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Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

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  • CAS JS 260: The Holocaust
    Rise of German (and European) antisemitism; rise of Nazism; 1935 Nuremberg Laws; the initial Jewish reaction; racial theory; organizing mass murder including ghettos, concentration camps, killing squads, and gas chambers; bystanders and collaborators (countries, organizations, and individuals); Jewish resistance; post-Holocaust religious responses; moral and ethical issues. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS JS 261: Representations of the Holocaust in Literature and Film
    How can we understand the impact of the Holocaust and its ongoing legacies' Holocaust representation in literature, film and memorials, including discussions of bystander complicity and societal responsibilities, testimonial and fictive works by Wiesel and Levi, documentaries and feature films. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Ethical Reasoning, Historical Consciousness.
    • Ethical Reasoning
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS JS 280: Israeli Popular Music
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLH212) or equivalent. - Advanced-intermediate Hebrew language and culture course for those who have completed at least four semesters' college Hebrew or equivalent. Introduction to Israeli cultural history through music. Students expand vocabulary and further develop writing, reading, listening, and conversational skills in Hebrew. Effective Spring 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS JS 281: Advanced Modern Hebrew: Voices in Israeli Society
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLH212) or the equivalent as determined by placement test. - This course provides advanced language practice and introduction to globally diverse groups in Israeli society: Orthodox and secular, immigrants and veteran immigrants, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews, Arab-Israelis and more. Through reading a variety of academic and newspapers articles, short stories, poems and viewing interviews, documentaries and movies, students will enhance their interpretation, writing and oral skills while acquiring fundamental knowledge about ethnic/religious/national/social diversity in Israel. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Digital/Multimedia Expression.
    • Digital/Multimedia Expression
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
  • CAS JS 282: Sixth-Semester Hebrew: Food Culture in Israel
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLH311) or placement test results. - This course is taught in Hebrew. Israel has a rich cuisine that reflects the diversity of Israeli society, Jewish and Arab culinary traditions, and a wide range of regional influences. Through reading/viewing a variety of authentic materials, students will enhance their language and cultural proficiency. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Creativity/Innovation.
    • Creativity/Innovation
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • CAS JS 283: Israeli Culture through Film (in English translation)
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar (WR 120 or equivalent) - Israeli society, from its origins to contemporary times, through the medium of film. Topics include immigration; war; the ongoing impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society; trials of women; war; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Introduction to film analysis and interpretive methods. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS JS 285: Israel: History, Politics, Culture, Identity
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) - Using a broad array of readings, popular music, documentaries, film and art, this course explores Israel's political system, culture, and society, including the status of minorities in the Jewish state; post-1967 Israeli settlement projects; and the struggle for Israel's identity. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing- Intensive Course, The Individual in Community, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • The Individual in Community
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS JS 286: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
    History of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, analysis of conflicting narratives through primary sources and film. Students present their own reflections on the conflict and debate possibilities of resolution. Counts toward majors and minors in History, International Relations, Middle East & North Africa Studies, and Jewish Studies. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS JS 311: Dead Sea Scrolls
    Examination of the ancient Hebrew documents discovered in the Judean desert. Their authorship; the religious significance of the Scrolls; their relations to Ancient Judaism and early Christianity; the controversy over their release and publication. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
    • Critical Thinking
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS JS 321: Moses
    From Philo to Freud, the richly varied afterlife of the biblical Moses figure, considered as an abiding preoccupation of western religions, theology, literary and visual art, and secular thought.
  • CAS JS 328: The Open Heaven: Apocalyptic Literature in Early Judaism and Christianity
    Examines literary and historical roots of "apocalypticism" in early Judaism and Christianity. Attention to literary genre, symbolism, metaphor, heaven, hell, angelology, demonology, attitudes toward the end of the world. Examines relationship of apocalypticism to shamanism, mysticism, magic, gnosticism, liturgy.
  • CAS JS 330: Hebrew Narrative: Biblical and Modern
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLH212) - Narrative techniques in the Bible and in modern Hebrew texts. Selections from Genesis II, Samuel, and the book of Jonah, as well as short stories by Agnon, Appelfeld, Yehoshua, and others. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • CAS JS 331: Styles and Meaning of Hebrew Poetry: Modern Hebrew Poetry
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASLH312) or placement examination. - An introduction to contemporary Hebrew poetry and its roots, concentrating on both style and message. Readings include Bialik, Tshernichovski, Rahel, Greenberg, Shlonsky, Alterman, Goldberg, Ratosh, Pagis, Gilboa, Amihai and Zach.
  • CAS JS 340: Classical Jewish Thought
    Basic human and religious issues as they have been understood within the classical Jewish framework of God, the people of Israel, and Torah: good and evil, creation, the relationship of human beings to God and to one another.
  • CAS JS 341: Modern Jewish Thought
    Reading Jewish thinkers from the radical Enlightenment to twentieth century existentialism and Zionism, this course introduces some of the great philosophical debates on religion and secularism, revelation and scientific reason, and ethnic particularism and universal ethics.
  • CAS JS 343: Jewish Fundamentalisms
    Exploration of Jewish Fundamentalist identities: diverse global communities reflecting a strict interpretation of Jewish law, the formation of Haredi societies in the 19th century, unprecedented growth, marriages and family life, religious studies' social and symbolic centrality, economy, and Haredi trans-national communities. Effective Fall 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Teamwork and Collaboration .
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Teamwork/Collaboration
  • CAS JS 348: Philosophy and Mysticism: Jewish and Islamic Perspectives
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First-Year Writing Seminar; and one course from among the following: P hilosophy, Religion, Core Curriculum (CC101 and/or CC102) - A thematic introduction to mysticism and philosophy, with a focus on the dynamics of religious experience. Readings will be drawn from medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy; Sufi mysticism and philosophy; Kabbalah, Sufi poetry, Hebrew poetry from the Golden Age of Muslim Spain. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS JS 365: Music and the Holocaust
    Undergraduate prerequisite: First-Year writing seminar (CASWR 100 or 120.) - History and music of composers targeted during the Holocaust: classical music, jazz, and cabaret musical styles banned as "degenerate" by the Nazis. Particular focus on the art and music created in the Terezín (Theresienstadt) concentration camp. Effective Spring 2025, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Writing-Intensive Course.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Writing-Intensive Course
  • CAS JS 366: Fascism and the Holocaust in Italy
    The Fascist regime and the Holocaust in Italy: how the civic status of Italian Jews changed from the beginnings of discrimination against them to deportations of 1943, posing larger questions about bigotry and racism, and the role of bystander complicity. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
    • Aesthetic Exploration
    • Historical Consciousness
  • CAS JS 367: The Holocaust Through Film
    Undergraduate Prerequisites: First Year Writing Seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120). - An examination of film using the Holocaust as its central topic. What are the political and cultural effects when genocide is represented through film? Can feature films portray history, and if so, what are the consequences for an informed society? Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Writing- Intensive Course.
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Historical Consciousness
    • Writing-Intensive Course

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