Undergraduate Courses

If you are new to UB, you will register after completing the orientation process. Current students can register on HUB during their enrollment appointment.

Courses in the Department of Jewish Thought cover a wide range of ideas and questions. While classes change each semester, students often explore topics such as:

• Ethics and political thought
• Scripture and interpretation
• Jewish and Christian relations
• Justice, law and society
• American Jewish experience
• Religion in global and historical contexts
• Modern revolutions and contemporary ideas
• World religions and comparative traditions

To see what is offered this semester, visit the course catalog. It is the official and most accurate source for course descriptions, requirements and policies.

Below are examples of the kinds of courses you might take in the Department of Jewish Thought. Actual offerings vary each term, so always confirm details in the Undergraduate Course Catalog.

• Foundations of Jewish history and tradition: Courses that introduce Judaism as a living tradition through texts, communities and key ideas from the ancient world to today.
• Ethics, politics and society: Classes that examine how Jewish thinkers and communities have shaped debates about justice, law and moral responsibility.
• Religion, culture and interpretation: Courses that explore how religions evolve, interact and influence each other across time.
• Violence, memory and identity: Classes that study how societies remember events such as the Holocaust and antisemitism across history, using literature, testimony and film.
• Global religious traditions: Courses that introduce major world religions and their ideas about humanity, nature and community.
• Contemporary thought and the more than human world: Classes that connect Jewish Thought with ecology, modern philosophy and new ways of understanding place and identity.
• Hebrew language study: Introductory and intermediate Modern Hebrew courses that build reading, writing, speaking and cultural understanding.

JDS 103 "Intro to Judaism"
Section AZ
Professor Alexandra Zirkle
Class #16113
MWF 12:00pm-12:50pm 
Baldy 111
Survey of Judaism and the rich Jewish legacy: basic philosophical, theological, social, and political values and practices of Judaism as they developed over time in a variety of social and political environments. This course is the same as RSP 104 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

JDS 199: “Modern Revolutions”
Section COH
Professor Richard Cohen
Class# 20364
MWF 1:00pm-1:50pm
Clemens 107
What are political revolutions? How have they changed our world? Evolution occurs by gradual small changes, revolution by radical changes. The Industrial Revolution wiped out the medieval world and its traditions, established standardization and commodification, accelerated time and compressed space through machines and technology. In its wake comes the prospect of widespread prosperity, political freedoms and democracy, and cultural enlightenment – conditions and inspirations for all subsequent political revolutions, pro and con. This course examines the American, French, Russian and Fascist revolutions to better understand how we have become who we are today.

JDS 199: “Modern Revolutions”
Section COH2
Class # 20713
Professor Richard Cohen
MWF 2:00pm-2:50pm
Alumni 90
Class #22009
What are political revolutions? How have they changed our world? Evolution occurs by gradual small changes, revolution by radical changes. The Industrial Revolution wiped out the medieval world and its traditions, established standardization and commodification, accelerated time and compressed space through machines and technology. In its wake comes the prospect of widespread prosperity, political freedoms and democracy, and cultural enlightenment – conditions and inspirations for all subsequent political revolutions, pro and con. This course examines the American, French, Russian and Fascist revolutions to better understand how we have become who we are today.

JDS 199: “Justice”
Section DOL
Class # 15764
Professor Sergey Dolgopolski
TR 9:30am-10:50am
Park 250
“A law that is not just is not law" said recently a protester against racial discrimination. This argument exemplifies a problem we will address in this course through reading, discussing, theatrically staging, and critically applying the work of the best writers and thinkers, both ancient and contemporary, who addressed the problem of justice in relationship to equality, law, and freedom. In that way, we will conduct a comparative study of the relationship between justice, law, and society in pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Thought.

JDS 240 "Scripture and Interpretation" 
Section AZ
Class # 23871
Professor Alexandra Zirkle
MWF 2:00pm-250pm
Baldy 125
What is scripture? What makes a religious text different from other kinds of human writing? What gives it its special kind of authority, and how do interpreters leverage this authority toward political ends? How does history change the meanings we can derive from scripture, and how does scripture continue to be meaningful in globally diverse geographic and cultural settings? What happens when scripture is interpreted in conflicting ways? Can genres and media beyond the written-for instance, visual arts and film, performing arts, or material culture-be understood as modes of scriptural interpretation? This course addresses these and related questions by introducing students to key ideas and methods for understanding religious scripture and the interpretative communities scripture creates. The course is organized around a specific scriptural text-for example, a book from the Bible-and tracks the interpretation of this text over time. We will consider how scripture is interpreted and contested in a variety of genres, which may include literature and philosophy, commentaries and sermons, the visual arts and music, and more.

JDS 275 "History of Antisemitism"
Section PIN
Class # 23133
Professor Noam Pines
TR 11:00am-12:20pm 
Clemens 708
The course examines the history of antisemitism from antiquity to the present by focusing on central questions such as: What is the definition of antisemitism and what are its historical origins? How did anti-Jewish attitudes develop over time in non-Jewish societies? What are the main historical events associated with antisemitism? And what role does antisemitism play in the world today? The course will examine antisemitism as a central phenomenon of Western history, and survey its different manifestations in the pagan world of antiquity, medieval Christian society, as well as in modern Europe and North America. This course is the same as HIS 290 and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements.

JDS 284 "Justice"
Section SD
Class # 23812
Professor Sergey Dolgopolski
TR 12:30pm-1:50pm
Baldy 206
A comparative study of the relationship between justice, law, and society in pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Thought. This course is the same as RSP 284 and LAW 284, and course repeat rules will apply. Students should consult with their major department regarding any restrictions on their degree requirements