Joyce Z. and Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies
1155 East 60th Street, Room 302A
Chicago, IL 60637
773.702.7108
ccjs@uchicago.edu

 

Jewish Civilization 2021–2022

Jewish Civilization

JWSC 12000 (= RLST 22010; NEHC 22010; MDVL 12000) Jewish Civilization I – Ancient Beginnings to Medieval Period
01) Autumn T/Th 2:00 – 3:20 pm
Yiftach Ofek

02) Autumn M/W 1:30 – 2:50 pm
David Barak-Gorodetsky

03) Autumn T/Th 5:00 – 6:20 pm
Yiftach Ofek

JWSC 12001 (= RLST 22011; NEHC 22011) Jewish Civilization II – Early Modern to 21st Century
01) Winter T/Th 2:00 – 3:20 pm
Kenneth Moss

02) Winter M/W 1:30 – 2:50 pm
Jessica Kirzane

03) Winter T/Th 5:00 – 6:20 pm
Yiftach Ofek

JWSC 12004 (= RLST 22013, GNSE 16004) Jewish Civilization III – Mothers and Motherhood in Modern Jewish Culture
Spring M/W 1:30 – 2:50 pm
Jessica Kirzane

From sentimentalized keepers of Jewish tradition to objects of ridicule burdened by stereotypes of overbearing, guilt-inducing behavior, Jewish mothers hold a prominent role in Jewish self-representations. Writing alongside or against these stereotypes, Jewish mothers themselves have struggled with the obligations and expectations of Jewish motherhood. Engaging with a variety of literary, theological, historical, and pop culture texts, this class explores Jewish feminisms in relation to motherhood, Jewish fictions of motherhood, and the role of motherhood in Jewish religious life and thought. This course includes material from a variety of different contexts for modern Jewish life, but places particular emphasis on American Jewish history and culture.

JWSC 12005 (= NEHC 12005, RLST 22014, REES 27005) Jewish Civilization III – Narratives of Assimilation
Spring T/Th 2:00 – 3:20 pm
Bozena Shallcross

This course offers a survey into the manifold strategies of representing the Jewish community in East Central Europe beginning from the nineteenth century to the Holocaust. Engaging the concept of liminality-of a society at the threshold of radical transformation-it will analyze Jewry facing uncertainties and challenges of the modern era and its radical changes. Students will be acquainted with problems of cultural and linguistic isolation, hybrid identity, assimilation, and cultural transmission through a wide array of genres-novel, short story, epic poem, memoir, painting, illustration, film. The course draws on both Jewish and Polish-Jewish sources; all texts are read in English translation.