Centre for Jewish Studies


Faculty List

Director
Anna Shternshis (Department for Germanic Languages and Literatures and Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies) - Al and Malka Green Professor in Yiddish Studies

Graduate Coordinator
Naomi Seidman (Department for the Study of Religion and Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies) – Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts

Undergraduate Coordinator
Yigal Nizri (Department for the Study of Religion)

TENURE STREAM

Professors
Abigail Bakan (OISE, Department of Social Justice Education)
Amir Harrak (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Andrea Most (Department of English)
Anna Shternshis (Department for Germanic Languages and Literatures and Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies) - Al and Malka Green Professor in Yiddish Studies
Arthur Ripstein (Faculty of Law and Department of Philosophy) – Howard Beck QC Chair in Law
Caryl Clark (Faculty of Music)
Clifford Orwin (Department of Political Science)
Daniel Silver (Department of Sociology, UTSC)
David Novak (Department of Philosophy and Fellow of St. Michael’s College) – J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair in Jewish Studies (now Professor and Shiff Chair Emeritus)
Doris Bergen (Department of History) – Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies
Esther Geva (Department of Psychology)
Harold Troper (OISE Department of Curriculum Teaching and Learning) (now Professor Emeritus)
Harry Fox (Department for the Study of Religion and Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Ivan Kalmar (Department of Anthropology)
James Retallack (Department of History)
Jeremy Schipper (Department for the Study of Religion and Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
John Kloppenborg (Department for the Study of Religion)
Joseph M. Bryant (Department of Sociology)
Judith Newman (Status-Only, Department for the Study of Religion and Emmanuel College, Victoria University)
Karen Weisman (Department of English)
Kenneth Green (Department for the Study of Religion)
Leonid Livak (Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures) – Department Chair
Lorraine Weinrib (Faculty of Law) – Professor Emerita
Louis Kaplan (Department of Visual Studies UTM)
Lynne Viola (Department of History) - Professor Emerita
Mark D. Meyerson (Department of History and Centre for Medieval Studies)
Maria Subtelny (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Marsha Hewitt (Trinity College Faculty of Divinity)
Michael Chazan (Department of Anthropology)
Michael Rosenthal (Department of Philosophy and Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies) – Grafstein Professor of Jewish Philosophy
Naomi Seidman (Department for the Study of Religion and Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies) – Chancellor Jackman Professor in the Arts
Rebecca Comay (Department of Philosophy and Centre for Comparative Literature)
Robert Brym (Department of Sociology)
Robert Gibbs (Department for the Study of Religion and Department of Philosophy)
Robert Holmstedt (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Robin Elliot (Faculty of Music) – Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music
Ron Levi (Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, and Department of Sociology)
Ronald Beiner (Department of Political Science) – Professor Emeritus of Political Science
Ronald J. Leprohon (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations) – Professor Emeritus
Ronit Dinovitzer (Department of Sociology)
Sarianna Metso (Department of Historical Studies, UTM)
Simon Coleman (Department for the Study of Religion, cross-appointed to Anthropology) – Associate
Chair
Steven Vande Moortele (Faculty of Music)
Susan Solomon (Department of Political Science) – Professor Emerita
Timothy Harris (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Walid Saleh (Department for the Study of Religion and Department of Near and Middle Eastern
Civilizations)
Willi Goetschel (Department of Philosophy and Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures)

Associate Professors
Adam S. Cohen (Department of Art History)
Alejandro I. Paz (Department of Anthropology)
Ann Komaromi (Centre for Comparative Literature)
Daphna Heller (Department of Linguistics)
Jill Ross (Centre for Comparative Literature)
John Marshall (Department for the Study of Religion)
Katherine Blouin (Department of History)
Lauren Bialystok (Department of Social Justice Education, Center for Ethics)
Mitchell Hoffman (Rotman School of Management and Department of Economics)
Nicholas Stang (Department of Philosophy)
Piotr J. Wrobel (Department of History) - Konstanty Reynert Chair of Polish Studies
Rebecca Wittmann (Department of Historical Studies, UTM) – Department Chair
Ronald Charles (Department for the Study of Religion)
Sherry Denise Lee (Faculty of Music)
Tirzah Meacham (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations)
Yiftach Fehige (Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology)

Assistant Professors
Max Mishler (Department of History)
Tanhum Yoreh (School of the Environment)

TEACHING STREAM

Professor, Teaching Stream
Robert Austin (Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies)

Associate Professors, Teaching Stream
Renan Levine (Department of Political Science UTSC)
Sol Goldberg (Department for the Study of Religion)
Yigal Nizri (Department for the Study of Religion)

CLINICAL FACULTY

Associate Professor
Ayelet Kuper (Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medicine)

LIBRARIAN
Nadav Sharon (Judaica Librarian at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library)

Introduction

The Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies offers a Specialist in Jewish Studies, a Major in Jewish Studies, and a Minor in Jewish Studies.

Our undergraduate program provides students with a comprehensive education in Jewish Studies, a field that aims to situate the cultural, social, and economic diversity of the Jews and their faith within broader cultural contexts. Students who take our courses are trained in various methodological and disciplinary approaches across historical periods, geographical regions, textual corpora, and literary genres. Consequently, our students are pursuing education in Jewish history (ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary), Jewish literary and artistic creativity, and Jewish languages (mainly Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, and Yiddish) but also about Judaism, Jewish thought, theology, philosophy, mysticism, and modern Israel. 

The program is interdisciplinary, each student can pick and choose courses that broaden their disciplinary knowledge. The program provides intensive training in the historical, religious, cultural, and political experience of Jewish communities in their diverse civilizational contexts. A primary objective of our three undergraduate programs in Jewish studies has been to provide students with forward-thinking tools to shape their interaction with and understanding of questions through Jewish prisms while at the same time encouraging them to think with the potentialities found in the Jewish historical experience. We teach students how to use a variety of methodologies to explore the experiences of Jews through interdisciplinarity, transnationally, historically, and contemporarily. 

We offer the following pathways in Jewish Studies:

  • Jewish Philosophy and Thought 
  • Jewish History  
  • Jewish Visual Art and Archeology 
  • Jewish Literature and Culture 
  • Origins of Judaism/Hebrew Bible Studies 
  • German Jewish Studies
  • Antisemitism Studies 
  • Jewish Christian Encounters   
  • Yiddish Studies
  • Modern Hebrew Culture
  • Israel Studies    
  • Holocaust and post-Holocaust Studies 
  • European Jewish Studies 
  • Jewish Environmentalism 
  • Jewish-Muslim Relations
  • Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewish Studies 
  • Gender, Women, Queer and Sexuality and Jewish Studies

For more information, we encourage students to visit our website and contact us at any time by email or phone:

Phone: 416-978-1624
 

Centre for Jewish Studies Programs

Jewish Studies Specialist (Arts Program) - ASSPE0385

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.


Completion Requirements:

(10.0 credits, including 4.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which 1.0 credit must be at the 400-level)

1. CJS200H1/​ CJS201H1 (See Note)

2. 1.0 credit at the 400-level; fulfilled by any 400-level courses listed in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook.

3. 3.0 credits in Hebrew or Yiddish:

Hebrew language courses: MHB155H1/​ MHB156H1/​ MHB255H1/​ MHB256H1/​ MHB355H1/​ MHB356H1/​ NML155H1/​ NML156H1/​ NML255H1/​ NML256H1/​ NML355H1/​ NML356H1

Yiddish language courses: GER260Y1/​ GER261H1/​ GER262H1/​ GER360H1/​ GER460H1/​ GER463Y1.

Students entering the program with proof of requisite linguistic proficiency in Aramaic, Hebrew, Yiddish will choose any 3.0 credits in an area of study (see above) in addition to the regular requirements described in section 4. Other languages are accepted with special permission of the Undergraduate Director.

4. 5.0 credits in any of the four areas of Jewish Studies. All courses in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook count towards this requirement.

5. Note: From section 3 and 4, at least 4.0 credits at the 300+ level.

6. DTS300H1 or a 0.5 credit to satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning competency of the program, to be chosen from courses in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook developing this competency. If none is available, a 0.5 credit from Breadth Requirement Category #5: The Physical & Mathematical Universe, or a 0.5 credit approved by the Undergraduate Director.

Note: There are no specific first-year requirements; however, first-year students are welcome to take CJS200H1, CJS201H1, Hebrew Language courses ( MHB155H1 and MHB156H1) and Yiddish ( GER260Y1 or GER261H1 and GER262H1), which count towards the Jewish Studies Specialist.

Jewish Studies Major (Arts Program) - ASMAJ0385

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.


Completion Requirements:

(6.5 credits, including 2.0 credits at the 300+ level, of which a 0.5 credit must be at the 400-level)

1. CJS200H1/​ CJS201H1 (See Note)

2. 0.5 credits at the 400-level; fulfilled by any 400-level courses listed in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook.

3. 5.0 credits in any of the four areas of Jewish Studies. All courses in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook count towards this requirement. At least 2.0 out of the 5.0 credits must be at the 300+ level.

4. DTS300H1 or a 0.5 credit to satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning competency of the program, to be chosen from courses in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook developing this competency. If none is available, a 0.5 credit from Breadth Requirement Category #5: The Physical & Mathematical Universe, or a 0.5 credit approved by the Undergraduate Director.

Note: There are no specific first-year requirements; however, first-year students are welcome to take CJS200H1, CJS201H1, Hebrew Language courses ( MHB155H1 and MHB156H1), and Yiddish ( GER260Y1 or GER261H1 and GER262H1), which count towards the Jewish Studies Major.

Jewish Studies Minor (Arts Program) - ASMIN0385

Enrolment Requirements:

This is an open enrolment program. A student who has completed 4.0 credits may enrol in the program.


Completion Requirements:

(4.0 credits, including 1.0 credit at the 300+ level)

1. CJS200H1/​ CJS201H1 (See Note)

2. 3.5 credits in any of the four areas of Jewish Studies. All courses in the Centre for Jewish Studies Undergraduate Course Handbook count towards this requirement. 1.0 out of the 3.5 credits must be at the 300+ level.

Note: There are no specific first-year requirements; however, first-year students are welcome to take CJS200H1, CJS201H1, and Hebrew Language courses ( MHB155H1 and MHB156H1) and Yiddish Language courses ( GER260Y1 or GER261H1 and GER262H1), which count towards the Jewish Studies Minor.


Centre for Jewish Studies Courses

CJS200H1 - Introduction to Jewish Thought

Hours: 24L

A balanced presentation of the multifaceted approach to the discipline by treating Jewish religion and thought.  The course introduces students not only to a chronological and thematic overview of the subject, but also to different methodological approaches.

Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS201H1 - Introduction to Jewish Cultures

Hours: 24S

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 Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

CJS220H1 - The Holocaust in Fiction

Hours: 24S

The course examines literary works written in different languages, in ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust, as well as those reflecting on the genocide in its aftermath. We focus on literature as a means of engaging with the unimaginable and on the cross analysis of eye-witness and memory writing.

Recommended Preparation: CJS201H1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

CJS230H1 - God, Nation, and Self Transformed: The Secularization of the Jewish Experience

Hours: 24S

The course provides a theoretical background to the issue of secularization and examines the diverse attempts to define on a secular basis the Jew, the Jewish nation, and the Jewish God since the breakdown of traditional Jewish society. A variety of Jewish secularisms are examined in a larger, non-Jewish context.

Recommended Preparation: CJS200H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS290H1 - Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24L/24T

An examination of issues in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

CJS301H1 - Community and Identity

Previous Course Number: CJS401H1

Hours: 24S

Exploration of Jewish notions of community, identity, and humanity in classic and contemporary sources.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits
Exclusion: CJS401H1
Recommended Preparation: CJS200H1/ CJS201H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS330H1 - Who's a Jew? Theory, Myth, and Practice

Hours: 24L

This course introduces students to the host of core concepts in terms of which Jewish identity has been and continues to be defined and debated. Topics include: the difference between insiders and outsiders; collective vs individual identity; the nature of the bond between group members; identification across time, space, and disagreements; social and gendered hierarchies; joining and leaving the group; the identities of outsiders.

Exclusion: CJS290H1 (Topics in Jewish Studies: Who is a Jew?), offered in Fall 2014 and Fall 2015
Recommended Preparation: CJS200H1 or CJS201H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS331H1 - Encounters between Jewish and Modern Thought

Previous Course Number: CJS430H1

Hours: 24L

A detailed exploration of how Jewish thought develops in relationship to key figures or moments in modern European philosophy (e.g., Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger). The particular focus varies from year to year.

Prerequisite: 4.0 credits
Recommended Preparation: CJS200H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS340H1 - Mizrahim in Israel: History, Politics, and Culture

Hours: 24L

What is the significance of the designation “Mizrahi” in Israel today? Does it refer to people who share a common geographical and ethnic origin or does it indicate a shared worldview that draws upon Middle Eastern Arabic culture? What are its relations with other terms, such as “Sephardi,” “Oriental,” or “Levantine”? What kind of political membership does it entail? Does it possess a certain cultural, religious, or political vocabulary? And, ultimately, does the diasporic concept of “Mizrahiyut” (mizrahiness) undermine national homogeneity or rather facilitate and enable its enforcement?

Exclusion: CJS390H1 (Special Topics in Jewish Studies: Mizrahim in Israel: History, Politics, and Culture), offered in Summer 2017
Recommended Preparation: CJS201H1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

JGJ360H1 - Holocaust in Literature (E)

Hours: 24S

This course examines literary works written in different languages, in ghettos and concentration camps during the Holocaust, as well as those reflecting on the genocide in its aftermath. We focus on literature as a means of engaging with the unimaginable and on the cross analysis of eye-witness and memory writing.

Prerequisite: Completion of 4.0 credits
Exclusion: CJS220H1, GER367H1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

CJS383H1 - Jews and Power

Hours: 24L

This course will explore the relationship of Jews to political power. Among the themes to be covered are: How has the relationship of the Jewish community to political authority changed over time? What is the Jewish conception of political authority? How did Jews protect their communal and individual rights in the absence of sovereignty? How did the dynamics of antisemitism, philosemitism, and anti-Jewish violence change over time? How did Zionism and the revival of Jewish sovereignty change the position of Jews in the political order? What are the political and moral dilemmas posed by statehood? And what are the implications of Jewish sovereignty for Jews in the Diaspora?

Prerequisite: POL101Y1 or CJS200H1 or CJS201H1
Exclusion: POL383H1
Breadth Requirements: Society and its Institutions (3)

CJS389H1 - Jewish Secularism and Messianic Thought: From Spinoza to Derrida

Hours: 24S

This course examines the critical role that Messianic thought plays in the emergence of modern Jewish secular thought. A study of the secular dimension of Messianism in the writings of Jewish philosophers, from Spinoza to Derrida, leading to the larger question of its place in the project of Jewish modernity.

Recommended Preparation: CJS200H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS390H1 - Special Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24L

An examination of issues in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

Prerequisite: Completion of at least 4.0 credits.

CJS391H1 - Special Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24L

An examination of issues in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

Prerequisite: Completion of at least 4.0 credits.

CJS392H1 - Special Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24L

An examination of issues in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

Prerequisite: Completion of at least 4.0 credits.

CJS396H1 - Independent Study

A scholarly project on an approved topic supervised by a faculty affiliated with the Centre for Jewish Studies. For details, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: CJS200H1 or CJS201H1, and permission from the CJS Undergraduate Director. For instructions on how to enrol in this course, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses: https://www.jewishstudies.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/curriculum-course-i….
Recommended Preparation: At least 2.0 credits in Jewish Studies courses (this can include courses listed in the CJS Undergraduate Handbook)

CJS400H1 - Research Seminar in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24S

An interdisciplinary seminar in which Jewish Studies topics are explored intensively, culminating in a major research paper by each student. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: CJS200H1 or CJS201H1; permission of the instructor/program

CJS401Y1 - Community & Identity

Hours: 48S

Exploration of Jewish notions of community, identity, and humanity in classic and contemporary sources as well as through experiential learning in which students are placed in internships at organizations and institutions that identify themselves as Jewish and as serving the Jewish community in the GTA. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: CJS200Y1 or CJS201Y1 and at least two other half-courses in Jewish Studies; permission of instructor
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS440H1 - The Arab Jew: A History of a Concept

Hours: 24L

This course invites students to explore the debates around the term “Arab Jews.” A cultural, historical, and historiographical designation, the term encompasses a range of experiences for Arabic-speaking Jews. These Jews lived in diverse cultural worlds across the Middle East and North Africa, where they developed deep and enduring relationships with non-Jews, and were instrumental in shaping local, regional and national cultures and politics. By engaging with the term “Arab Jews” in its various incarnations, the course offers new perspectives on questions of Zionism and nationalism, colonialism and geography, religion and secularization, as well as historiography and memory.

Exclusion: CJS491H1 (Advanced Topics in Jewish Studies: The Arab Jew: A History of a Concept), offered in Winter 2017
Recommended Preparation: CJS201H1
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

CJS444H1 - Topics in the Study of Antisemitism

Hours: 24L

This seminar explores in depth one of the many theoretical or methodological issues that confront scholars of antisemitism. Possible topics include: definitions of antisemitism and their purposes; philosemitism and its conceptual and real connection with antisemitism; Jewish self-hatred; contextualist vs eternalist accounts of antisemitism; classic and contemporary theories of antisemitism.

Recommended Preparation: RLG344H1
Breadth Requirements: Thought, Belief and Behaviour (2)

CJS490H1 - Advanced Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24S

An in-depth investigation of topics in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor/program

CJS491H1 - Advanced Topics in Jewish Studies

Hours: 24S

An in-depth investigation of topics in Jewish Studies. Content in any given year depends on instructor.

Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor/program

CJS498Y1 - Independent Study

A scholarly project on an approved topic supervised by a faculty affiliated with the Centre for Jewish Studies. For details, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: CJS200H1 or CJS201H1, and permission from the CJS Undergraduate Director. For instructions on how to enrol in this course, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses: https://www.jewishstudies.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/curriculum-course-i….

CJS499H1 - Independent Study

A scholarly project on an approved topic supervised by a faculty affiliated with the Centre for Jewish Studies. For details, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Prerequisite: CJS200H1 or CJS201H1, and permission from the CJS Undergraduate Director. For instructions on how to enrol in this course, please visit the ATCJS webpage on Independent Studies Courses: https://www.jewishstudies.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/curriculum-course-i….

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