Jewish Studies Minor Courses 2022-23

Fall 2022

ESHP 190: The Art of Starting, Professor Harry Yuklea

• Section 003 TTH 12:40-2
• Section 005 TTH 2:40-4
• These sections will explore the topic matter presented in ESHP 190 from the perspective of an Israeli/global business lens. Students will review Israeli innovation policy and investment strategies that give Israel its nickname as Startup Nation.

FI 491.003: The Economy and Finance of Innovation, Professor Harry Yuklea, TW 4:10-5:30 

• Aims to complement the EC491 and FI444 courses by adding specific modules like global financing, capacity planning, emerging financing instruments, policy design, etc. The course combines the variety of academic perspectives with practitioners’ views, making it appropriate both for students interested in pure academic research and for those looking to improve their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge base for real practice. Within this context, we will leverage the experience accumulated in Israel, recognized as “The Startup Nation,” by analyzing REAL case studies around the Israeli entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as startup, growth, and developed high-tech Israeli firms. While analyzing the cases, we will consider their relevance for other economies, focusing on Michigan.

HEB 101.001: Elementary Hebrew I, Professor Yore Kedem,  MTuWTh 9:10-10am

• Spoken and written Hebrew for conversation, reading, and research. Basic grammatical analysis of modern Hebrew.

HEB 101.002: Elementary Hebrew I, Professor Yore Kedem,  MTuWTh 12:40-1:30pm

• Spoken and written Hebrew for conversation, reading, and research. Basic grammatical analysis of modern Hebrew.

HEB 201.001: Intermediate Hebrew, Professor Yore Kedem, MTuWTh 10:20-11:10am 

• Intermediate-level spoken and written Hebrew for conversation, reading, and research. Advanced grammatical analysis of modern Hebrew.

HST 201: European Jewish History, Professor Andreas Bouroutis, TTH 10:20-11:40

• The nature and discipline of history. Introduction to analytical and interpretive reading and writing, historical research, and historical methodologies. Focus on Romaniote Jewish history, Jews in Greece.

IAH 207.043: Literatures, Cultures, Identities (I) “Monsters in Film and Literature: The Other Within,” Professor Vered Weiss

• Exploring the universality of monsters, the course also has a section dedicated to monsters and Judaism. We will consider the role of Judaism in Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”, as well as the relationship between Zionism and Yudl Rosenberg’s twentieth century adaptation of the myth of the golem in The Golem and the Wondrous Deeds of the Maharal of Prague. We will read Israel’s “national author” S. Y. Agnon’s “The Lady and the Peddler”, which features the relationship between a Jew and a non-Jewish woman vampire, and will watch Juda, the 2017 Israeli television series, which features a Jewish vampire. Finally, we will discuss the Nazi monsters in “The Sea of Salt” by Elana Gomel, and will have Gomel join us for a guest lecture!

IAH 210.002: Middle East and the World (I) Israel and Jerusalem, Professor Vered Weiss

• What makes the complexities of Israeli culture unique and universal? How do the tensions between the personal and the political manifest in Jerusalem? In what ways are the connections between place and identities particularly significant in the context of Israel and Jerusalem? The course explores Israel’s unique sociopolitical and cultural tapestry. Focusing on modern Israel and Jerusalem, the course introduces some of the ideas and ideologies at the heart of modern Israel, highlighting various aspects of Israeli culture as well as the complexities of Israeli society. 

IAH 211C: Area Studies and Multicultural Civilizations: The Americas: Introduction to American Jewish Culture:  Beyond Seinfeld and Sandler, Professor Matthew Kaufman, MW 12:40-2:30

• This class is designed to introduce students to some key issues and debates in modern American Jewish culture.   Rather than examining Jewish culture as one integrated body, we will look at the different ways that different Jewish people throughout the country construct their identities, their heritage, and their religion.  We will also examine the conflicts that have arisen among Jews because of these differences, as well as the unities that make Jews see themselves as one people. 

IBUS (International Business) 211.003: Business and Culture in the Middle East, Professor Harry Yuklea 

• As part of the Broad College Global Speakers Series, students are exposed to uncensored perspectives and get to interact firsthand with a variety of prominent industry leaders relevant to the subject. The first two classes are focused on understanding the cultural, business, political, and demographic background of the modern Middle East and its role in the global economic ecosystem. The rest of the semester is organized around lectures by a variety of prominent guest speakers covering specific aspects in their field. A partial list of speakers includes Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO Startup Nation Centre; Sandrine Fitoussi, former Director of PeaceTech program; Shai Luvshis, Economic Attaché of Israel in Texas; Justice Richard Bernstein, MI Supreme Court; Rey Dai, CEO Quantum China Israel Innovations; Mohammed Al-Khajah, UAE Ambassador in Israel; Scott Hiipakka, CEO Michigan Israel Business Accelerator.

ISS 325: Revolution and War, Professor Andreas Bouroutis, TTH 12:40-2:40

• Focus on Greek Jews during WWII and the aftermath for them, as well as the Greek revolution and its influence on Jews in Greece.

MC 220: International Relations I: World Politics And International Security, Professor Yael Aronoff, TTH 10:20-11:40

• We will be examining many of the central concepts, theories, and analytical tools used in contemporary social science to understand and explain international politics, with an emphasis on security. The course will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of different theoretical approaches in explaining the causes of war and of war termination, just means and ends for war, and the use of force including humanitarian intervention. We will use case studies to illustrate the use of competing theoretical approaches and concepts.. The main emphasis will be on the ability of the theories to explain efforts at cooperation and the difficulties of reaching successful peace negotiations. We will be focusing on the Camp David Negotiations led by President Clinton and the varied reasons for the failure to reach an agreement, and the subsequent peace negotiations at Taba. We will study the Clinton Parameters, Bush Road Map, and Saudi 2002 peace plan. We will not only be looking at issues of power and the relevance of democracy as highlighted by realist and liberal approaches but will also be looking at the importance of culture, ideology, personality, and domestic constraints on efforts at cooperation. Therefore, we will also apply constructivism and political psychology in this case study. A peace agreement will have to entail negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over Jerusalem, refugees, borders, and security. After conducting research concerning the interests, goals, and past negotiating stances of the actor with whom you are least empathetic or knowledgeable, you will represent that actor’s interests and proposed solutions in our simulation of the negotiations. Some of you will also take on the role of mediators in the simulation, after having researched the past mediation efforts of the United States and have proposed your own peace plan. The research papers will also embed the articulation of interests and goals of the actors in the logic and assumptions of international relations theory. After reading and discussing Daniel Kurtzer’s, The Peace Puzzle: America’s  Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013), he will join us in a video-conference to answer your questions regarding his book. He is a professor at Princeton University and former Ambassador to Egypt and to Israel.

MC 335: Israeli Politics, Cultures and Society, Professor Yuval Benziman,  MW 9:10-12

• Analysis of Israeli politics and society. Relationship between society and: social and ethnic cleavages, culture and politics, political institutions and parties, and democracy and the Jewish nature of the state. Israel’s foreign policy and its influence of foreign policy on shifting nationalism and political contestations.

MC 335: Israeli Politics, Cultures and Society, Professor Yuval Benziman, MW 1-3:50

• Analysis of Israeli politics and society. Relationship between society and: social and ethnic cleavages, culture and politics, political institutions and parties, and democracy and the Jewish nature of the state. Israel’s foreign policy and its influence of foreign policy on shifting nationalism and political contestations.

MC 387: Jews and Antisemitism, Professor Amy Simon, TTh 12:30-1:50

• This class serves as both a historical evaluation of antisemitism as well as an analysis of antisemitism in the present day. Throughout the semester, we will explore definitions, forms, and examples of antisemitism, as well as discuss Jewish responses to it. Focusing on a few case studies from early Christianity to today, we will analyze the old forms of antisemitism that focus on images of Jews as parasitic outsiders, and we will examine how that antisemitism has changed, as well as avenues of continuity. Overall, we will seek to understand why antisemitism is, indeed, “the longest hatred” and how we can address this problem moving forward. To this end, students will read both secondary and primary sources. We will contribute to a blog on current antisemitic events started by students in MC 387 several years ago, “Blogging Antisemitism.” Students will also research in the extensive Radicalism collection at MSU’s library.  

MC 498: The Holocaust in American Memory, Professor Amy Simon, TTh 10:20-12:10

• This class focuses on a chronological analysis of the United States’ actions during and after the Holocaust. In it, we will address US international and educational policy, official and unofficial memorial culture, and popular culture in the forms of literature, television, and film. During the course of this class, we will discuss questions such as: How does the Holocaust live on in American remembrance? Why should the United States be so invested in the memory of a European genocide? What kinds of stories do Americans tell about the Holocaust? How does the US educational system approach teaching the Holocaust?  What is the role of Holocaust museums and memorials in Holocaust remembrance?  Students will contribute to a blog on the Holocaust in popular culture started by MC 498 students several years ago. Ultimately, students will be guided through a major research project on a topic of their choosing related to the course. 

REL 150: Introduction to Biblical Literature, Professor Christopher Frilingos, MW 1-2:20 

• A critical survey of biblical texts, including the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and writings found in the Apocrypha/Deuterocanon, that combines historical and literary analysis with attention to the ancient religious context of this literature.

REL 414: Jewish Identity, Professor Laura Yares, MW 3:00-4:20

• The course investigates the multiple and often contradictory identities of contemporary American Jews. Judaism in America is experienced as, among other things, a religion, as varieties of ethnicity and heritage, a daily way of life, a system of ethics, and a communal memory of the Jewish past. Utilizing narrative theories of identity construction, in this course students will examine different vocabularies that Jews use to talk about the ways that they are Jewish. This course proceeds from two fundamental assumptions: (1) that identities are fluid, dynamic, and constantly in production (2) that discourses on religion, race, secularity, culture, and gender intersect to shape their production. In other words, there is no Jewish identity – but there are many Jewish identities. This course will introduce students to critical readings and primary sources that attest to the ways that varieties of Judaism are constructed and reconstructed in contemporary America. 

UGS 220H / JS390: Cultural Diversity and Immigration in Israel, Three-part study abroad program for 7 credits

• On Campus Research Seminar Tue 5-6:50pm, October 4 – Dec. 6 , Research experience in Israel 12.18.22 – 1.4.23, On Campus Research Seminar sessions Tue 5-6:50pm, Jan 10 – Feb 28
• This Honors College Seminar Abroad will introduce Honors College students, Academic Scholars Program students and Jewish Studies minor students (Honors College membership not required) to research through the lens of immigration and cultural diversity in Israel. Immigration, cultural diversity, and inter-cultural relationships present important issues for many countries in the world, and Israel is a unique context to study these topics. Students participating in the program will engage in weekly research seminars during the fall on MSU’s campus, an 18 day field research experience in Israel during winter break, and weekly research seminars during the spring on MSU’s campus. Students will present the results of their research projects at the University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF).