The University at Buffalo established the Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage in 2009 as a multidisciplinary research and academic degree-granting center which will focus teaching and scholarship on the critical role the Jewish tradition has played in the development of Western civilization. Designed to be highly interdisciplinary, the mission of the Institute is to foster knowledge, inquiry and scholarly excellence, and to increase understanding of Judaism.
While it begins as an Institute, it will become a full-fledged department that will award B.A.s, M.A.s and Ph.D.s. It is important to note that this program is the first if its kind within the SUNY system to establish master and doctoral degree programs in the field of Jewish Studies.
Courses
SPRING 2010
JDS 202/RSP 202/HIS 231 Israel & the Emergence of Judaism
Paley: TR 9:30-10:50 AM, Fillmore 322
Reg #173246/225034/187606
Post-biblical Jews and Judaism; their adaptation to Greco-Roman life; rise of Jewish sectarianism; writing of the Talmud. How to critically read ancient texts in comparative contexts.
No prereqs.
JDS 210/RSP 210 Introduction to the Old Testament
Kopleman: TR 11:00-12:20 PM, Baldy 126
Reg # 478222/096491
Critical, thematic, historic, and literary study of the roots of Judeo-Christian tradition as recorded in the writings of ancient Israel; different methods of biblical criticism.
No prereqs.
JDS 214/RSP 214 The American Jewish Woman
Hall: TR 3:30-4:50 PM, Clemens 19
Reg # 165768/125668
Relationships and conflicts that shaped the identity of the American Jewish woman: Jewish women and the American women's rights movement; immigrant Jewish women and labor activism; impact of feminism on Judaism.
No prereqs.
JDS 225/RSP 225 Modern Jewish Thought
Pomazon: W 4:10-6:50 PM, Fillmore 322
Reg # 059838/177762
Religious diversity in modern Judaism, from Mendelssohn to Rosenzweig, Buber, Heschel, Kaplan and Levinas. Varieties of faith and practice as reflections of changing historical and theological perspectives. The impact of science, the Holocaust, the creation of the State of Israel.
No prereqs.
JDS 235 American Jewish Experience
Kotzin: MWF 10:00-10:50 AM, Norton 218
This course will examine the Jewish experience in America by studying American Jewish life from colonial beginnings to the present with a focus on immigration, assimilation, social mobility, education and the family, and group identity. A central question for the course is: how have American Jews understood what it means to be Jewish in America? By using this question as the focus, students will explore the ways in which American Jewish identities have been constructed through efforts to maintain Jewish distinctiveness while also integrating into the larger American society. Students will look at how Jewish tradition has adapted to America, how Jewish communal life developed in America, how American Jews built relationships with the international Jewish community, and how American Jews related with other Americans.
No prereqs.
JDS 262/ RSP 262 Topics in Hebrew Language & Literature
Paley: Arranged, Fillmore 343
Reg # 235081/413543
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
Hebrew grammar or that of other Semitic languages (not Arabic) and reading of various periods' literary texts in the original tongue.
Permission of instructor only to register.
JDS 304/CL 300/HIS 306 Mesopotamian Archeology
Paley: TR 12:30-1:50 PM, Fillmore 322
Reg # 273554/398816/056324
Studies the masterpieces of the architecture, painting, and sculpture of the societies that lived in the Tigris and Euphrates Valleys until the era of the Persian Empire.
No prereqs.
JDS 499 Independent Study
Wolf/Cohen/Paley: Arranged
Reg # 492719/170492/386594
Student may arrange for special courses of study with faculty through "Independent Study".
Permission of instructor only to register.
HEB 102 Elementary Modern Hebrew 2
Lipsky: TR 9:00-10:20 AM, Fillmore 325
Reg # 253265
In this course we will emphasize improved reading and writing skills. We’ll concentrate on more advance conversation and more complex grammatical patterns appropriate to this level; including present, and past tense. As with other language course, in order to keep ahead of the material, you will need to practice, drill, attend to homework and demonstrate good behavior and polite manners.
Prereq: HEB 101
HEB 202 Intermediate Hebrew 2
Lipsky: TR 11:00-12:20 PM, Fillmore 325
Reg # 325104
In this course we will emphasize improved reading and writing skills. We’ll concentrate on more advance conversation and more complex grammatical patterns appropriate to this level. We will cover ALL tenses; present, past, future and imperative tenses. We will use supplemental material to reinforce progress.
Prereq: HEB 201
HEB 499 Independent Study
Lipsky: Arranged
Reg # 250115
Student may arrange for special courses of study with faculty through "Independent Study".
Permission of instructor only to register.
HIS 308 Jewish Civilization II: From 1492 to the Present
Hughes: TR 2:00-3:50 PM, Norton 214
Reg # 158098
This class will explore the social, economic, religious, and political expressions of the Jewish people from 1492 until the modern period. The course will begin with an exploration of Jewish life in pre-partition Poland, Reformation Germany, and Renaissance Italy, and then turn to the Age of Emancipation and Enlightenment. The second half of the course will focus on the rise of the Jewish Question and the various attempts to solve it including emancipation, assimilationism, socialism, Zionism and other forms of Jewish nationalism, emigration to the New World, and Hitler’s Final Solution.
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.
HIS 454 The History of Medieval Jewish Thought
Hughes: T 9:00-11:40 AM, Park 532
Reg# 275078
This course will provide an intensive study of representative texts and issues in medieval Jewish philosophy and mysticism. In addition to reading texts penned by some of the great Jewish thinkers (e.g., Judah Halevi, Maimonides, Gersonides), we will focus on the historical and social contexts that made such philosophical and mystical activity possible. Attention will also be paid to the creative interactions between Jewish and non-Jewish thought.
The content of this course is variable and therefore it is repeatable for credit. The University Grade Repeat Policy does not apply.