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2008 Program in Judaic Studies FALL 2008 Program in Judaic Studies PERELMAN INSITITUE PRINCETON UNIVERSITY In this Issue 2 Courses DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE usual because of faculty leaves. In the fall of 2007 we sponsored, co-sponsored, or cross- 3 Students I was privileged to spend the entire academic listed nine courses in European Cultural 3 Class of 2008 year of 2007-2008 on leave at the Wissen- Studies, Comparative Literature, History, 3 Alumni 2008 schaftskolleg/Institute for Near Eastern Studies and Religion, plus four Advanced Study at Berlin, 4 Senior Theses 2008 Hebrew language courses. In the spring 7 Graduate Fellowships Germany. Leora Batnitzky of 2008 we offered ten courses (including 8 Graduate Students was kind enough to serve one graduate course), plus four courses in as acting director. She did a Hebrew language. They were cross-listed 11 Summer Funding great job, and most of what with American Studies, Center for Human 16 Special Highlights I am able to report is due Values, History, Near Eastern Studies, Music, 17 Committee Peter Schäfer to her efficient and tireless Religion, and Women and Gender Studies. 17 Advisory Council dedication to the success of the Program. We To make up for the faculty leaves, Jonathan 18 Faculty Research and News are all deeply indebted to her. Elukin from Trinity College, Hartford CT, filled in with a Jewish history course; Azzan 22 Events TIKvah FUND Yadin from Rutgers filled in for me with a One of the major achievements last year was course in Rabbinics; and Suzanne Last Stone a $4.5 million grant from the Tikvah Fund from the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva incoming graduate students in Near Eastern for the Tikvah Project on Jewish Thought at University taught an American Jewish Stud- Studies, Religion, and Sociology, and we Princeton. The project is directed by Leora ies course. provided summer funding for research and Batnitzky and has started its manifold activi- STUDENTS study to eleven graduate students and four ties this fall (see the report in this Newslet- undergraduate students. Travel destinations ter). We celebrated the establishment of the Six students received a certificate in Judaic included London, Rome, Morocco, India, Tikvah project with an inaugural seminar and Studies, with senior theses ranging from Israel, Vienna, and Vilnius. public panel on November 17. The Tikvah “Legislators of the Word: Anti-Anthropo- grant will no doubt be of enormous benefit morphism as Political Theology in al-Jˉahiz Faculty for Judaic Studies, allowing us to seize many and Saadia Gaon” to “Rupture and Re- new opportunities that will be sponsored by creation: The Shared Journey of Jewish I am happy to report that we successfully the grant. Thought and Anglo-American Legal Theory completed our search for a three-year lectur- in the Twentieth Century” to “COUNTER- er in Israel Studies. The field of Israel Studies KWartler Family FUND SUIT: Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries has always been high on our priority list, and and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process.” Two of it has become increasingly significant due Our emphasis on Israel Studies (see below) them were awarded the prestigious Drucker to the recent political developments in the has been strengthened by the newly estab- senior thesis first and second prizes. Middle East and, not least, to the demands lished “Kwartler Family Fund,” an endow- of our undergraduate student body. We were ment of $200,000. The income from this There were 42 graduate students on the very impressed with the quality and diversity endowment will be used to support our books for 2007-2008 whose interests are in of the applicants and have appointed Profes- Program, with a preference for topics in Is- some aspect of Judaic Studies. They draw sor Eran Kaplan jointly with the Department rael Studies. More concretely, it will support from the following departments: Anthro- of History. This fall he is teaching a course course development, a lecture series and/or pology (3), Architecture (1), Comparative on the history of Zionism and a seminar graduate and undergraduate student research Literature (4), English (2), German (2), on Israeli culture through film. We have no and study abroad History (3), History of Science (1), Near doubt that Professor Kaplan’s presence will Eastern Studies (10), Politics (3), Religion be a great boon to the Program in Judaic COURSES (11), and Sociology (2)—with Religion Studies, the History Department, and the Our course offerings remained rich, although and Near Eastern Studies as the clear front university as a whole. we were able to offer fewer courses than runners (almost identical with last year). We were able to award five top-up fellowships for (Director’s Message continued on page 21) COURSES FALL SEMESTER SPRING SEMESTER FALL SEMESTER 2007 2008 2008 Survey courses: Survey courses: Survey courses: Great Books of the Jewish Tradition The Family in Jewish Tradition Great Books of the Jewish Tradition Martha Himmelfarb Ruth Westheimer Peter Schäfer The Parable: Evolution of a Genre Music and Jewish Identity: Tradition, Topics in Judaic Studies: The Art of Jewish Storytelling from the Bible to the James Diamond Assimilation, and Innovation from Modern Period The Bible in History Ancient to Modern Times James Diamond Jonathan Elukin Wendy Heller Modern Jewish History: 1750-Present Antiquity: Antiquity: Yaacob Dweck Religion and Literature of the Old The Biblical King David—Between History of Zionism Myth and History Testament: Through the Babylonian Eran Kaplan Exile Simeon Chavel Simeon Chavel Antiquity: God’s Body: Hebrew Bible, Rabbinic Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel Ancient Judaism and the Dead Literature, and Jewish Mysticism Simeon Chavel Sea Scrolls Azzan Yadin The Ancient Near East: From City- Martha Himmelfarb The Binding of Isaac in Ancient State to Empire Middle Ages: Judaism and Christianity Beate Pongratz-Leisten Hatred or Tolerance? Jews and Martha Himmelfarb Middle Ages: Christians in Medieval and Early Jews and Judaism in Ancient Egypt Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Modern Europe and Other Diaspora Communities Middle Ages Martha Himmelfarb Martha Himmelfarb Mark Cohen Modern Period: Modern Period: Readings in Judeo-Arabic Jewish Thought and Modern Society Religious Existentialism Mark Cohen Leora Batnitzky Leora Batnitzky Modern Period: 2007-08 The Enlightenment and Its The Ten Commandments in Modern Israeli History Through Film Post-Modern Critics America Eran Kaplan Andre Schatz Jenna Weissman Joselit German Intellectual History: German- Language Courses: American Legal Theory and Jewish Jewish Thought Arnd Wedemeyer Elementary Biblical Hebrew Law Simeon Chavel Suzanne L. Stone Growing Up Jewish in America, 1880s-1960s Elementary Hebrew Language Courses: Jenna Weissman-Joselit Esther Robbins Elementary Biblical Hebrew II Religion and Law Intermediate Hebrew Simeon Chavel Leora Batnitzky Esther Robbins Elementary Hebrew II Esther Robbins Texts and Images of the Holocaust Advanced Hebrew: Aspects of Israeli Froma Zeitlin Culture Intermediate Hebrew II Jewish Identities in France Since 1945 Esther Robbins Esther Robbins David M. Bellos Advanced Hebrew: Language and Advanced Hebrew Language and Space and Place in Modern Hebrew and Culture Style II Arabic Literature Esther Robbins Esther Robbins Lital Levy Coexistence Through Theater and Film Language Courses: Esther Robbins Elementary Biblical Hebrew I Simeon Chavel Elementary Hebrew I Esther Robbins Intermediate Hebrew I Esther Robbins Advanced Hebrew: Language and Style I Esther Robbins Advanced Hebrew: Language and Culture Esther Robbins 2 STUDENTS 2008 ALUMNI Robert M. Bernstein is spending this year on a Princeton-in-Asia fellowship living and working at a Buddhist temple school in Tokyo, Japan. He is responsible for implementing an English-language curriculum for 8 levels ranging from kindergarten through advanced adult and for teaching 22 classes a week at a traditional Japanese temple. Outside of work, Rob is enjoying exploring Tokyo’s diverse neighborhoods and staying in touch with his friends from Princeton scattered around the world. Rob is also thrilled to be getting involved in Tokyo’s small but close-knit Jewish scene. Shira Billet is the Director of Research at the Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in Manhattan. She is also teaching English Literature at Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, New Jersey. Certificate students: Robert Bernstein, Zachary Hughes, Jonathan Fluger, Jennifer Jonathan M. Fluger is in Israel as an Amira Margalith Logan, Shira Billet, and Jonathan Yehuda. Research Intern at the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. Aside from his THE CLASS OF 2008 work, he is learning how to surf. JEWISH STUDIES Certificate STUDENTS Zachary R. Hughes is working in the Spokesperson’s Office of the President of the State of Israel under the We are proud to congratulate Robert Matthew auspices of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center’s Israel Bernstein, Shira Nomi Billet, Jonathan Michael Government Fellows program. He works every day in Fluger, Zachary Richard Hughes, Jennifer Marie the official President’s Residence in Jerusalem under the Logan, and Jonathan Yehuda, the 2008 Princeton Spokesperson and Assistant Spokesperson for President University graduates who earned the Certificate in Judaic Shimon Peres. He is mainly responsible for translating Studies. press releases and the President’s remarks out of Hebrew into English for distribution to the English-speaking THE Carolyn L. DRUCKER (CLASS OF 1980) press. Recently, Prime Minister Olmert has submitted his PRIZE resignation to President Peres at the Residence, and the hrough the generosity of the Drucker family, the President has just selected Tzipi Livni to form the next TProgram awards an annual prize for the best senior Israeli government. It has been a tremendously exciting thesis in Judaic Studies. The 2008 Drucker First Prize time to be working in the President’s office and he is was awarded to Shira Nomi Billet for “Rupture and very happy to be in the middle of this dynamic period in Recreation: The Shared Journey of Jewish Thought and Israel’s history.
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