The Swig Judaic Studies Program Courses

Courses offered by the program include:

• THRS - 325 Modern Jewish Thought
• HIST - 322 The Holocaust
• HEBR - 101 First Semester Hebrew
• HEBR - 102 Second Semester Hebrew
• HEBR - 398 Directed Reading and Research.
• GERM - 318 Jewish Literature and Culture in 20th Century Europe

Other courses offered from time to time have included:

• American Jewish Writers: This course focuses on Jewish writers in America since 1900, including the works of Abraham Cahan, Nathaniel West, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Phillip Roth, E.L. Doctorow, Cynthia Ozick, J.B. Singer and Grace Paley.
• Introduction to Judaism: A basic introduction to the religious civilization of Judaism as it has evolved from ancient times to the present. Students learn about the workings of Jewish law, liturgy and scriptural interpretation and about the organization of sacred days in the Jewish calendar. Offered regularly.
• Jewish Christian Relationship: This course analyzes the cultural foundations of relationships between Judaism and Christianity. Its major focus is on how Jewish and Christian identities have involved each other--institutionally, symbolically and imaginatively. The course explores Jewish Christian relationships from Late Antiquity through the modern and postmodern experience, based on a careful reading of classic and modern scholarship sources from Jewish and Christian oulooks. Offered regularly.
• Jewish Approaches to the Bible: An introduction to the Jewish exegesis, the interpretation of Scripture. The course familiarizes students with the distinctive ways in which Jewish commentators have understood and rendered the Hebrew scriptures. Many of the most famous stories and parables about Biblical figures, such as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and Miriam, are presented and discussed. This course also examines how fundamental Jewish beliefs, laws and values were developed through Scriptural interpretation.
• Kabbalah, Jewish Mystical Traditions: An introduction to Jewish mysticism, from its source in the ancient world through the classic mystical texts of medieval Jewry and their impact on subsequent Jewish thought and practice. Particular attention is given to the Zohar, the "Bible" of Jewish mysticism and to Jewish numerology, cosmology and legendary accounts of mystical characters and experiences.
• Internship: The internship in Jewish Studies may incude any of a range of intellectually and socially productive projects. Examples include working with: Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco (Psychology); the Holocaust Oral History Center (History); a rabbi and synagogue (Theology); local sociological surveys and studies of the Jewish population (Sociology); the Israeli Consul General's office or organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (Politics).

For information on the Judaic Studies Minor Program, consult the description in the Enrichment Section of this catalog. For further information on the Swig Judaic Studies Program, contact the Program office.