Jewish Culture and Thought

apocalypticism | JST 3930 (25651)

Crosslist: REL 3294 (24897)

T 3:00 PM – 4:55 PM (Periods 8-9) and R 4:05 PM – 4:55 PM (Period 9)

Instructor: Robert Kawashima | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

This course will focus on Jewish and Christian apocalypticism through a survey of apocalyptic texts from the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Jewish literature (including the Dead Sea Scrolls), and the New Testament. While surveying this body of literature and its historical contexts, we will, in the course of the semester, consider various aspects of apocalyptic writing and thinking: the nature of the cosmos, the nature of history, and the literary forms used to convey this religious vision.

Ethics, utopia, dystopia | jst 3930 (22225)

Crosslist: REL 4092 (22207), LIT 3400 (22935)

T 3:00 PM – 4:55 PM (Periods 8-9) and R 4:05 PM – 4:55PM (Period 9)

Instructor: Yaniv Feller | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

Utopias, imagined ideal societies, are staples of political thought, religion, and literature. But what makes for a good society? Must every utopia be someone else’s dystopia? What is the relation between messianism and utopia? We will explore the relation between utopias, dystopias, and ethics by drawing on a variety of alternative histories, speculative fiction, and political manifestos by writers such as Philip Roth, Ursula Le Guin, N. K. Jemisin, Thomas More, John Winthrop, and Theodor Herzl. Of special interest for our discussion are modern attempts to realize utopias, and how they often fail, including socialist settlements and the contemporary space race between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES | JST 4936 (27480)

Crosslist: REL 4221 (24895)

T 10:40 AM – 11:30 AM (Period 4) and R 10:40 AM – 12:35 PM (Periods 4-5)

Instructor: Robert Kawashima | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

SABRAVISION: israeli cinema | JST 3930 (22192)

Crosslist: LIT 4930 (25983), JST 3821 (27178), HBT 3100 (27190)

T 11:45 AM – 1:40 PM  (Period 5-6) and R 12:50 PM – 1:40 PM (Period 6)

Instructor: Roy Holler | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

This course examines Israeli cinema as a site of conflict and creativity, from early patriotic films to today’s fractured visions of war, occupation, exile, and protest. We’ll explore how film grapples with the Holocaust, the Oriental–European divide, Palestinian representation, gender politics, and queer identity. Israeli cinema doesn’t just reflect society, it questions, resists, and sometimes undermines it.

Jews in Cinema | JST 4936 (17320)

Crosslist: LIT 4930 (20257)

T 5:10 PM – 6:00 PM  (Period 10) and R 5:10 PM – 7:05 PM (Period 10-11)

Instructor: Dragan Kujundžić | Syllabus

The course will introduce students to the rich history of Jewish cinema and the latest critical and theoretical literature about it.  Particular attention will be paid to the ways cinema constructs the figure of the Jew in terms of gender, race, politics or citizenship (Israel). It will be organized thematically, and chronologically, starting with the topics of Jewish Diaspora, emigration to the US and integration, the first sound film, and then films about the Holocaust, comedy, Israeli Cinema and World Jewish Cinema. The students benefit from integration of the Gainesville Jewish Film Festival in screening activities.

Poetics of Justice: Law, Literature and Film | jst 3930 (27474)

Crosslist: GET 3930 (12278), LIT 3400 (20711)

T 1:55 PM – 2:45 PM (Period 7) and R 1:55 PM – 3:50 PM (Periods 7-8)

Instructor: Eric Kligerman| Syllabus

In his brief yet complex parable “Before the Law” Kafka describes how a man from the country searches for the law but is stopped outside the gates by a menacing guard, never to gain entrance to the law. What is the significance of this failure to grasp the law? How does Kafka’s perplexing tale shed light on questions pertaining to the interplay between justice, law and violence, and how do we as individuals encounter these conflicts within the social
and political spaces in which we live?

This interdisciplinary course sets out to explore these very questions and collisions by juxtaposing shifting modes of representations. By turning to the works of history (Thucydides), Religion (Book of Job), philosophy (Plato, Nietzsche and Arendt), literature (Sophocles, Dostoyevsky and Kafka) and film (Tarantino and the Coen brothers), our objective is to trace thenarrative of justice through ancient Greece, the Enlightenment, the modern and postmodern periods. In particular, we will examine the realm of trials (both real and imaginary) to probe the relation between justice and ethics along with the various questions pertaining to law, guilt, responsibility, violence and punishment. How do writers critique the institutions of law and justice through works of literature and art? Our goal is to rethink these dynamic relationships by turning to the spaces of history, philosophy, political thought, literature and film.

Post-Holocaust American Jews | IDS 2935 (17066, 10767, 10769)

Class #10766: M, W 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8) and F 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8)

Class #10767: M, W 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8) and F 4:05 PM – 4:55 PM (Period 9)

Class #10769: M, W 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8) and F 5:10 PM – 6:00 PM (Period 10)

Instructor: Rachel Gordan | Syllabus

This course examines the lasting impact of the Holocaust on American culture and society, exploring its influence on attitudes toward antisemitism, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, philosophical thought, and cultural memory in films, comics, and museums.

Middle East and Israel Studies

british palestine (1917-1948) | JST 3930 (20387)

Crosslist: ASH 3931 (26883)

MWF 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8)

Instructor: Yehoshua Ecker | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

Counts towards Israel Studies Certificate

Shaped primarily by British imperial interests after the first World War, British controlled Palestine underwent rapid and consequential changes in the span of three decades. A focal point of religious sentiments and budding national aspirations, it moved rapidly towards open conflict which the British failed to contain. British Palestine offers a case study of imperial interventions, religious and denominational rivalries, overlapping national and colonial projects, regional entanglements and international political and legal innovations. This course follows British imperial interventions, Arab and Jewish responses, initiatives and transformations, state and nation building projects, demographic shifts and crises, and conflict escalation. Conflicting narratives and claims, and long protracted regional conflicts, form part of the legacy of the period and manifest in extensive and detailed research in multiple fields, continuously re-examined and contested.

History of the Modern Middle East | JST 3930 (26660)

Crosslist: ASH 3931 (26659)

T 3:00 PM – 4:55 PM (Periods 8-9) and R 4:05 PM – 4:55 PM (Period 9)

Instructor: Yehoshua Ecker | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

The Middle East has played a significant role in the global arena, politically, economically and culturally. Placing the region in multiple contexts, this course explores its rich and complex histories and identities, their origins, development and their wider impacts. It traces religions, cultures, languages, resources, political traditions, social structures, economic links and international entanglements, wars and conflicts, ideological shifts, state formation, continuity and change in a wide geographic area, throughout the modern period, as the power balance between local and global actors was shifting.

israeli cinema | JST 3930 (22192)

Crosslist: LIT 4930 (25983), JST 3821 (27178), HBT 3100 (27190)

T 11:45 AM – 1:40 PM  (Period 5-6) and R 12:50 PM – 1:40 PM (Period 6)

Instructor: Roy Holler | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

This course examines Israeli cinema as a site of conflict and creativity, from early patriotic films to today’s fractured visions of war, occupation, exile, and protest. We’ll explore how film grapples with the Holocaust, the Oriental–European divide, Palestinian representation, gender politics, and queer identity. Israeli cinema doesn’t just reflect society, it questions, resists, and sometimes undermines it.

Israeli/Palestinian conflict | JST 3845 (27175)

Crosslist: INR 4931 (23402), JST 3930 (22279)

T 10:40 AM – 11:30 AM (Period 4) and R 10:40 AM – 12:35 PM (Periods 4-5)

Instructor: Artur-Or Honig | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

What drives ethnic intra-state conflicts? Why do we sometimes see the belligerent sides shifting between violence and negotiations? Why do some conflicts cause more bloodshed than others? Why are some conflicts harder to resolve? What are the strategies that different actors on each side employ to promote their strategic or domestic political goals? As you can tell from these questions, we will study in this course not just the forces shaping the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but also compare this uniquely intractable conflict to other modern ethno-religious conflicts. We will explore the weight of factors associated with the structure of the conflict, as well as factors rooted in the international environment.

israeli security policies | JST 3930 (22280)

Crosslist: INR 4931 (23403)

T 11:45 AM – 1:40 PM (Period 5-6) and R 12:50 PM – 1:40 PM (Periods 5-6)

Instructor: Artur-Or Honig | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

In this course we will learn about different security policies and assess their effectiveness. During its very short history of 76 years, the small state of Israel has had to face a variety of serious security challenges, ranging from hostile nuclear and biological weapons programs to conventional warfare, insurgency and terrorism in their variety of forms. We will explore how Israel met these challenges, assess how effective these policies were, and determine to what extent the Israeli policy response differed, if at all, from that of other countries (democracies and non-democracies) and why. We will also discuss what other countries, and especially the US, may learn from the Israeli experience, and where conditions are too different for adopting the Israeli policy response.

Jews in the Modern Muslim World | JST 3930 (22267)

Crosslist: ASH 3931 (26882)

MWF 12:50 PM – 1:40 PM (Period 6)

Instructor: Yehoshua Ecker | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

Jewish Latin America

nazi fugitives in latin america | jst 3930 (25712)

Crosslist: LAH 3931 (24987), LAS 4935 (26391)

T 10:40 AM – 11:30 AM (Period 4) and R 10:40 AM – 12:35 PM (Periods 4-5)

Instructor: Raanan Rein | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

This course examines the history of Nazi fugitives who fled Europe after World War II, their routes to Latin America, and the countries that became sanctuaries for them. We will explore the geopolitical, social, and moral implications of these escapes, as well as the role of Latin American governments, international organizations, and the Nazi legacy in the region. Through readings, primary sources, and films, we will study the fate of these figures, the networks that helped them escape, and the historical and cultural impacts on Latin American societies.

European Jewish History and Holocaust

History of the holocaust | JST 3930 (20651)

Crosslist: EUH 3033 (15823), EUS 3930 (27251), HBT 3235 (27228)

MWF 1:55 PM – 2:45PM (Period 7)

Instructor: Natalia Aleksiun | Syllabus | Course Promotion Video

The Holocaust was one of the most consequential events of the twentieth century and a turning point in Jewish, German, and European histories. How did it happen, and how do historians reconstruct and interpret it? This course introduces students to the Holocaust through the perspectives of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders, tracing the process from discrimination and persecution to mass murder. It examines how individuals and communities responded to Nazi violence within the broader context of the Second World War, encouraging critical discussion about responsibility, survival, and memory. Students will engage with a wide range of primary sources—including testimonies, diaries, photographs, official decrees, reports, and visual art—alongside historical scholarship.

ukraine and jews | JST 3930 (20407)

Crosslist: LIT 4930 (20262), EUS 3930 (27253)

T 3:00 PM – 4:55 PM (Periods 8-9) and R 4:05 PM – 4:55 PM (Period 9)

Instructor: Dragan Kujundžić | Syllabus

Fascinating literature, art and films have been produced by the Jews living in Ukraine and the territories of Russia and East and Central Europe. The course will discuss these works, sometimes written in Yiddish but deeply steeped in Ukrainian and Russian history, (Tevye the Dairman by Sholem Alechem) and watch the films based on them (Fiddler on the Roof). Paintings by Marc Chagall will be discussed, as well as writings by Isaak Babel. Particular accent will be placed on issues of Ukraine Jews, in film and media (Loznitsa, Volodimir Zelenski), in the context of the Holocaust (“Babin Yar” film by Sergej Loznitsa ) and the current Russian aggression on Ukraine. The class will be held in the form of a seminar with active student participation, presentations and class discussions.

Hebrew Language

Beginning modern Hebrew 2  | HBR 1131 (18588, 26014)

Class #18588: M-F 11:45 AM – 12:35 PM (Period 5)

Class #26014: M-F 3:00 PM – 3:50 PM (Period 8)

Instructor: Iris Cohen | Syllabus

Ready to start your Hebrew journey? Hebrew 1131 is an online, proficiency-based course for beginners (mid-high). Students focused on developing practical communication skills in Modern Hebrew. Through interactive activities and authentic materials, students build confidence in listening, speaking, reading, and writing while exploring everyday topics such as daily life, family and community, food, leisure, and contemporary Israeli culture. Instruction follows communicative language-teaching best practices aligned with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, preparing students to understand the main ideas of short texts, participate in simple conversations, and present information orally and in writing using connected sentences. Students finish the course ready to use Hebrew meaningfully beyond the classroom.

Intermediate Modern Hebrew 2  | HBR 2221 (22292)

M, T, W, R 12:50 PM – 1:40 PM (Period 6)

Instructor: Iris Cohen | Syllabus

Ready to communicate more naturally in Hebrew and engage with authentic Israeli media? Hebrew 2221 is an online, proficiency-based course for students at the Intermediate level or those who have completed Hebrew 1131 or an equivalent course. The course expands students’ ability to communicate with greater ease, accuracy, and length in Modern Hebrew through interactive activities and authentic materials. Students explore contemporary Israeli and Jewish life through topics such as life in Tel Aviv, health and society, volunteerism, ecology, music, technology, and language. Instruction follows communicative language-teaching best practices aligned with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, preparing students to understand connected spoken and written texts, participate in sustained conversations, and present information orally and in writing using connected discourse.

 

Did you know Jewish Studies courses can count towards your major or minor? To learn more, email center@jst.ufl.edu.