Professor Abrams A survey of the literature and culture of the Jewish people in the formative years of its history. Emphasis on the development of Judaism in the biblical, Graeco-Roman, and rabbinic periods.
Final unit treats the Jewish life-cycle and the system of religious practices.
The life and history of the Jews in the medieval and modern worlds. Primary focus on the intellectual, religious, political, and social roots of Jew-hatred. Special attention to its impact on Jewish life and thought, and to the range of Jewish responses to antisemitism. An Examination of transformations in the Jewish family and attitudes toward sexuality in Judaism, from antiquity to the present. Interdisciplinary readings draw on biblical and rabbinic literature, comparative Christian and Islamic sources, historical and scientific research on family and sexuality, and contemporary fiction.