RELG211

What is Jewish? asks this provocative and productive question, spanning over 30 centuries of people, faith, place, worship, language, culture, and meaning. Beginning with an overview of sacred texts towards an understanding of Am Yisrael (the people of Israel), we explore diverse subjects and themes including exile and return, ethics, community, identity, and difference. Our work includes readings from classical and contemporary Jewish bookshelves, film, art, comedy, food, and other cultural productions. Topics include Sephardi, Mizrahi, and Ashkenazi histories and practices, the emergence of Hasidism and Ultra-Orthodoxy, the Reform movement and Zionism, diaspora, antisemitism and theories of Jewish conspiracy, the Holocaust, modern-day Israel, secular Jews, “stars of David” from Sasha Baron Cohen to the Notorious RBG, and popular representations of Jewish life from the shtetl of Fiddler on the Roof to cosmopolitan Mrs. Maisel. No prerequisites.