The 2023-2024 course offerings applicable to a Specialist, Major, or Minor degree in Jewish Studies are now posted on the webpage below! Visit the Faculty of Arts and Science Course Timetable to see all course offerings for the 2023-2024 academic year.
We are delighted to share the 
23-24 ATCJS Undergraduate Course Handbook. This Handbook will continue to be updated with information as it becomes available. Continue to check back here for the most updated course information!
Course offerings vary each year, especially for Special Topics Courses. Visit the course archives to see previous editions of the Undergraduate Handbook and to get a better idea of what has been offered in the past, and how you might build your program.
See more details regarding enrolment instructions.
CJS Courses for 2023/24
CJS200H1S: “Introduction to Jewish Thought”
Friday 11 - 1 pm
Instructors: Team taught by ATCJS Faculty
It is hard to be a Jew, but the difficulties make for interesting questions. Does God exist? How is God revealed to Moses at Sinai and to the prophets? Are there such things as miracles? Are we free to follow what God commands? What is the nature of faith? If God is good, then why do bad things happen to innocent people? Is faith possible after the Holocaust? What is the role of Israel in modern Jewish life? Who belongs to the Jewish community? How do Jews address inequality and discrimination? How do Jews understand a good and meaningful life? Professors Goldberg and Rosenthal invite students to join them in debating the answers to these questions and others.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
CJS201H1F: “Introduction to Jewish Culture”
Friday 11 - 1 pm
Instructors: TBA
General introduction to history, literatures and cultures of Jewish people from antiquity to contemporary. A balanced presentation of multi-disciplinary approaches and multi-methodological approaches to Jewish studies, with a special emphasis on Jewish cultural studies and Jewish secularity.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
CJS290H1S: Topics in Jewish Studies “Living together differently in the 21st century: Israel as a case study”
Tuesday 11 - 1 pm
Instructor: Kineret Sadeh
How can people with different worldviews and dissimilar moral visions live together? Liberal philosophers have grappled with this question offering solutions including tolerance, peace, and multiculturalism. However, many people today, particularly in the West, oppose liberalism as a cultural message and a political goal. Robust evidence can be found in the rise of "populist" backlash movements and the sharp polarization between liberals and conservatives. Can Western democracies overcome this crisis? This seminar explores this question from a sociological perspective with Israel as a case study. We will probe the efforts of Israeli activists and professionals to instill non-liberal peace among Jews and Arabs, to bridge the chasm between liberals and conservatives, and to include LGBTs and people with disabilities as equal members of society while surpassing liberal principles. By analyzing their work, we will broaden our understanding of living together differently in the 21st century.
No prerequisite.
CJS383H1S: Jews and Power (cross-listed with POL378H1-S)
Thursday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Olga Talal
The rich human fabric comprising contemporary Israeli society is divided along multiple identity-based lines. It is divided nationally (between Jews and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel), religiously (between religious and secular Jews, Muslims and Christians), and ethnically (between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews). Other salient identity markers separate new immigrants from the older ones and city dwellers from residents of peripheral areas - within state borders and outside them, located in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. In this course, students will learn about the complex web of cross-cutting identities within Israeli society and how these identities are (re)shaped by power. We will pay special attention to the interrelations of political power, identity politics, and public policy in Israel.
Prerequisite: POL101Y1 or CJS200H1 or CJS201H1
Exclusion: POL383H1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)
CJS390H1F: Special Topics in Jewish Studies “Becoming Israel: War, Peace, and the Politics of Israel's Identity" (cross-listed with POL377H1)
Tuesday 11 - 1 pm
Instructor: Olga Talal
This course will focus on Israel's balancing act between two competing objectives, one seeking to fulfill the Zionist vision and entrench "Jewishness" within the state and the other seeking to establish democratic institutions and procedures. Since independence, Israel's official ideology, Zionism, has been shaping the state's economic, political, demographic, and security policies, designed to advance the interests of the Jewish population in Israel. The Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel fall outside the sociological boundaries of the Jewish nation and present a challenge to nation-building. At the same time, Israel's commitment to democratic principles and procedures entails guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of Palestinian Arab citizens. In this course, students will explore the most salient manifestations of the tensions between Israel's commitment to democracy and Zionism, familiarize themselves with the debates about Israel's political regime, institutions, and society, and develop their positions on these divisive debates.
CJS390H1S: “Religion and Religiosity in Israel/Palestine” (cross-listed with RLG338H1)
Thursday 6 - 8 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Focusing on present-day Israel/Palestine, this interdisciplinary course is intended for students interested in exploring a wide range of theoretical questions and examining their applicability to the study of sites, texts, rituals, and politics in the region. We will address the history of the land's consecration from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives. Students will analyze specific sites associated with religious congregations and ritual practices, and study them within their local and regional contexts. Looking at the complex relationships between religious-political movements and institutions within Jewish and Muslim societies, we will delve into various attempts to secularize (and theologize) Jewish and Palestinian communities and their discontents. Rather than providing the typical emphasis on conflict, the course is a journey into the history and present of the land and its diverse communities.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
CJS391H1S: Special Topics in Jewish Studies "Sensory Encounters: Medieval Perceptions and Interreligious Interactions"
Monday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: Emilie Amar-Zifkin
The evil eye and spiritual blindness, the stench of plague, the deep resonance of church bells – life in the medieval period was an intense multi-sensory experience. The medieval sensorium refers to the combined forms of sensory experience, understanding, performance and perception: in other words, the mechanics of vision, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. In this course, we will explore the five senses as they were understood in the medieval west, deconstructing the medieval sensorium. We will pay special attention to how the senses affected relations between Christians and their Jewish neighbors, engaging primary texts as well as secondary sources from complementary disciplines like literature, history of medicine, anthropology, urban studies, music, and disability studies. In short, we will examine how people in the medieval period made sense of their senses.
CJS392H1S: Special Topics in Jewish Studies: "Arabs in Israel"
Tuesday 6 - 8pm
Instructor: Gamal Mansour
Is Israel a “Jewish State,” or a “State for all its citizens?” What is the history of Israel’s relation to its Arab population? Who are the Arabs in Israel—what is their contribution to the social and political experiment that is Israel? How are they viewed by the Jewish part of Israel: Are they the “bridge to peace” between Israel and its Arab regional environment, or are they the “fifth column” Avigdor Lieberman once called them? Can they become full-fledged citizens whose allegiance is not under constant doubt? And can this ever be achieved without full accounting for their own historical experience and traumas? What path lies forward?
This course should, through a review of historical, political, and cultural resources, attempt to offer possible answers to these questions and highlight the vibrancy and vitality of Arabs in Israel; but also to highlight their uneasy and hybrid identity/identities, the ambiguity of their nexus to the State, and their (mostly) frustrated hopes for full rights and recognition.
CJS490H1F: Advanced Topics in Jewish Studies “Like Everyone Else but Different: Challenges of Negotiating Diversity for Canadian Jews” (cross-listed with SOC495H1)
Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Morton Weinfeld
This course will analyze the condition of the Jewish population of Canada, with reference to the two objectives of Canada as a liberal-democratic and diverse society. The first is equality and maximal inclusion of minorities in Canadian life. The second is providing space and conditions for retention of minority identities, communities, and cultures. The sociological expectation is that these two will be in a zero- sum relation, but in the Jewish case these contradictions are relatively minimal. This course will examine key elements which comprise the life of Jews in Canada, from a social scientific perspective. These include: demography, socio -economic status, antisemitism, families and partnering patterns, the organized community, Jewish education, religion, culture, politics, impact of the Holocaust and Israel/Zionism. The focus of the course is Canada, but it will also include comparisons with American Jewish life.
2023-2024 Courses
Below are the course offerings for the 2023-2024 academic year.
ANT426H1S Western Views of the Non-West
Monday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Ivan Kalmar
The history and present of western concepts and images about the ‘Other’, in anthropological and other scholarship and in popular culture.
Prerequisite: 0.5 credit at the 300-level from Anthropology Group C: Society, Culture, and Language, or Near and Middle Eastern Civilization or Jewish Studies or Diaspora and Transnational Studies or History
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation(1)
DTS300H1S Qualitative and Quantitative Reasoning
Tuesday 10 am - 12 pm
Instructor: Padraic Scanlan
Focuses on research design and training in methods from history, geography, anthropology, literary and cultural studies, and other disciplines appropriate to Diaspora and Transnational Studies. Prepares students to undertake primary research required in senior seminars.
Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: The Physical and Mathematical Universes (5)
DTS402H1F Advanced Topics in Diaspora and Transnationalism: Desire in Yiddish Literature
Tuesday 2 - 4 pm
Instructor: Anita Norich
What does "desire" mean to a Yiddish writer? Desire most commonly refers to sexuality and the erotic life. The object of desire may be a person, but it can also be a thing, an idea, an art form, and more. How does our milieu affect our sense of who or what we desire? Yiddish writers have always been necessarily multicultural, multilingual, trans-continental in knowledge and perspective. They responded to an extraordinarily diverse array of political and social movements including emigration/immigration, various forms of nationalism, socialism, religious belief, rejection of religious observance. In exploring the short fiction and poetry that address these concerns, we will consider authors whose names may be familiar to some (e.g., Isaac Bashevis Singer, Sholem Aleichem); we will certainly read authors who are largely unknown despite English translations of their work (e.g., Celia Dropkin, Lamed Shapiro, Yankev Glatshteyn, and more). Experimenting with modern literary forms and modern personal and political choices, these authors reveal the remarkable range of Yiddish writing in the twentieth century. (All works will be read in English translation, though Yiddish texts will also be made available.)
Prerequisite: 14 FCE, including DTS200Y1/CJS200H1/CJS201H1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
DTS416H1F Wars, Diaspora and Music
Wednesday 10 am - 12 pm
Instructor: Anna Shternshis
The course explores how composers, performers, songwriters and audiences made sense of traumatic and violent events that they experienced, such as ethnic conflicts, wars, exile and displacement, through music. We will also look at how government ideologies employ music during wars. The case studies will include stories of Jewish, Palestinian, Afghan, Romani, Korean, Rwandan and other diasporas severely affected by wars and violence.
Prerequisite: 14.0 credits including DTS200Y1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG107H1S “It's the End of the World as We Know It”
Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Anne-Marie Fowler
Throughout history, many religious movements have envisioned the end of the world. This course will explore the ways in which different religious movements have prepared for and expected an end time, from fears, symbols, and rituals to failed prophecies and social violence. By examining traditions such as Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts through to fears of nuclear apocalypse and zombies, the course seeks to understand the ways in which ancient and modern claims of “the end” reflect the aspirations, anxieties, and religious concerns of communities.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief, and Behaviour (2)
RLG195H1F Alt-Bible: What Could Have Been
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instrictor: John Marshall
Why does our contemporary Bible not include any daughters for Adam and Eve or any stories of Jesus as a young boy? What if Enoch was more prominent than Moses or Thomas more prominent than Paul? "The Bible" that we have is not a single book or a simple collection, but something that has grown over time, been the object of contention and argument, and has sometimes been a common ground across traditions. We examine side-by-side writings that have become canonical and writings that once held authority but have not found widespread canonical status, and strive to understand the processes by which we ended up with "the Bible" we have today. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/CNR option.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
RLG202H1S Judaism
Tuesday 5-7 pm/ONLINEInstructor: Naomi Seidman
An introduction to the religious tradition of the Jews that explores key themes as they change from ancient times to today. The set of themes will include: the Sabbath, Study, Place, Household, Power. Each year will focus on one theme. We will read holy texts, modern literature, history, ethnography, and philosophy, covering each theme in a range of genres and across the diverse span of Jewish experience.
Exclusion: RLG202H5, RLG202Y1
Recommended Preparation: RLG100Y1/RLG200H1/RLG208Y1
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief, and Behaviour (2)
RLG209H1F Justifying Religious Belief
Friday 11 - 1 pm
Instructor: Sol Goldberg
Beliefs typically characterized as “religious” concern such things as the existence and nature of the deity, the afterlife, the soul, miracles, and the universe’s meaningfulness, ultimate purpose, or interest in the distribution and realization of justice. Common to these and other religious beliefs is that they lack empirical evidence to support them – at least so say religious skeptics. They insist that rational beliefs require justification and that justification comes from perceptions anyone could have or solid scientific reasoning. Anyone who harbors religious beliefs thus violates a basic epistemic responsibility. How might people who hold – and want to continue to hold – religious beliefs respond to these accusations and doubts? The course examines these basic epistemological and moral challenges to religious belief as well as the various strategies available to religious believers who are confronted with such demands for justifications. By doing so, we will aim to understand better whether religious beliefs of various sorts could count as rational, whether reasonable people might disagree with each other about the very nature of reality and morality, and whether anyone who falls short of common intellectual and social ideals of rationality and reasonableness ought to be tolerated.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG321H1F Women and the Hebrew Bible
Tuesday 9-11 am
Instructor: Nyasha Junior
This course provides a critical examination of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes called the Old Testament) with an emphasis on women characters. It examines the historical and literary contexts of Hebrew Bible texts and engages diverse methods of contemporary biblical scholarship with particular attention to issues of gender. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG327H1S Hospitality and Ethics in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Harry Fox
Refugee crises in modern times have raised questions concerning what degree of hospitality is owed the stranger or foreigner whose motivation is a new, safe, and secure home rather than being treated as a guest passing through on a time-limited visa. Jacques Derrida’s ideas of both conditional hospitality (e.g., tourists) and unconditional hospitality (e.g., strangers) need to be explored from the perspective of philosophical and ethical traditions including Jewish, Christian, and Muslim ethics.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG338H1S Religion and Religiosity in Israel/Palestine
Thursday 6-8 pm
Instructors: Yigal Nizri
Focusing on present-day Israel/Palestine, this interdisciplinary course is intended for students interested in exploring a wide range of theoretical questions and examining their applicability to the study of sites, texts, rituals, and politics in the region. We will address the history of the land's consecration from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives. Students will analyze specific sites associated with religious congregations and ritual practices, and study them within their local and regional contexts. Looking at the complex relationships between religious-political movements and institutions within Jewish and Muslim societies, we will delve into various attempts to secularize (and theologize) Jewish and Palestinian communities and their discontents. Rather than providing the typical emphasis on conflict, the course is a journey into the history and present of the land and its diverse communities.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
RLG341H1F Dreaming of Zion: Exile and Return in Jewish Thought
Wednesday 10-12 pm
An inquiry into the theme of exile and return in Judaism, often called the leading idea of Jewish religious consciousness. Starting from Egyptian slavery and the Babylonian exile, and culminating in the ideas of modern Zionism, the course will examine a cross-section of Jewish thinkers--ancient, medieval, and modern.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG343H1S Kabbala: A History of Mystical Thought in Judaism
Wednesday 10-12 pm
Instructor: Kenneth Green
A historical study of the Kabbala and the mystical tradition in Judaism, with emphasis on the ideas of Jewish mystical thinkers and movements.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG346H1F Time and Place in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Harry Fox
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each have their own sets of prayer times, frequency of prayers and their locations such as home, synagogue, temple, church or mosque. They have completely different calendrical systems. Holiness is also connected to geographical locations, which often serve as destinations of pilgrimage. This course will examine linear and cyclical times and the concepts of holiness in time and place by looking at primary sources in translation. We will investigate the persistence of holy places, how their names continue, and how gender issues are part of the jurisdictional politics of disputes over place and time.
Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
RLG435H1S The Thought of Leo Strauss
Wednesday 2-4 pm
Instructor: Kenneth Green
The philosophic thought of Leo Strauss approached through his writings on modern Judaism. Primarily addressed will be the mutual relations between philosophy, theology, and politics. Among other topics to be dealt with: origins of modern Judaism, Zionism, liberal democracy, and biblical criticism; meaning of Jerusalem and Athens; cognitive value in the Hebrew Bible.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
MHB155H1F Elementary Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Introduction to the fundamentals of Hebrew grammar and syntax. Emphasis on the development of oral and writing skills.
Exclusion: Grade 4 Hebrew (or Grade 2 in Israel)/ NML155H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB156H1S Elementary Modern Hebrew II
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Continued introduction to the fundamentals of Hebrew grammar and syntax. Emphasis on the development of oral and writing skills.
Exclusion: Grade 4 Hebrew (or Grade 2 in Israel)/ NML156H1
Prerequisites: MHB155H1/ NML155H1 permission of the instructor based on previous language knowledge
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB255H1F Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: TBA
Intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel)/ NML255Y1
Prerequisites: MHB156H1/ NML156H1 or permission of the instructor based on previous language knowledge
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB256H1S Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
Monday, Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: TBA
Continued intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel)/ NML255Y1
Prerequisites: MHB255H1/ NML156H1 or permission of the instructor based on previous language knowledge
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
MHB355H1F Advanced Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 6 - 8 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Advanced intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: OAC Hebrew/ NML355Y1
Prerequisites: MHB256H1/ NML255Y1 or permission of the instructor based on previous language knowledge
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
EUR300H1S Special Topics in European Affairs
Wednesdays 10 am -12 pm
Instructor: Anna Shternshis
This course offers students the opportunity to explore key issues in European Affairs. Topics vary from year to year, depending on the instructor. See Department website for current offerings. Course may not be repeated under the same subtitle.
Prerequisite: EUR200Y1 and 4.0 additional credits
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
ENG377H1S Topics in Theory, Language, Critical Methods
Tuesday 2 - 4 pm, Thursday 2 - 3 pm
Instructor: Andrea Most
Sustained study in a topic pertaining to literary theory, critical methods, or linguistics. Content varies with instructors. See Department website for current offerings. Course may not be repeated under the same subtitle.
Prerequisite: 2.0 ENG credits and any 4.0 credits
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation(1)
GER260Y1Y Elementary Yiddish
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 12 - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
This course introduces Yiddish language, literature, music, theatre, and cinema through interactive multi-media seminars, designed to build proficiency in reading, writing and comprehending. No prior knowledge of Yiddish is required.
Exclusion: GER463Y1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
GER326H1S Writing Memory: Post 1945
Tuesday 2 - 4 pm
Instructor: John Noyes
An examination of post-World War II German literature and culture from Zero Hour through to present-day debates about the Holocaust and its memorialization within a German context.
Prerequisite: GER205H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
GER360H1F Intermediate Yiddish
Wednesday 12-1 pm and Friday 12-2 pm
Instructor: TBA
The course conducted in Yiddish offers a review of basic grammar, stylistics, study of short literary texts.
Exclusion: GER463Y1
Prerequisite: GER260Y1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
GER361H1F Yiddish Literature in Translation (E)
Friday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: TBA
An overview of the major figures and tendencies in modern Yiddish literature and culture from the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Readings (in English) of modern Yiddish prose, poetry, drama and cinema.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
GER460H1S - Advanced Yiddish
Tuesdays 1 - 4 pm
Instructor: TBA
This course conducted entirely in Yiddish focuses on advanced reading, writing, vocabulary and conversation, the study of poetry, short fiction, and memoir literature by leading authors. Selected advanced grammatical topics are presented in conjunction with the study of texts.
Exclusion: GER462H1
Prerequisite: GER360H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
HIS208Y1Y History of the Jewish People
Wednesday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: Alan Verskin
An introduction to the history of the Jews throughout the world over the past two thousand years.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS242H1F Europe in the 20th Century
Monday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Andres Kasekamp
The evolution of European politics, culture, and society from 1914: the two world wars, Fascism and Nazism, the post-1945 reconstruction and the movement towards European integration.
Exclusion: EUR200Y1/EUR200Y5/FGI200Y5/HIS242H5/HISB94H3
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS247H1S The Second World War: A Global History
Monday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: Timothy Sayle
This course offers an introduction to the global history of the Second World War. It aims to expose students to historiographical debates regarding the war, the use of primary sources, and the scholarly and intellectual challenges that come with studying an event of this magnitude and horror. In general, students will examine the origins and causes of the conflict, survey the factors that shaped the course of the war, and consider how and why the fighting came to an end when it did. These broad approaches will be supplemented with consideration of specific examples from around the world.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS317H1S 20th Century Germany
Thursday 1-4 pm
Instructor: TBA
A survey of modern German history in the twentieth century. Topics include World War I and the postwar settlement, the Weimar Republic, the National Socialist dictatorship, the Holocaust, the division of Germany, the Cold War, German reunification, Germany and the European Union, nationalism, political culture, war and revolution, religious and ethnic minorities and questions of history and memory.
Prerequisite: HIS103Y1/HIS109Y1/(HIS241H1, HIS242H1)/EUR200Y1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS338H1F The Holocaust, to 1942
Friday 10 am - 12 pm
Instructor: TBA
German state policy towards the Jews in the context of racist ideology, bureaucratic structures, and varying conditions in German-occupied Europe. Second Term considers responses of Jews, European populations and governments, the Allies, churches, and political movements.
Exclusion: HIS388Y1/HIS398Y1/HIS338H5
Prerequisite: Completion of 6.0 FCE.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS338H1S The Holocaust, from 1942
Friday 10 am - 12 pm
Instructor: TBA
Follows on HIS338H1. Themes include: resistance by Jews and non-Jews; local collaboration; the roles of European governments, the Allies, the churches, and other international organizations; the varieties of Jewish responses. We will also focus on postwar repercussions of the Holocaust in areas such as justice, memory and memorialization, popular culture and politics.
Exclusion: HIS338Y1/HIS361H5
Prerequisite: Completion of 6.0 credits and HIS338H1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS351H1S The Soviet Union and After
Tuesday 5 -7 pm
Instructor: TBA
A survey of the history of Twentieth-Century Russia, from the collapse of the Russian Empire and the establishment of the Soviet Union through to the end of the Cold War and the establishment of a new Russian Federation. The social, economic, and political developments of the era are emphasized.
Exclusion: HIS351Y1/ HIS351H5
Prerequisite: HIS250Y1
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS364H1S From Revolution to Revolution: Hungary Since 1848
Wednesday 9 - 11 am
Instructor: Robert Austin
This course offers a chronological survey of the history of Hungary from the 1848 revolution until the present. It is ideal for students with little or no knowledge of Hungarian history but who possess an understanding of the main trends of European history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The focus is on the revolutions of 1848-1849, 1918-1919, the 1956 Revolution against Soviet rule and the collapse of communism in 1989. The story has not been invariably heroic, violent and tragic.
Prerequisite: A 100 level HIS course
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
HIS437H1F Telling Lies About Hitler: Frauds and Famous Feuds Among German Historians
Monday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: James Retallack
Examines historiographical controversies and their public reception. Topics include the forged Hitler diaries, the David Irving trial, German responsibility for 1914, Daniel Goldhagen’s “eliminationist” thesis, Auschwitz as an “Asiatic deed,” Wehrmacht complicity in the Holocaust and retrospective films about East Germany.
Prerequisite: HIS317H1/HIS330H1 or permission of the instructor
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
NMC104H1S The Biblical World
Monday, Wednesday 11am -12 pm
Instructor: Laura Hare
Examine the history, lands, peoples, religions, literatures and cultures that produced the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Topics to be covered include an overview of the geography and history of Ancient Israel and Judea, the role of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages, the literary genres reflected in biblical and some contemporary non-biblical texts, and the scholarly methods by which the Bible is studied.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
NMC252H1S Hebrew Bible
Online Synchronus on Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Robert Holmstedt
An introduction to the critical study of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and the related literature of ancient Jewish communities (Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls). English translations used; no knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NMC278H1F Introduction to the Modern Middle East
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instrucrtor: Adrien Zakar
The emergence of modern states in the Middle East, against a background of empire, world wars, and national and religious movements. Students will learn why the modern map looks the way it does, and how Middle Eastern peoples' self-identifications have changed over the past 200 years.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
NMC284H1F Judaism and Feminism: Legal Issues from Menstruation to Ordination
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
Agitation for change exists in religious practice worldwide in areas of access, status, inclusion, and egalitarianism. Traditional religion is often in conflict with egalitarian modernity. This sometimes results in difficulties with religious identification. This course will explore the interaction between feminism and Judaism. We will examine how Jewish law (halakhah) sometimes conflicts with ideas of egalitarianism particularly in legal disabilities for women such as divorce, lack of access to high-level Torah study, and discrimination in public religious roles. The traditional exemption of women from the obligation of Torah study had great impact on women’s religious responsibility and status. Various movements within Judaism competed in efforts to resolve these difficulties. In this course we will consider to what extent inclusion and egalitarianism have become complementary to traditional Judaism.
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
NMC330H1F King David: Musician, Monarch, or Murderer
Monday 3 - 5 pm
Instrucrtor: Jeremy Schipper
For many people, King David is one of the most beloved characters in the Bible. But where did our ideas about David come from? Was he a brilliant poet who wrote many of the Psalms, a youthful champion who defeated the giant Goliath or as a ruthless monarch capable of killing his political opponents? This course will explore attempts to reconstruct the historical David from various biblical texts, comparable ancient literature, and what historians know (and don’t know) about the time in which his story is set. All readings will be in English. No knowledge of Hebrew is required.
Prerequisite: 4.0 credits at the 200-level
Breadth Requirement: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)
NMC386H1S Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Ottoman Empire
Tuesday 1 - 3 pm
Instrucrtor: Milena Methodieva
Although ruled by a Muslim dynasty and frequently characterized as an Islamic empire, the Ottoman state was inhabited by diverse religious and ethnic populations, many of them non-Muslim. This course examines how the Ottoman Empire governed and organized its subjects, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, of various ethnic backgrounds. It explores the relations among these communities and their interactions with the state, raising questions about tolerance, co-existence, conflict, loyalty, and identity. By looking into a selection of topics from the wide territorial span of the Ottoman Empire (Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Arab Middle East) the course seeks to provide insights into the organization, functioning, and transformation of a multi-confessional state and society in the premodern and modern eras.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
NML155H1F Elementary Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
See MHB155H1 in Religion.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation(1)
NML156H1S Elementary Modern Hebrew II
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
See MHB156H1 in Religion.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation(1)
NML250Y1Y Introductory Biblical Hebrew
Monday 9 - 11 am Wednesday 9-10 am
Instructor: Laura Hare
An introduction to biblical Hebrew prose. Grammar and selected texts. For students with no previous knowledge of Hebrew.
Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Grade 6 in Israel)
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NML255H1F Intermediate Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel), MHB255H1
Prerequisite: MHB156H1/ NML156H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation (1)
NML256H1S Intermediate Modern Hebrew II
Monday, Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Continued intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: Those who have completed Grade 8 Hebrew (or Ulpan level 2 in Israel), MHB256H1
Prerequisite: NML255H1/ MHB255H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representation (1)
NML350H1F Intermediate Biblical Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Laura Hare
A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.
Prerequisite: NML250Y1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NML351H1S Intermediate Biblical Hebrew II
Monday, Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
A continuation of the study of ancient Hebrew grammar and texts. Focus is given to covering a wide variety of genres, e.g., narrative, chronicle, genealogy, oracle, prayer, hymn, and proverb.
Prerequisite: NML350H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
NML355H1F - Advanced Modern Hebrew I
Monday, Wednesday 6 - 8 pm
Instructor: Yigal Nizri
Advanced intensive study of written and spoken Hebrew.
Exclusion: OAC Hebrew, MHB355H1
Prerequisite: MHB256H1/ NML256H1
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
PHL310H1S The Rationalists
Tuesday, Thursday 12 - 1:30 pm
Instructor: Michael Rosenthal
Central philosophical problems in philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, and their contemporaries.
Exclusion: PHLC35H3
Prerequisite: PHL210Y1, 7.5 courses (in any field) with at least 1.5 in philosophy
PHL338H1F Jewish Philosophy
Tuesday, Thursday 12 - 1:30 pm
Instructor: Michael Rosenthal
A selection of texts and issues in Jewish philosophy, for example, Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed, Buber's The Prophetic Faith, prophecy and revelation, Divine Command and morality, creation and eternity, the historical dimension of Jewish thought.
Prerequisite: 7.5 FCE (in any field) with at least 1.5 in philosophy
PHL402H1S Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
Wednesday 3 - 6 pm
Instructor: Michael Rosenthal
Advanced discussion of the principal figures and themes in the philosophy of the 17th and/or 18th centuries.
Prerequisite: PHL210Y1, 4.0 credits in philosophy
POL377H1F Topics in Comparative Politics I:Becoming Israel: War, Peace, and the Politics of Israel's Identity
Tuesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: Olga Talal
This course will focus on Israel's balancing act between two competing objectives, one seeking to fulfill the Zionist vision and entrench "Jewishness" within the state and the other seeking to establish democratic institutions and procedures. Since independence, Israel's official ideology, Zionism, has been shaping the state's economic, political, demographic, and security policies, designed to advance the interests of the Jewish population in Israel. The Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel fall outside the sociological boundaries of the Jewish nation and present a challenge to nation-building. At the same time, Israel's commitment to democratic principles and procedures entails guaranteeing the rights and freedoms of Palestinian Arab citizens. In this course, students will explore the most salient manifestations of the tensions between Israel's commitment to democracy and Zionism, familiarize themselves with the debates about Israel's political regime, institutions, and society, and develop their positions on these divisive debates.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
POL377H1S Topics in Comparative Politics I: Israel's Modern Tribes
Tuesday 5 - 7 pm
Instructor: Oded Oron
In June 2015, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin gave a speech at the annual Herzliya Conference discussing the social and political schisms in modern Israeli society. Rivlin detailed the changes to Israel’s population makeup and how it could harbinger severe economic and social issues that will threaten the future of the Jewish state and bring about a “new Israeli order”. This course reviews and analyzes the characteristics, political, and social transformation experienced by each group and how it fits into the fabric of Israeli society. Over the years winds of change and collective claims stirred the Israeli “melting pot” and created new realities that exposed early societal cleavages. Throughout the course students will gain a deep understanding of these core issues in modern Israel by analyzing the socio-political cleavages as well as opportunities for integration and compromise between the “new tribes” that make up modern Israeli society.
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
POL378H1F Topics in Comparative Politics II: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Tuesday 5 - 7 pm
Instructor: Oded Oron
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable and multifaceted protracted conflicts in modern times with flare-ups of violence between its various actors continuing to claim lives and to threaten wider war. This course will survey the main political junctions in the conflict and will connect them to their reincarnations in contemporary times. We will study all of this, exploring the conflict’s many layers and relating it to broader International Relations and sociological concepts from the emergence of the conflict’s political fault lines during Ottoman times through the establishment of a Jewish state and its continued modern-day development. The course will include cultural products relating to both societies, including movies, clips, songs and forms of art and cultural representations.
Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
POL378H1S Topics in Comparative Politics II: Jews and Power
Thursday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Olga Talal
The rich human fabric comprising contemporary Israeli society is divided along multiple identity-based lines. It is divided nationally (between Jews and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel), religiously (between religious and secular Jews, Muslims and Christians), and ethnically (between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews). Other salient identity markers separate new immigrants from the older ones and city dwellers from residents of peripheral areas - within state borders and outside them, located in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. In this course, students will learn about the complex web of cross-cutting identities within Israeli society and how these identities are (re)shaped by power. We will pay special attention to the interrelations of political power, identity politics, and public policy in Israel.
Prerequisite: 1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses
Breadth Requirement: Society and its Institutions (3)
SLA199H1F Invisible Kingdom, Imaginary Space
Tuesday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: TBA
The Central European Region of Galicia gave rise to a remarkable array of literary representations -- Austrian, Jewish, Polish, and Ukrainian -- animating fantastic creatures, powerful myths, deviant pleasures, and sublime stories. Bruno Schulz created shimmering peacocks, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch seized ecstasy through pain, and Ivan Franko investigated the effects of avarice and social decay.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
SLA268H1F Cossacks!
Wednesday 1 - 3 pm
Instructor: TBA
How are Cossacks depicted in literary and visual works? Were they the agents of a repressive Russian government, the hirelings of Polish kings, the tormentors of Eastern European Jews, the protectors of Europe from the Ottomans, or the liberators of the Ukrainian nation? We read works from the Jewish, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian cultural traditions.
Exclusion: CCR199H1 (First-Year Seminar: The Cossacks), offered in Winter 2012, Winter 2013, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, and Fall 2017
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
SLA318H1F City of Saints and Sinners: Kyiv through the Centuries
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
Captivating and elusive: the "new Jerusalem," Yehupets, a "Slavic Pompeii" and frontier city. This course examines Kyiv through works of literature, visual arts, architecture, and popular culture that reveal Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish, and Polish versions of the city. Gogol, Sholem Aleichem, Bulgakov, Vynnychenko, and many others. Taught in English, all readings in English.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
CDN280H1F Canadian Jewish History
Thursday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
This course focuses on initial settlement patterns of Jews in Toronto and elsewhere, community growth including suburbanization, and contemporary challenges such as anti-Semitism and assimilation.
CDN380H1S Socio-Cultural Perspective of the Canadian Jewish Community
Tuesday 11 am - 1 pm
Instructor: TBA
This course examines: the relationship between prominent Canadians who happen to be Jews and those whose works are founded in Jewish identity; the diversity of the community on the basis of religion, language, class, ideology, etc.; contributions to the arts and scholarship; and the role and contribution of Jewish women.
Breadth Requirement: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)
SOC199H1S: Topics in Jewish Studies “Living together differently in the 21st century: Israel as a case study”
Tuesday 11 - 1 pm
Instructor: Kineret Sadeh
How can people with different worldviews and dissimilar moral visions live together? Liberal philosophers have grappled with this question offering solutions including tolerance, peace, and multiculturalism. However, many people today, particularly in the West, oppose liberalism as a cultural message and a political goal. Robust evidence can be found in the rise of "populist" backlash movements and the sharp polarization between liberals and conservatives. Can Western democracies overcome this crisis? This seminar explores this question from a sociological perspective with Israel as a case study. We will probe the efforts of Israeli activists and professionals to instill non-liberal peace among Jews and Arabs, to bridge the chasm between liberals and conservatives, and to include LGBTs and people with disabilities as equal members of society while surpassing liberal principles. By analyzing their work, we will broaden our understanding of living together differently in the 21st century.
No prerequisite.
SOC495H1F: Advanced Topics in Jewish Studies “Like Everyone Else but Different: Challenges of Negotiating Diversity for Canadian Jews”
Wednesday 3 - 5 pm
Instructor: Morton Weinfeld
This course will analyze the condition of the Jewish population of Canada, with reference to the two objectives of Canada as a liberal-democratic and diverse society. The first is equality and maximal inclusion of minorities in Canadian life. The second is providing space and conditions for retention of minority identities, communities, and cultures. The sociological expectation is that these two will be in a zero- sum relation, but in the Jewish case these contradictions are relatively minimal. This course will examine key elements which comprise the life of Jews in Canada, from a social scientific perspective. These include: demography, socio -economic status, antisemitism, families and partnering patterns, the organized community, Jewish education, religion, culture, politics, impact of the Holocaust and Israel/Zionism. The focus of the course is Canada, but it will also include comparisons with American Jewish life.
1.0 SOC credit at the 300+ level
Additional Information
Enrol in courses on ACORN. The Faculty of Arts & Science offers more detailed instructions regarding how to enrol and on enrolment periods.
Sessional dates are available on the Faculty of Arts & Science calendar.
See the Arts and Science timetable for courses with tutorials. If there is conflicting information, the Arts & Science timetable takes priority.
Course Archives
The ATCJS Undergraduate Handbook contains all the essential information for the successful and memorable completion of an undergraduate degree with the Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies. In this handbook you will find the contact info for our departmental admin, an outline of the degree programs we offer and their requirements, and all FAS courses being offered that count towards a degree in Jewish Studies in the given academic year.
ATCJS Undergraduate Handbook 2021-2022.pdf
ATCJS Undergraduate Handbook 2020/2021 (pdf)