School of Arts and Sciences
Department of International Literary and Cultural Studies

Hebrew Courses

candles from a Menorah

Spring 2025 Offerings  Fall 2024 Offerings Course Info on SIS Archives

Course Descriptions

The list below includes descriptions of all Hebrew courses.

Review specific course requirements for the BA in International Literary & Cultural Studies - Hebrew. For up-to-date information on course offerings, schedules, room locations and registration, please visit the Student Information System (SIS).

Hebrew Language Courses

HEB 1 Elementary Hebrew. For students with no previous knowledge of Hebrew. Study of fundamental speech patterns. Listening comprehension and oral ability, using audiovisual method. Progressively greater emphasis placed on reading and writing skills. Fall Semester

HEB 2 Elementary Hebrew. Study of fundamental speech patterns. Listening comprehension and oral ability, using audiovisual method. Progressively greater emphasis placed on reading and writing skills. Prerequisites: Hebrew 1 or equivalent. Spring Semester

HEB 3 Intermediate Hebrew. Rapid oral review of structural principles. Written exercises. Reading and discussion based on selected materials from Hebrew literature. Conducted mainly in Hebrew. Prerequisites: Hebrew 2 or equivalent. Fall Semester

HEB 4 Intermediate Hebrew. Rapid oral review of structural principles. Written exercises. Reading and discussion based on selected materials from Hebrew literature. Conducted mainly in Hebrew. Prerequisites: Hebrew 3 or equivalent. Spring Semester

HEB 21 Conversation/Composition. Class conducted primarily in Hebrew. Readings will include contemporary Hebrew short stories and articles. Class discussions and compositions will be based on the literary texts, up-to-date news, and a selection of Israeli films. Prerequisites: Hebrew 4 or equivalent. Fall Semester

HEB 22 Conversation/Composition. Continuation of Hebrew 21. The study of major works and problems of the twentieth century in Hebrew literature and in Jewish history. Readings will include works by Shahar, Liebrecht, Avnery, Levin, Hareven, and others. Discussions and compositions will follow the literary texts, films, and current events. Prerequisites: Hebrew 21 or equivalent. Spring Semester

HEB 121 Composition and Conversation. Class conducted primarily in Hebrew. Readings will include contemporary Hebrew short stories and articles. Class discussions and compositions will be based on the literary texts, up-to-date news, and a selection of Israeli films. Extra readings and written assignments. Prerequisites: Hebrew 22 or permission of instructor. Fall Semester

HEB 122 Composition and Conversation. The study of major works and problems of the twentieth century in Hebrew literature and in Jewish history. Readings will include works by Shahar, Liebrecht, Avnery, Levin, Hareven, and others. Discussions and compositions will follow the literary texts, films, and current events. Extra readings and written assignments. Prerequisites: Hebrew 121 or permission of the instructor. Spring Semester

Courses Taught in English

HEB 61 Introduction to Talmud. Selected passages from the Talmud and rabbinic literature, Mishna, Gemara, Commentaries. Relevance to contemporary moral and ethical issues. All texts in English. Cross-listed as REL 23 and JS 87. If taken at the 100-level: Extra assignments and class meetings in Hebrew. 

HEB 62 Gender in Rabbinic Literature. Overview of the ways in which gender is used as an analytical tool in the study of rabbinic literature. Examines how rabbinic sources challenge the traditional understanding of the gender binary. Contrasts traditional historical questions about the roles of men and women in society with more contemporary approaches that view gender as socially constructed, contested, and fluid. In English. No prerequisites. No knowledge of Judaism or rabbinic literature is assumed. If taken at the 100-level: Extra assignments and class meetings in Hebrew. Cross-listed as JS 88 and REL 88. 

HEB 68 Arab/Jewish Literature & Film. Literature and cinema by or about Mizrahi Jews, communities from Arab or Muslim lands produced both in Israel and in the Arab countries. Themes of exile, trauma, memory, haunting, estrangement, return, and hope. Cinema as a means of forging connections and retracing bonds between Mizrahim and non-Jewish Arabs, including links between Mizrahi and Palestinian histories, memories, and cinemas. Cross-listed as ARB 68, JS 68, and ILVS 68.

HEB 70 Introduction to Judaism. Judaism as a diverse textual tradition and lived religion, with a focus on beliefs, ethics, and rituals. Contemporary Jewish communities from a global perspective; Hebrew Bible; rabbinic literature; medieval and modern theology and mysticism; social forms, law, and practice. Cross-listed as JS 34 and REL 18.

HEB 132 The Book of Genesis and Its Interpreters. A detailed study of the biblical Book of Genesis and related biblical texts, in their historical setting, with special attention to the role that Genesis played in postbiblical religious traditions and in art and literature from early modern times onward.  All texts read in English. Cross-listed as REL 186, JS 132, and ILVS 132.

HEB 136 The Story of King David. King David was ancient Israel's most pivotal leader, who transformed Israel from a loose confederation of tribes to a dynastic monarchy with a capital in Jerusalem, fashioning a people into a nation in a more complex sense. The story of his acquisition and use of power is told in the biblical books 1 and 2 Samuel and the first two chapters of 1 Kings, which present a critique of kingly power and an examination of both the strengths and failings of Israel's first dynastic king. The course explores these and related biblical narratives, viewed in the light of modern historical and literary study, and cultural theory. Cross-listed as JS 136 and REL 187. 

HEB 161 Introduction to Talmud. Selected passages from the Talmud and rabbinic literature, Mishna, Gemara, Commentaries. Relevance to contemporary moral and ethical issues. All texts in English. Extra assignments and class meetings in Hebrew. 

HEB 170 Political Liberalism & Religion. Religion and Politics are traditionally the two topics one shouldn’t discuss at the dinner table. This course discusses both, with a focus on their contested relation. It explores the historical development and contemporary debate over the separation of religion and politics. It begins by examining the arguments for this separation made by early modern philosophers, including Benedict Spinoza, John Locke, and Moses Mendelssohn. It explores their philosophical and theological roots, as well as their implications for religious traditions and communities. It then turns to present-day discussion of religion in the public sphere, which is centered on the philosophy of John Rawls. After consideration of Rawl’s writings, the positions of his critics and defenders are analyzed. This course counts towards the Humanities distribution requirement. Cross-listed as REL 114 and JS 114.

HEB 172 Introduction to Jewish Mysticism. Overview of the intellectual history of Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism. Introduction to mystical ideas and doctrines from Biblical texts to contemporary sources, also within a wider, non-Jewish context. Inherent tensions within the mystical enterprise and the conflict between mysticism and rationalism. Reflects on uses and limits of mysticism in shaping contemporary religious experience. Cross-listed as REL 182 and JS 172.

HEB 174 Judaism & Modernity. This course explores Judaism’s encounter with modernity. It examines debates over the meaning of Judaism in the modern world among eastern and western European Jews, as well as among more recent voices in America and Israel. A central question that informs these debates is: what is Judaism’s relation to the modern world? Is Judaism a religion, a nationality, an ethnicity, or a combination of these? As such, it also reflects on the category of religion and its political, social, and ethical implications. The course focuses on various visions of Jewish identity that emerge from the enlightenment and political emancipation, changing conceptions of revelation and divine law, the re-valuation of Jewish mysticism, responses to European nationalism, antisemitism, the challenge of pluralism in America, the Holocaust, and the creation of the State of Israel. This course counts towards the Humanities distribution requirement. Cross-listed as REL 181 and JS 181.

HEB 179 Introduction to the Zohar. Broad overview of the Zohar, the 13th-century foundational text of Kabbalah with roots in mysticism. Expiration of the Zohar and its enduring influence on Jewish thought and life, through various lenses: literary, theological, mystical, and artistic. No prerequisites. Cross-listed as JS 180 and REL 184. 

HEB 188 Jewish Experience on Film. Selected classic and contemporary films dealing with aspects of Jewish experience in America, Europe, and Israel, combined with reading on the cultural, historical,  and philosophical problems illuminated by each film. One weekly session will be devoted to screenings, the other to discussion of the films and readings. In English. Cross-listed as REL 188, FMS 84, JS 142, and ILVS 142. 

HEB 91 Special Topics. Topics in Hebrew culture. In Hebrew.

HEB 92 Topics in Hebrew Literature.

HEB 93, HEB 94 Directed Study. Directed Study. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

HEB 95, HEB 96 Hebrew Teaching Internship. Teaching Internship. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

HEB 191 Special Topics. Topics in Hebrew culture. Please see departmental website for specific details. In Hebrew.  Recommendation: HEB 122 or instructor permission. 

HEB 193, HEB 194 Directed Study. Directed Study. Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.