RELGST 1241 - GENDER AND JEWISH HISTORY

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
How did a Jewish teenager named Henriette Herz become the belle of berlin high society in the late 18th century? Why did 19th century Zionist thinkers like Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau think it so important to transform Jewish men into 'muscle Jews?' why did ray frank, a Jewish woman from San Francisco who did not think that women should be rabbis, feel compelled to lead the first high holiday service ever held in Spokane, Washington? And how have trans* Jews challenged the conventions of contemporary Jewish life? These are some of the questions that we ask in gender in Jewish history, a course that places gender and its effects at the center of Jewish modernity. We take an international approach to this history, traveling through Europe, the Americas, and the middle east to show how Jews negotiated gender identity and gender roles in numerous contexts and under varying political and social circumstances. In exploring such themes as religious practice, politics, education, anti-Semitism, work, and family, we see how gender indelibly marked every aspect of Jewish life over the past two hundred years.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: Letter Grade

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