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USC Catalogue 2016-2017 
    
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USC Catalogue 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOGUE]

Judaic Studies

Jewish Studies

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences  

Jewish Studies is offered by the Louchheim School for Judaic Studies, administrated jointly by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, an independent college adjacent to the USC campus, and and USC Dornsife’s School of Religion. Students registering for classes in the program do so through the regular USC registration process and receive USC course credit and degrees. Hebrew courses may be used to fulfill graduation requirements in a foreign language; courses that meet humanities general education requirements may be used as electives or may be used for major or minor credit with the approval of an adviser.

Louchheim School for Judaic Studies
HUC—JIR
3077 University Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
(213) 765-2113
FAX: (213) 747-6128
Email: louchheim@huc.edu, hochman@usc.edu
dornsife.usc.edu/jewishstudies
Chair: Leah Hochman, PhD

Liaison: Carol Sofer

Faculty

Professors: Reuven Firestone, PhD; Bruce Phillips, PhD; Dvora Weisberg, PhD

Associate Professors: Sarah Benor, PhD; Joshua Garroway, PhD; Sharon Gillerman, PhD; Leah Hochman, PhD; Joshua Holo, PhD

Visiting Assistant Professors: Kristine Garroway, PhD; Candice Levy, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor: Yaffa Weisman, PhD

Hebrew Language Coordinator: Hagit Arieli-Chai, MAEd

Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies

See the program in Religion .

Bachelor of Arts in Religion with Emphasis in Judaic Studies

A Bachelor of Arts in Religion with an area of emphasis in Judaic Studies is offered cooperatively by the School of Religion and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Program requirements are listed in this catalogue under Religion .

Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies

See the Department of Middle East Studies  for a complete listing of requirements.

Minor in Middle East Studies

See the Department of Middle East Studies .

Jewish Studies Minor

See Religion  for a listing of requirements.

 

Programs

Minor

Courses

Hebrew

  • HEBR 120 Hebrew I

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    Focuses on the acquisition of proficiency and communicative skills in speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension as well as cultural literacy.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • HEBR 150 Hebrew II

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    A continuation of Hebrew I. Offers a higher level of skill development in reading, writing and conversation.
    Prerequisite: HEBR 120 
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • HEBR 220 Hebrew III

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Continuation of Hebrew II; stress on grammar, composition, and conversation.
    Prerequisite: HEBR 315 .
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • HEBR 315 Modern Hebrew Language (Hebrew IV)

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Examines Hebrew in depth and introduces students to Modern Hebrew literature through major poems, novels and films from the 20th and 21st centuries. 
    Prerequisite: HEBR 220 
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

Judaic Studies

  • JS 100gp Jewish History

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Major ideas, personalities, and movements in Jewish history from antiquity to the present in light of the interaction of the Jews with the general culture.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 180gp Judaism

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSpSm
    Jewish beliefs, practices, and history from the biblical period to the present; Judaic contributions to Western civilization.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 211gw The Holocaust

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Historical background and responses to the Holocaust, with special emphasis on ethical implications.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 214 Zionism, Israel, and the Modern World

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Ideas about nationalism, Zionism, and society-building; emphasis on self-definition in the Jewish state.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 258gp Food, Faith and Conflict

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Investigates how food and food traditions create and cross religious and social conflicts between Jews, Christians and Muslims by exploring faith, practice, thought and ethics.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture, Discussion
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 300 American Jewish History

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Patterns of immigration, acculturation, religious forms, and ethnic expression in America from the colonial period to the present.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 314gp Holy War And History: Jews, Christians, Muslims

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Investigates the engagement in war by Judaism, Christianity and Islam by examining history and theology and looks at religious justifications and condemnations of war.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 315g Anti-Semitism, Racism and Other Hatreds

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    History and contexts of anti-Semitism, racism and other discourses about difference examined through religious, national and cultural forms in Europe and in the US.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as REL 310, HIST 322

  • JS 321 Gender and Judaism

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    An investigation into the ways in which gender has structured Jewish religious, social, political and intellectual life from the Biblical period through the present.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as SWMS-321

  • JS 330 Jewish Power, Powerlessness, and Politics in the Modern Era

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Explores the relationship between the Jewish people and political powers. Topics include politics in exile, changing relationships to power, and relations with the modern nation-state.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 340 Modern Jewish History

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    A survey of the major trends and themes of modern Jewish history. Examination of Jewish culture, society and politics from the Spanish Expulsion to the Second World War.
    Recommended Preparation: JS 100 .
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 342 Reading in Two Directions: Connecting Law and Literature in Jewish Tradition

    Units: 4
    Investigates understandings of law, legal interpretation and the integration of law and narrative in Jewish texts by exploring how to examine legal and literary texts.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 360m Identity, Community, and Service: Jews and Other Americans

    Units: 4
    Examination of relationships between identity, community and service by investigating ethno-religious organizations’ attempts to serve members of their group and confront issues of injustice in society.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 361 Scripture and Polemic in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Origins of Scriptures and their polemical environments in earliest Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Scripture as polemic and legitimation, and cross-religious/cross-cultural interpretation and argument based on scriptural themes.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 362 Terror and Resistance in Literature and the Media

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Investigation of the multiple ways that people experience and represent incidents of terror in literature, film, music, and social media.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 374 Messiah: The History of an Idea

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Exploration of the history of the idea of a messiah in Judaism from antiquity to today.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 375 Issues of American Jewish Literature

    Units: 4
    Issues-oriented study of the human experience in America as expressed in the fiction, poetry, drama, memoirs, and literary criticism of America’s Jews, using a dual approach incorporating both literary history and specific issues.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 378 Jewish Magic in the Ancient World

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    A cross-cultural examination of different kinds of magical literature that describe miraculous practices in Jewish mainstream and marginal life in the ancient and classical periods.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 379gm Mixing and Matching: Intermarriage in the 21st Century

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    An investigation into interethnic, interracial, and inter-religious marriage in the 21st century.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as SOCI-379

  • JS 381 The Jew in American Society

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    The changing sociological profile of the American Jew and changing organization of the American Jewish community as they developed over the 19th and 20th centuries.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 382 Judaism as an American Religion

    Units: 4
    The development of American expressions of Judaism as part of the American religious context, from the perspective of the social scientific study of religion.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as SOCI-382

  • JS 383 Jews in American Popular Culture

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Social and cultural history of American Jewish contributions to the arts, science, literature, economics and politics.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

    Crosslisted as AMST-383

  • JS 389 Culture and Society in Israel: Inventing the Dream

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Examination of the social forces that shaped and continue to shape culture and society in contemporary Israel.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 390 Special Problems

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4
    Supervised, individual studies. No more than one registration permitted. Enrollment by petition only.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 415 The American Jewish Experience in Film

    Units: 4
    A survey of American Jewish history through the medium of film, with particular emphasis on the experience of the post-war generation.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 428 Blacks and Jews: Conflicts and Alliances

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Examination of the relationship between the American Jewish and African-American communities and what it teaches about race and coalition politics in American society.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 467 Modern Jewish Thought

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Foundations of modern Jewish thought from the Western European Enlightenment to the present.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 490x Directed Research

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
    Max Units: 12.0
    Individual research and readings.
    Not available for graduate credit.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 499 Special Topics

    Units: 4
    Selected topics in Judaic Studies.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 501a Bible Texts

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Advanced grammar and reading. An introduction to principles of form criticism as applied to selected narrative and legal portions of the Pentateuch.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 501b Bible Texts

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    A critical evaluation of the biblical books of Amos and Hosea with a view to gaining an appreciation of the prophets’ literary skill, their religious motivations, and the originality of their thought.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 501c Bible Texts

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: FaSp
    Critical readings in each of the biblical books of Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, and Song of Songs, with a view toward gaining an appreciation of their literary and religious values. Knowledge of Hebrew required.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 504 Modern Hebrew Literature

    Units: 3
    Terms Offered: Fa
    Reading of unvocalized texts primarily from modern Hebrew literature. A survey of the development of modern Hebrew literature, with an emphasis on short story and poetry. Knowledge of Hebrew required.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter

  • JS 590 Directed Research

    Units: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
    Research leading to the master’s degree. Maximum units which may be applied to the degree to be determined by the department.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Credit/No Credit

  • JS 680 Boundaries of Jewish Normative Behavior

    Units: 4
    Terms Offered: Sp
    Institutions claiming Jewish authenticity and their treatment of Jews perceived to be deviant.
    Instruction Mode: Lecture
    Grading Option: Letter