Law, 3-43, 256-266, and additional chapters tba.
Judith Romney Wegner, “The Image and Status of Women in Classical Rabbinic Judaism,”in Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, ed. Baskin, 73-93
Saul Berman, “The Status of Women in Halakhic Judaism,” in The Jewish Woman, ed. Elizabeth Koltun, 114-128 (RW)
Week 3 - Women’s history and Jewish women’s history; Jewish women in the Middle Ages
Gerda Lerner, “Placing Women in History” and “The Challenge of Women’s History,” in The Majority Finds its Past, 145-159 and 168-180 (RW)
Paula Hyman, “Gender and Jewish History,” Tikkun 3 no. 1 (Jan. 1988), 35-38 (RW)
Shulamit Magnus, “Out of the Ghetto” Integrating the Study of Jewish Women into the Study of the Jews,” Judaism 39 (Winter 1990), 28-36 (RW)
Raymond Scheindlin, A Short History of the Jewish People, 97-121and 149-164
Jacob Katz, “The Family,” Tradition and Crisis, 113-124 (RW)
Judith Baskin, “Jewish Women in the Middle Ages” and Chava Wiessler, “Prayers in Yiddish and the Religious World of Ashkenazic Women” in Baskin, 101-120 and 169-187
Excerpts from the Ku Bukh, Mayse Bukh, and Tsene-rene in No Star Too Beautiful, ed. and trans. Joachim Neugroschel 33-54 (RW)
Week 4 - A women’s life in early modern Ashkenaz: Glikl of Hamel
Glikl of Hameln, Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln, 1-145
Barnavi, Historical Atlas of the Jewish People, vii-ix (RW)
Week 5 - Glikl, continued
Glikl of Hameln, 146-277
Michael Stanislawski, Autobiographical Jews, 44-53 (RW)
Natalie Zemon Davis, Women on the Margins, 50-62 (RW)
**FIRST PAPER DUE**
Week 6 - Emancipation and assimilation in Western Europe
Scheindlin, 164-171
Deborah Hertz, “Seductive Conversion in Berlin, 1770-1809,” in Jewish Apostasy in the Modern World, ed. Todd Endelman, 48-82 (RW)
Deborah Hertz, “Emancipation Through Intermarriage?,” and Marion Kaplan, “Tradition and Transition” in Baskin, 193-204 and 208-242
R. Varnhagen in Mendes-Flohr & Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World, 260-1 (RW)
Steven Lowenstein, The Berlin Jewish Community, 162-176 (RW)
Paula Hyman, “Paradoxes of Assimilation,” in Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History, 10-49 (RW)
Week 7 - BREAK - NO CLASS
Week 8 - Between tradition and modernity: Pauline Wengeroff
Scheindlin, 173-187
Pauline Wengeroff, Rememberings, xiii-xv, 3-67 (skim), 71-243, and 270-280
Shulamit Magnus, “Pauline Wengeroff and the Voice of Jewish Modernity,” in Gender and Judaism, ed. Tamar Rudavsky, 181-190 (RW)
Week 9 - Jewish marriage and family patterns; Sexuality and gender roles
Paula Hyman, “The Modern Jewish Family: Image and Reality,” in The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory, ed. David Kraemer, 179-190 (RW)
David Biale, “Childhood, Marriage, and the Family in the East European Jewish Enlightenment,” in The Jewish Family: Myths and Reality, eds. Steven Cohen and Paula Hyman 45-57. (RW)
Marion Kaplan, The Making of the Jewish Middle Class, 85-116 (RW)
Hyman, Paula, “The Sexual Politics of Jewish Identity,” in Gender and Assimilation in Modern Jewish History, 134-169 (RW)
Sander Gilman, Freud, Race, and Gender, 36-92 (RW)
Otto Weiniger in The Jew and the Modern World, 269-272 (RW)
Week 10 - East European Jewish women in a radical age: Puah Rakowsky
Hyman, “East European Jewish Women in An Age of Transition,” in Baskin, 270-283.
Puah Rakowsky, My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman, 1-19 (skim) and 20-196
Week 11 - Pioneers in Palestine
Scheindlin, 217-233
Deborah S. Bernstein, “Daughters of the Nation” in Baskin, 287-306
M. Raider and M. Raider-Roth, eds. The Plough Women, xxi-xxiii, lix-lxxii and 109-165 plus additional selections tba
“The Worker’s Wife,” in The Jew and the Modern World, 600-603 (RW)
Week 12 - American Jewish women and the immigrant experience; The Holocaust
Scheindlin, 187-215
Paula Hyman, “Gender and the Immigrant Jewish Experience in the United States,” in Baskin, 312-331
Susan Glenn, Daughters of the Shtetl, 132-166 (RW)
Yehuda Bauer, “The Problem of Gender,” in Rethinking the Holocaust, 167-185 (RW)
Joan Ringelheim, “Women and the Holocaust, “ in Baskin (first edition), 243-262 (RW)
Week 13 - Contemporary American Jewish society
Changing religious roles for American Jewish women:
Ellen M. Umansky, “Spiritual Expressions,” in Baskin, 337-358.
Pamela Nadell, “Women Who Would Be Rabbis,” in Gender and Judaism, ed. Tamar Rudavsky, 123-132 (RW)
American Jewish women and the feminist movement;
Paula E. Hyman, “Jewish Feminism Faces the American Women's Movement,” in American Jewish Women's History, ed. Pamela S. Nadell (RW)
Deborah E. Lipstadt, “Feminism and American Judaism,” in Women and American Judaism, eds. Pamela Nadell and Jonathan Sarna, 291-304 (RW)
Representations of Jewish women in American popular culture:
Prell, Riv-Ellen, "Rage and Representation: Jewish Gender Stereotypes in American Culture" in American Jewish Women's History, 238-255 (RW)
Week 14 - Presentation of paper topics
Week 15 - Presentation of paper topics
Week 16 - Summary and review
**FINAL PAPERS DUE*
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