The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

This course examines how Jewish and Israeli art, architecture, and material culture have been both a reflection and creator of identity. It includes field trips to A Studio of Her Own (a women’s art center in Jerusalem) and the Umm El-Fahem Art Gallery. Assessment involves two reading reflections, a class presentation, and a final paper. Course prerequisites include a course in either Art History, Material Culture, or Jewish or Middle East History.

This course provides a basic overview of Israel's legal system, its core principles, and its central institutions. The course focuses on the development of Israel's law since the founding of the state; important issues, including politics, affecting Israeli law; and the Israeli approach to specific and focused fields of law. The course aims to introduce the fundamentals of Israel's legal system, important developments and key jurists since the founding of the state, and discuss specific areas of law in Israel.

This course begins by examining early Jewish religious responses to modernity in Western and Central Europe and then turns its attention to the national, secular, and haredi responses in Eastern Europe. It then follows the fortunes of these groups as they were expressed in the New World, most particularly the United States of America. The course then focuses on Zionist formulations of the “New Jew” and their later reconfiguration given the realities of Palestine. It concludes by asking if the fragmentation of Jewish identity has become so profound as to end shared contours.

Radical Islam is one of the most significant political phenomena of the last decade. This course examines major contemporary Islamist movements and ideologies in the Sunni Muslim world, and the major changes within Islam and jihadism since the events of the Arab Spring of 2011. It explores the origins, motivations, and practices of radical Islamic movements. It examines major Sunni Islamist thinkers, schools, and movements, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb, post-MB Egyptian radicalism, and modern Salafism. The course also looks at the rise of ISIS and the impact of the Arab Spring.

This course examines some of the pivotal events in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict from the early 20th century to the present. The evolution of the conflict between Arab states, the Palestinians and the Zionist movement, the Arab-Israeli wars, and the peace negotiations and treaties between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian national movement, are some of the main themes in this course. The course discusses the complexity of the conflict, the role of the conflict with Israel in intra-Arab relations, and the development of the Palestinian national movement from its inception, its relations with Arab countries, and its division between PLO and Hamas. Beyond discussions, the course includes panels and historical “trials” where students present the case of conflicting views on the events discussed in class.

This course is taught at Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Faculty of Social Sciences in the spring term. There is another course with the same title that is taught by Rothberg International in the fall term. This course focuses upon the topic of negotiations and conflict resolution in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1977 to the present. The course is divided into three parts. First, the course examines the general theoretical framework for explaining and understanding negotiations in international relations. Second, students discuss in general terms the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the main issues and patterns of negotiations. Third, the course address several case studies of successes and failures of negotiations between Israel and its several Arab neighbors Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and the Palestinians.

This is a research internship course offered by Rothberg International School. The course's availability is subject to the availability of suitable academic supervision. Students work in a preapproved organization or research institute for a minimum of 8 hours a week (not including transportation) for a total of 88 hours throughout the semester. Students complete a mid-semester meeting including a report submitted to the Internship Coordinator, time sheets, a one-page reflection summarizing the experience, and a portfolio/research paper. Students are assessed on their hours, reflection and work description assignment, and their portfolio/research paper.

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.