Israel

This course is intended for students who have basic knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic. The prerequisite is a passing grade in the beginning level or passing results on the Arabic placement exam. The course deals with the morphology and syntax of Arabic and, like the previous level, includes the frequent reading of texts that range in difficulty (from easy to unabridged) and are largely taken from current media. It also develops other communication skills of listening, speaking, and writing based on learned vocabulary. The course facilitates mastery of the main grammatical phenomena of simple and complex sentences as well as a vocabulary of hundreds of common words, sufficient for reading basic newspaper articles and literary texts.

Social Entrepreneurship describes the discovery of opportunities to create social impact. How can companies create greater social change through social entrepreneurship? This class examines innovative responses to social needs, the role of private companies, for-profit and not-for-profit, and the challenges associated, with a specific application to education. The course analyzes theoretical issues such as defining the social good and assessing the role of market forces, philanthropy, and government. The course utilizes practical issues such as organization level growth, funding strategies, and creating an organizational mission. The course applies the theories and paradigms of social entrepreneurship to education.

The history of Jewish education spans millennia. This course examines the history of Israeli education from its religious roots in the 18th century to its current national expressions in the 21st century. In the process of communicating this historical overview of Jewish and Israeli education, students witness the different roles of religion, nationalism, languages, politics, gender, and culture in the formation of Israeli education. These forces also had a role in separating and integrating different segments of Israeli population, including European and Mizrahi Jews and Arabs. This education system and its forces of integration and segregation emanated both from internal forces within the Jewish and Zionist world as well as from foreign forces and influences. Education in the Zionist movement and Israel played a crucial role in formulating the identity and nature of Israeli nationalism and in forming the state.

This course offers an additional conversational component to the Modern Hebrew: Aleph, Intermediate Level Hebrew course. For an additional 2 hours a week the class meets and discusses, debates, and practices conversational skills in Hebrew. This course is at level Aleph, the first and elementary level out of six levels of Modern Hebrew language instruction at the Hebrew University. In this course, students acquire the foundations of the language. Hebrew classes in level Aleph are generally subdivided into Aleph Beginners (for absolute beginners), Aleph Intermediate Beginners, and Aleph Advanced Beginners (for students with basic knowledge, including the alphabet and a limited vocabulary).

The course explores the rich body of literature on multiculturalism that has developed and raises questions regarding the advantages and disadvantages, the freedom, and the limits that a society of separate and sometimes semi-autonomous culture presents. The course examines various theories regarding multiculturalism and applies them as part of an analysis of the complicated relations between political authorities and the many minorities in Jerusalem, including Ultra-Orthodox Jews, various Christian sects, and the large Moslem minority. The course addresses the conflicting interests of these groups on both municipal and national levels, as well as the international aspects and ramifications of recognizing the various ethnic, religious, and national groups. The lecturer draws on their experience with timely issues as a member of Jerusalem's City Council.

The course introduces students to the origins and the history of science fiction through of classic works in the genre. Students read classic works in science fiction, engage with critical writing on the genre from its inception to the 21st century, and identify themes and concerns of the genre in contemporary films and texts.

The course examines the teachings, traditions, and history of the Hasidic movement, from its revolutionary beginnings to its current, reactionary position. The movement is examined for its original philosophical and theological teachings, and how changing assumptions affected its history and development over the last three centuries. The movement’s history can be divided into approximately four historical and ideological periods: the 18th century and the movement’s beginnings, its pioneering figures, its mystical-messianic vision, and the social controversy which surrounded it. The 19th century with the consolidation of the Hasidic movement into mainstream Judaism, the founding of Hasidic dynasties and their internecine battles, Hasidism’s relationship to modernity and the Jewish Haskala (Enlightenment), and the nascent Zionistic movement. The 20th century sees the budding of a contemporary Hasidism, in dialogue with the world, only to be cut short by the Holocaust and replaced by extreme reactionism. And the 21st century, with the current challenges facing the movement, both in Israel and America. Attention is also given to “neo-Hasidic” groups, such as the Jewish Renewal movement, Carlebach minyanim, Breslov, and Chabad. Students approach Hasidism through its primary texts (in the original Hebrew with English translation), culture, customs, and literature, in addition to more contemporary media forms such as magazines, movies for and about Hasidism, web logs, etc. Several films and television shows about Hasidim are assigned for viewing during the semester. The course also includes first-hand meetings with Hasidic Rebbes and members of the community.

This course introduces students to adapted literature and scientific works, and increases their vocabulary (with an additional 800 words), in particular with regard to the daily use of Hebrew as well as the understanding of articles written in easy Hebrew from the press and scientific journals. Students gain command of the fundamental structures of Hebrew and its basic grammatical forms. The class also consolidates and broadens the grammatical structures and vocabulary studied in level Aleph. By the end of this course, the student is familiar with the basic structure of the Hebrew language, including: comprehension: listening to the news, recorded radio programs, and lectures in easy Hebrew; conversation: conversations, discussions, and short lectures based on the passages read and heard; informal meetings with Israelis, reported on afterwards in class; reading: passages from stories and texts adapted into easy Hebrew and short newspaper articles in easy Hebrew; writing: writing structured compositions and short passages on the topics studied; and grammatical skills: syntactic consolidation and elaboration of basic structures, inflection of the strong verbs in the future tense, and frequent weak verbs.

This course charts the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the rise of political Zionism and Palestinian-Arab nationalism to the present day. It provides an understanding of the political and scholarly debates surrounding the causes for the dispute through the eyes of the belligerent societies, and the efforts that have been made to resolve it (and their degree of success or failure). It includes an evaluation of attempts to resolve the conflict and the factors shaping peace-making efforts to the present day.