Jews in the Islamic World Professor Jonathan Marc Gribetz Jewish Studies 563:308:01 / History 508:391:01 / Middle Eastern Studies 685:395:02 Mondays and Thursdays 11:30am – 12:50pm Murray Hall 115 Course Description: “Jews and Muslims have always hated each other,” some say. Others say just the opposite: “Jews and Muslims got along just fine for more than a thousand years until the modern Arab- Israeli conflict changed everything.” How are we to make sense of these contradictory claims? Does either one accurately represent historical reality? Why would people evaluate the same history so differently? This course encourages students to engage with these questions through studying the cultural, religious, and political history of Jews in the lands of Islam. Jews have lived among Muslims since the days of Muhammad in the seventh century; indeed, the Jews and their traditions are central in the Qur’an itself. In this course, students will learn about the more than thirteen centuries of interaction, cohabitation, and (at times) conflict, from the beginnings of Islam until the twenty-first century. The end of the course explores the impact of Zionism and the Arab- Israeli conflict on the Jews of the Middle East. Learning Goals: • Students will become acquainted with the diversity of Jewish life in the Islamic world since the days of Muhammad. • Students will learn to read critically primary sources of various genres (e.g., religious, political, apologetic, polemical) from the medieval, early modern, and modern periods. • Students will develop their skills of communicating orally through classroom discussion. • Students will produce book reviews of memoirs, informed by their historical studies in the class. Course Requirements: A. Attendance (10%) Students are required to attend every class. One absence will be excused without question. Any additional absence, if unexcused by the professor, entails a loss of 2% from the final grade. More than six absences may result in a student’s failing the course. B. Participation (10%) Students are required to participate actively and thoughtfully in our class discussions. In order to do so, students will need to read the assignments carefully and critically and to engage with the instructor and their fellow students as we analyze the material. 1 C. Map Quiz (5%) There will be an in-class map quiz on September 20. D. Midterm Examination (25%) There will be a take-home midterm examination to be submitted on October 25. More information will distributed in class. E. Book Review (20%) During the past few years, several memoirs have been published by Jews about their experiences in the Islamic world prior to the mass emigrations of the mid-20 th century. At the beginning of the semester, students will receive a list of a number of these memoirs and they will choose one to read on their own. Students will then write a 3-4 page book review of the memoir in light of what they have learned in this course. The book review is due in class on November 26. More information will be distributed in class in the second week. F. Final Exam (30%) There will be a final exam that covers the entire course’s material, with a focus on the second half of the semester. The exam is scheduled for December 20 th from 12pm to 3pm. Please enter this date in your calendars to avoid any conflict. More information will be distributed in class. Required Materials: Norman A. Stillman, ed., The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book (Jewish Publication Society, 1998) – ISBN: 0827601980 (JAL) Norman A. Stillman, ed., The Jews of Arab Lands in Modern Times (Jewish Publication Society, 2003) – ISBN: 0827607652 (JALMT) Other readings will be available on the course site on SAKAI. 2 Course Outline : September 6 - Introduction and Geographical Orientation Mark R. Cohen, “Myth and Counter-Myth,” in Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages , pp. 3-16. September 10 - The Pre-Islamic Origins of Middle Eastern Jewry Gordon Newby, A History of the Jews of Arabia , pp. 7-48. September 13 - Muhammad and his Jewish Neighbors JAL, pp. 3-21; 113-148. September 17 – NO CLASS September 20 - “The People of the Book” in the Qur’an (and Map Quiz) JAL, pp. 149-151. September 24 - The Islamic Conquest and Jewish Salvation from Christianity JAL, pp. 22-25; 152-156. “The Secrets of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai” (selections) Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer (selections) September 27 - The Pact of Umar Mark R. Cohen, “The Legal Position of Jews in Islam,” in Under Crescent and Cross , pp. 52-76. JAL, pp. 25- 29; 157-158. October 1 – NO CLASS October 4 - The Babylonian Geonim and Rabbi Sa’adya JAL, pp. 29-39; 171-182. Daniel Lasker, “Saadya Gaon on Christianity and Islam,” in The Jews of Medieval Islam (1995), pp. 165-177. October 8 - NO CLASS October 11 - The Karaites JAL, pp. 32-33; 198-199. Marina Rustow, “Karaites Real and Imagined: Three Cases of Jewish Heresy,” Past and Present 197 (2007), pp. 35-74. A Rabbanite Account of the Origins of Karaism (c. 905) October 15 - The “Golden Age” in Spain Menahem Ben-Sasson, “Al-Andalus: The So-Called ‘Golden Age’ of Spanish Jewry – A Critical View,” in The Jews of Europe in the Middle Ages (10 th -15 th Centuries ), pp. 123-137. JAL, pp. 210-225. Samuel Ha-Nagid, Vizier of Granada 3 October 18 - The Crusades Benjamin Z. Kedar, “The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant,” in Thomas Madden, The Crusades: The Essential Readings , pp. 233-264. October 22 - Judah Ha-Levi and Maimonides Eliezer Schweid, “Halevi and Maimonides as Representatives of Romantic versus Rationalistic Conceptions of Judaism,” Kabbala und Romantik , pp. 279-292. JAL, pp. 233-246. October 25 - Medieval Islamic Polemics against Judaism (and Take-Home Midterm due) Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, “Muslim Arguments against the Bible,” in Intertwined Worlds: Medieval Islam and Bible Criticism , pp. 19-49. JAL, 229-232. October 29 - 1492 and the Sephardim of the Ottoman Empire Avigdor Levy, The Sephardim in the Ottoman Empire , pp. 1-41. November 1 - Kabbalah and Halakha : Mysticism and Law in 16 th Century Safed Morris M. Faierstein, “Safed Kabbalah and the Sephardic Heritage,” in Zion Zohar, ed., Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry , pp. 196-215. JAL, pp. 290-292. Shulkhan Arukh (selections) Biography of the “Ari/Lion” (selections) November 5 – The Sephardic Diaspora in the Americas – Dr. Hilit Surowitz-Israel Readings TBA November 8 - Sabbetai Zvi and the Dönme Marc David Baer, “Messiah King or Rebel? Jewish and Ottoman Reactions to Sabbatai Sevi’s Arrival in Istanbul,” Kabbalah 9 (2003), pp. 153-174. Jacob M. Landau, “The Dönmes: Crypto-Jews under Turkish Rule,” Jewish Political Studies Review 19, 1-2 (2007), pp. 109-118. November 12 - The ‘Millet System’ and the Ottoman Reforms Benjamin Braude, “Foundation Myths of the Millet System,” in Braude and Lewis, eds., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire Volume One, pp. 69-88. Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire 1700-1922 , pp. 54-74. JAL, pp. 357-360. November 15 - The Damascus Affair and the Birth of the Alliance Jonathan Frankel, “‘Ritual Murder’ in the Modern Era: The Damascus Affair of 1840,” Jewish Social Studies 3, 2 (1997), pp. 1-16. JAL, pp. 393-402. 4 November 19 – The Levant and North Africa Michael Menahem Laskier, “Syria and Lebanon,” in Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times , pp. 316-335. Jean-Marc Ran Oppenheim, “Egypt and the Sudan,” in Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times , pp. 409-430. Daniel Schroeter, “The Shifting Boundaries of Moroccan Jewish Identities,” Jewish Social Studies 15, 1 (Fall 2008), pp. 145-164. JALMT , pp. 199-201, 220-221, 241-242, 248-249, 302-303, 222-224, 231-235, 291-293 November 20 – Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan Reeva Simon, “Iraq,” in The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times , pp. 347-366. Haideh Sahim, “Iran and Afghanistan,” in The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times , pp. 367-388. JALMT , pp. 243-244, 259-260, 284-287. November 26 – Palestine (and Book Review due) Ruth Kark and Joseph B. Glass, “Eretz Israel/Palestine, 1800-1948“ The Jews of the Middle East and North Africa in Modern Times , pp. 335-346. November 29 - ‘Arab Jews’: The Place of Jews in Arab Nationalism Lital Levy, “Historicizing the Concept of Arab Jews in the ‘Mashriq,’” Jewish Quarterly Review (2008), pp. 452-469. December 3 - Zionism JALMT , pp. 65-91, 305-313, 316-317, 324-333. Yehuda Alkalai, “The Third Redemption” (1843) December 6 - The 1948 War David W. Lesch, “Independence and al-Nakba ” in The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History , pp. 126- 161. JALMT , pp. 466-467, 508-516. December 10 - The Exodus of Jews from the Islamic World Maurice Roumani, “The Silent Refugees: Jews from Arab Countries,” Mediterranean Quarterly 14, 3 (2003), pp. 41-77. Esther Meir- Glitzenstein, “The Baghdad Pogrom and Zionist Policy,” in Shmuel Moreh and Zvi Yehuda, eds., “Al-Farhud”: The 1941 Pogrom in Iraq , pp. 186-206. Additional Policies: A. Deadlines If there are legitimate, extenuating circumstances that prohibit a student from submitting an assignment on time, he or she should contact the instructor in advance to request a limited extension (a doctor’s note must be provided for medical issues). Extensions are granted at the 5 discretion of the instructor. Unexcused lateness will be penalized by a third of a letter grade (e.g., B to B-) for each day of lateness. B. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism The assignments that students submit in this class must be the students’ own work prepared exclusively for this course.