2024–2025 Bulletin Addendum Minor in Israel Studies

The Minor in Israel Studies, offered by the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, provides students a comprehensive regional and interdisciplinary study of Israel’s history and diverse populations in the context of the Middle East. Areas of study offered include politics and international relations; languages, cultures, and the arts; religions; archaeology; Mediterranean climate and environment; and topics such as the communities of Ottoman and British Palestine, the Palestinians and their society, culture, and ideology, the ideology of Zionism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The program will lend critical insight into unfolding conversations, many with relevance far beyond Israel, about nationalism, liberalism, citizenship, globalization, technology, religion, ethnicity, and diaspora studies. The Minor in Israel Studies will encourage the participation of students and faculty from diverse backgrounds and a wide range of academic disciplines.

Learning Outcomes

Students graduating with a Minor in Israel Studies will:

• Acquire fundamental literacy about Israel and its history, both pre-modern and modern.
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of Israeli cultures and the arts.
• Demonstrate basic knowledge of major topics in Israeli politics and/or technology.
• Situate Israel in its cultural, social, and political regional contexts.
• Acquire proficiency in speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension in Hebrew at or above the ACTFL level of novice high.

Prerequisite

As a prerequisite or corequisite to the minor, students will complete two terms (or the equivalent) of Hebrew language instruction in order to acquire basic linguistic and cultural competency in the country’s primary language. 

Requirements

The Israel Studies minor requires six 4-unit courses. A grade of C or above is required in each course to receive units toward the minor.

There are two required courses:

• CAS HI 392/JS 285/LH 284 Israel History, Politics, Culture (as a gateway course)
• One course on other areas of the Middle East, chosen from the following list of four-unit classes:
  • CAS HI 389 Americans in the Middle East
  • CAS IR 312/PO 369 Comparative Developments in the Middle East
  • CAS IR 382/GE 382 Understanding the Modern Middle East
  • CAS XL 223 Introduction to Middle Eastern Literatures
  • CAS XL 380/WS 380/CI 380 Gender and Identity in Contemporary Middle Eastern Film

Electives

Four electives are required from the following list of four-unit classes, of which no more than two can be Hebrew language and culture courses (LH) at the 300 level or above. One course in Arabic language can also count as an elective (CAS LY 112–304).

• CAS AR 342/742/RN 390/690 Archaeology of the Holy Land
• CAS JS 100 Cultures of the Jews
• CAS JS 121/RN 104 Judaism, Christianity, Islam
• CAS JS 130/LH 250 Modern Hebrew Literature
• CAS JS/LH 283 Israeli Culture Through Film
• CAS JS 286/HI 393 Israeli Palestinian Conflict
• CAS JS/EE 385 Israel and the Environment
• CAS JS/EE 387 Environmental Law in Israel and the Mediterranean
• CAS LH 311/JS 281 Voices in Israeli Society
• CAS LH 312/JS 282 Food Culture in Israel
• CAS LH 330/JS 280 Israeli Popular Music
• CAS LH 340/JS 380 Israeli Culture Through Media
• CAS LY 112 Elementary Modern Arabic 2
• CAS LY 211 Second Year Modern Arabic 1
• CAS LY 212 Second Year Modern Arabic 2
• CAS LY 214 Levantine Arabic 1
• CAS LY 215 Levantine Arabic 2
• CAS LY 303 Third Year Modern Arabic 1
• CAS LY 304 Third Year Modern Arabic 2
• CAS LY 420 Arabic Media
• CAS RN 220/JS 250 Holy City