This is a sequel to the HIST247 course. It will cover period from late medieval/early modern times to modernity. It will explore such issues in Jewish history as the Enlightenment (Haskalah), embourgeoisment, modern anti-Semitism etc. in both east and west. The course will require regular attendance and intensive reading of both primary and secondary sources.
 
 

CLASS SCHEDULE

1. Mon. 09/06 Introduction: From medieval times to modernity

Early modern period:

2. Wed. 09/08  New Era of Printing: Impact of Print on Jewish Culture

3. Mon. 09/13 Intellectual Responses to Crisis – Historiography and Kabbalah. Gershom Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism lecture 7 "Isaac Luria and His School"; Yerushalmi Zakhor ch. 3; J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch. 35, 52, HANDOUT: Uriel Da Costa.

4. Wed. 09/15 Messianic Expectations and Sabbatianism. (Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism lecture 8: "Sabbatianism and Mystical Heresy"; J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch. 51, 53)

5. Mon. 09/20 Protestant Reformation, Counter-Reformation and the Jews. (J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch.33-34; E-Reserves: M. Edwards "Against the Jews," S. Baron "John Calvin and the Jews," K. Stow "The Burning of the Talmud in 1553."

6. Wed. 09/22 Jews in Italy (Leon Modena An Autobiography of a Seventeenth-Century Venetian Rabbi, 75-180)

7. Mon. 09/27 Jews in Poland: Origins and Status. (E. Fram Ideals Face Reality pp. 1-67) 

8. Wed. 09/28 Jewish Community and Culture. (E. Fram Ideals Face Reality, pp. 67-129; Joseph Davis "The Reception of the Shulhan `Aruk" in AJS Review 26 no. 2 (2002). Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch.40/IV; ch. 43, Benjamin Slonik, responsa (hand-out).

9. Mon. 10/04  Intellectual crisis and "Precursors" of Modernity: Spinoza (J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World, ch.69; Jew in the Modern World pp. 57-58) PAPER TOPICS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE

Library resources: The Olin Library Special Collection. Assignments.

10. Wed. 10/06  Jews in Muslim Lands (Mark Cohen, "Islam and the Jews: Myths, Counter-Myths, History" in Jews among Muslims: Communities in Precolonial Middle East (NYU Press, 1996) N. Stillman The Jews of Arab Lands, 278, 288-92; 312-316, 318-321, 324-339, 349-356, 365-66; J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch. 83)

11. Mon. 10/11 The Meaning of Modernity and Social and Legal Changes (M. Meyer "Where Does the Modern Period of Jewish History Begin?", Judaism 24 (1975) available through Ereserves on the library web. Zvi Zahav "Sephardic Rabbinic Responses to Modernity" in Jews among Muslims: Communities in Precolonial Middle East (NYU Press, 1996)   MIDTERM DUE

Modernity:

12. Wed. 10/13 The Enlightenment: Moses Mendelssohn and the Berlin Haskalah (Moses Mendelssohn Jerusalem)

 Mon. 10/18  NO CLASS -- FALL BREAK

13. Wed. 10/19  Revolution and Emancipation. (Jew in the Modern World pp.114-135; 141-161) LIBRARY ASSIGNMENTS DUE

14 Mon. 10/25 Responses to Modernity I: Religious Reform (Jew in the Modern World pp. 250-253; 161-169; 177-178; 183-188; M. Meyer Origins of the Modern Jew p. 115-144) 

15. Wed. 10/27 Responses to Modernity II: Acculturation and Conversions (M. Meyer The Origins of the Modern Jew p. 85-115; Jew in the Modern World pp.256-259)

16. Mon. 11/01 Responses to Modernity III: Science of Judaism (M. Meyer The Origins of the Modern Jew p 144-183 - available on reserves, or hand-out; Y.H. Yerushalmi Zakhor "Modern Dilemmas: Historiography and Its Discontents"; Jew in the Modern World pp. 211-259). PAPER OUTLINES DUE.

17. Wed. 11/03  Responses to Modernity IV: Modern Orthodoxy (Jew in the Modern World pp.169-173; 197-211)

18. Mon. 11/08 Responses to Modernity VI: Jews in Eastern Europe (G. Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Jew in the Modern World lecture 9; J. Marcus Jew in the Medieval World ch. 54,55; 70)

19. Wed. 11/10: Jewish Women and Modernity. (P. Hyman Gender and Assimilation 10-92; Jew in the Modern World pp.260-262; 287-289)

20. Mon. 11/15  Stirrings of New Anti-Semitism. (Jew in the Modern World pp. 304-309; 331-334; 343-356)

FILM TIME AND PLACE TBA

21. Wed. 11/17 Jewish Nationalism: Zionism T. Herzl The Jewish State (entire) DRAFTS DUE

22. Mon. 11/22 Other Forms of Jewish Nationalisms (Jew in the Modern World pp. 532-566; 594-611; 417-428

Wed. 11/24 NO CLASS THANKSGIVING BREAK

23. Mon. 11/29 Migrations (Jew in the Modern World pp. 413-417, 463-465; P. Hyman Gender and Assimilation 93-133)

24. Wed. 12/01 Jews in Muslim Lands

25. Mon. 12/06 Israel-A Modern State

FILM TIME AND PLACE TBA

26. Wed. 12/07 Modern Jewish Identity (Jew in the Modern World p. 250-304) PAPERS DUE