JDS 103: Introduction to Judaism                 
Professor Green                             
Monday/ Wednesday         
11:00-12:20 p.m.
Clemens 708
Class #17719
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.

JDS199 UB Seminar: Modern Revolutions: Industrial, Political, Social
Richard Cohen
Tuesday Thursday
12:30pm-1:50pm
Norton 216
Class #20381
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, which have inspired for all subsequent
political revolutions, for and against. This course examines the American, French,
Russian and Fascist revolutions to better understand how we have become who we are
today.

JDS 199: Justice 
Professor Dolgopolski  
Tuesday/Thursday
12:30-1:50 p.m.
Clemens 102
Class # 17282
"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 199: Title TBD 
STAFF  
Tuesday/Thursday
9:30am-1050am
Clemens 708
Class # 17009

JDS 275: History of Antisemitism              
Professor Pines                            
Tuesday/Thursday         
11:00-12:20 p.m.
Baldy 110
Class #22116
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.

JDS 420/ JDS720: Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas              
Professor Cohen                            
Wednesday         
4:10-6:50pm
Clemens708
Class #23297
The 20th century philosopher Emmanuel Levinas was a philosopher of ethics, but with a new emphasis: he argued that ethics lies at the foundation of all intelligibility, including that of science, art, technology, politics and religion. Hence, he radically challenged the traditional Western privileging of “the true” over “the good,” science over ethics. Instead of basing ethics in “rules” or “norms,” whether natural or religious, for Levinas the ethical begins in the imperative responsibility one person has for another (morality), to alleviate the other’s suffering, and building on this in the responsibility each person has for everyone else (justice.) The aim of this course is first to explicate Levinas’s thought. It will also highlight its differences from other relevant thinkers, ancient, modern and contemporary.

JDS 526 “Literature as Messiah.”             
Special Topics Jewish Thought                          
Professor Dolgopolski                             
Monday         
6:30pm-9:10pm
Clemens 708  
Class #19449               
How literature and messiah relate to each other?  We will draw on Erich Auerbach’s answer to this question in order to explore and complicate relationships between testament, testimony, witness and literature in late antiquity and modernity. Auerbach sees the emergence of “European Literature” as a fusion of the “Homeric style” and “Biblical style.  The former describes and makes explicit everything – past and present alike -- in the “foreground.” The latter accounts for the significance of the ever dark/inexplicit past of the “background” for the readers’ future to remain as promising as never fully detailed. Departing from this starting point, the seminar will comparatively explore the testament to the law in late antiquity (both in its Christian version in the New Testament and in its rabbinic version of a testament paralleling the Scripture in the Mishnah) in relationships to the “literature” – first in Auerbach’s sense and then in the broader theoretical context of contemporary discussions of tensions and dependencies between literature and testimony. Our guiding theoretical concern will be the role of the literary figure of a specific human and/or divine messiah in “literature” on the one hand and the “literature” as the intrinsically messianic form of reading and creating the human condition on the other.       

JDS720/JDS 420: Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas              
Professor Cohen                            
Wednesday         
4:10-6:50pm
Clemens708
Class #23297
The 20th century philosopher Emmanuel Levinas was a philosopher of ethics, but with a new emphasis: he argued that ethics lies at the foundation of all intelligibility, including that of science, art, technology, politics and religion. Hence, he radically challenged the traditional Western privileging of “the true” over “the good,” science over ethics. Instead of basing ethics in “rules” or “norms,” whether natural or religious, for Levinas the ethical begins in the imperative responsibility one person has for another (morality), to alleviate the other’s suffering, and building on this in the responsibility each person has for everyone else (justice.) The aim of this course is first to explicate Levinas’s thought. It will also highlight its differences from other relevant thinkers, ancient, modern and contemporary.

HEB 101              
Elementary Modern Hebrew 1                               
Lilia Dolgopolskaia                        
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Clemens 217                           
10:00am-11:30am
Class #14104
The beginning course of Modern Israeli Hebrew. Essentials of grammar, syntax and conversational practice; elementary reading and writing, common expressions used in daily life, along with introductory knowledge about Israeli culture.

HEB 201             
Intermediate Hebrew 1                                             
Lilia Dolgopolskaia                        
Monday/Wednesday    
Clemens 217          
11:45-1:00pm
Class# 19784 
Further development of language skills: listening comprehension, oral efficiency, intermediate grammar and syntax, reading and writing. Topics include phone conversations, movies, dating, and free time. Involves further work with authentic reading and listening materials.