Courses

First semester Hebrew is a beginning level course designed for students who have little or no prior knowledge of Hebrew. Begins with learning the Hebrew alphabet and immediately starts developing rudimentary Hebrew conversational, reading and writing skills. By the end of the semester students are expected to have attained basic understanding and expressive abilities in Hebrew.

This course is designed to enable students to read the Hebrew Bible in the original language. The focus will be the ability to read the various genres of the text, utilizing both the tools of modern language acquisition and the study of classical grammar methods. Same as JWST 1030.

Building on HEBR/JWST 1030, this course continues to build expertise in reading the Hebrew Bible. Modern language acquisition and classical grammar study methods equip students with the tools to translate and read the various genres of the Biblical material. Prereq., HEBR/JWST 1030 or instructor consent. HEBR 1040 and JWST 1040 are the same course.

Focus on Jewish history from the Biblical period to the Spanish Expulsion in 1492. Study the origins of a group of people who call themselves, and whom others call, Jews. Focus on place, movement, power/powerlessness, gender, and the question of how to define Jews over time and place. Introduces Jews as a group of people bound together by a particular set of laws; looks at their dispersion and diversity; explores Jews' interactions with surrounding cultures and societies; introduces the basic library of Jews; sees how Jews relate to political power. Same as HIST 1818. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: historical context.

Third semester Hebrew builds on skills introduced in the first two semesters and focuses on speaking, comprehension, reading and writing. Students learn new veral tenses and paradigms, modes of expression and syntactical forms. The course blends a communicative method with formal grammatical instruction. By the end of the semester students are expected to be able to converse in, comprehend, and produce written Hebrew at an intermediate level. Prereq., HEBR 1020 (min. grade C-) or instructor consent. Approved for GT-AH4. Meets MAPS requirement for foreign language.

Explores the development and expressions of Jewish cultures across the chronological and geographical map of the Jewish people,k with an emphasis on the variety of Jewish ethnicities and their cultural productions, cultural syncretism, and changes, including such issues as sexuality and foodways. Sets the discussion in relevant contexts, and looks at cultural representations that include literary, religious, and visual texts. Same as GSLL 2350. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity.

Examines how the memory of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany is increasingly determined by the means of its representation, e.g., film, autobiography, poetry, architecture. Same as GRMN 2502. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.

Introduces literature, beliefs, practices, and institutions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in historical perspective. Same as RLST 2600. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.

Focuses on students' Hebrew language skills acquired in the first five semesters of Hebrew at CU Boulder in weekly conversation and composition sessions. Develops grammatical understanding with a further exploration of the root, verbal and noun systems. Students are introduced to texts in contemporary Hebrew fiction and poetry, as well as some biblical readings, academic texts and Israeli newspapers. Prereq., HEBR 3010 (minimum grade C-) or instructor consent.

Examines the origin of patriarchal culture in the theology and practices of Judaism and Christianity. Explores attitudes and beliefs concerning women as Judeo-Christian culture impacts gender roles and gender stratification through reading and discussion. Women's religious experience is studied from the perspective of feminist interpretations of religiosity. Prereq., WMST 2000 or WMST/RLST 2800. WMST 3200 and JWST 3200 are the same course.

Reads some of the ways Jewish texts and traditions look at women, gender and sexuality from biblical times to the present. Starts with an analysis of the positioning of the body, matter and gender in creation stories, moves on to the gendered aspects of tales of rescue and sacrifice, biblical tales of sexual subversion and power, taboo-breaking and ethnos building, to rabbinic attitudes towards women, sexuality and gender and contemporary renderings and rereadings of the earlier texts and traditions. Same as HEBR 3202. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: Human Diversity.

Surveys the major works of 20th century central and central eastern European film and literature. Examines cultural production in the non-imperial countries and non-national languages of the region including Yiddish, Belarusian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Romanian, among others. Traces the rise of nationalism over the course of the century from the age of empires through the "Cold War." Same as GSLL 3401.

Uses transnational lens to explore contemporary debates about Jewish people, places and practices of identity and community; places that Jews have called 'home', and what has made, or continues to make those places 'Jewish'; issues of Jewish homelands and diasporars; gender, sexuality, food and the Jewish body; religious practices in contemporary contexts. Readings drawn primarily from contemporary journalism and scholarship. JWST 3600 and IAFS 3600 are the same course. Same as GSLL 3600. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: human diversity. Prerequisites: Restricted to students with 57-180 credits (Juniors or Seniors).