Judaic Studies Courses
Explore Judaic Studies courses at Brooklyn College, including Hebrew language, Jewish history, culture, ethics, and classic texts.
Programs
Spring 2027 Course Offerings
All JUST undergraduate courses that are 3000 and higher (except JUST 3065, JUST 5532 W, and JUST 5582) and 4000-level HEBR courses are considered capstone courses. Choose any one to satisfy the capstone course requirement for yeshiva/seminary transfer credits from an Israeli institution. Cross-listed courses taught by faculty outside the department do not count as a capstone.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (40601)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (40600)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1002 Intermediate Hebrew II (40037)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Continue learning Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is the next level of elementary-level Hebrew-language, open to beginners who have taken HEBR 1001 or equivalent background. We will continue speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 4041 Bible: The Historical Books (37999)
Monday and Wednesday, 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In person (LOTE)
The Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. This course covers a single historical book in a given semester, chosen from the above list. Students may take this class for credit twice but may not repeat topics. Qualifies as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) course for Pathways College Option purposes. Prerequisite: None, but student should speak with instructor or chairperson to confirm class is appropriate level.
JUST. 1001 Introduction to Judaic Studies (37998)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 p.m.–4:55 p.m.
Professor Sarah Zarrow
In person
Survey of basic concepts, terminology, facts of the Jewish experience for students with little background in Judaic studies. Cultural, religious, historical highlights; relations with other religions and cultures. (Not open to students who are enrolled in or have completed Judaic Studies 3012, 3013, or the equivalent.)
JUST 1145 Classical Jewish Texts (39985)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
In person (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
Have you ever wished you had more familiarity with the classical Jewish canon? A deeper knowledge of its key works, their historical context, and their role in traditional Judaism? This course will address these issues by exploring the masterpieces of Jewish literature that have profoundly influenced world religions, culture, and philosophy. It will begin by analyzing a range of genres of early Jewish sources, from the Bible to Maimonides. Subsequently, students will disentangle the layers and intertextuality of modern Jewish texts and films, which often riff on earlier classics, including thought-provoking works from Shalom Aleichem to the Coen brothers.
JUST 2012 Jewish Religion and Tradition (37997)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:50 p.m.–2:05 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In person (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
Survey of major developments in Jewish culture and tradition from the biblical period in the ancient Near East to the medieval period. Rabbinic Judaism. Jewish sectarianism; the impact of Christianity and Islam on Jewish life.
JUST 2047 American Jewish History (37940)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor TBD
In person (Pathways: U.S. Experience in Its Diversity)
This course surveys American Jewish history from the 17th century to the 20th century. It asks how and why the United States became the primary destination for Jewish immigrants around the world. At the same time, we will explore how a relatively young Jewish center matured by the 20th century into a role of worldwide Jewish leadership. With an eye to the mobility that Jews benefited from in America, we will ask how the relative freedoms they found shaped multiple ways of “being Jewish” in America. Comparisons around the country and to other American minorities will highlight what that story can tell us about American society, particularly its hierarchies based in religion and race. We will examine the lives of individual women and men as well as the national and global institutions they founded representing religious denominations, charities, cultural networks, and political defense. What questions can we ask of America when we focus on Jewish experiences there? At the same time, what can American Jewish history tell us about modern Jewish history beyond it?
JUST 3013 From Ghetto to Emancipation (37945)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m.–10:45 a.m.
Professor Sarah Zarrow
Online (Capstone)
Study of major developments of Jewish culture, tradition, and history from the medieval period to the early twentieth century. Transformations and continuities in traditional Jewish life. Sabbatianism. Hasidism. Haskalah. Zionism. Emergence of Reform and Conservative movements.
JUST 3022 Searching for God: Ancient Greeks, Jews, and Christians (38026)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:40 p.m.–4:55 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In person (Capstone)
This course will look at the impact that Greek philosophy had far beyond the limits of the schools of philosophy themselves. We will begin in the ancient period with the theologies of Homer and the Hebrew Bible, to set the scene before Greek philosophy existed. Then we will trace the notion of perfection that developed in Greek philosophy, beginning with Parmenides and working through Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. In this system of thought, for an entity (such as God) to be perfect, it cannot change. Yet, at the same time, even learning or movement constitute change for these philosophers. The impact this rigid notion of change had on the concepts of God espoused by theologians and in sources far from the schools of philosophy will be the focus of the second half of the course. From Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible to early Christian debates about the nature of Christ to medieval Jewish mysticism, we will see the problem of the perfection of God reverberating around the Mediterranean, across Mesopotamia, and down through the centuries. The central questions “Who wants a perfect God” and “What must we give up if we want our God to be perfect” will resound throughout the semester. Same as CLAS 3022, PHIL 3729, and RELG 3022.
JUST 3031 Individual versus Community (37944)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m.–7:45 p.m..
Professor Sharon Flatto
Online (Capstone)
Modernity challenged traditional Jewish society in innumerable ways. Considers how phenomena, such as Enlightenment, nationalism, feminism, and struggles for varied civil rights, spurred eclectic re-conceptualizations of Judaism. Explored through the influential writings of Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Heschel, Kook, and others. (Not open to students who have completed Judaic Studies 18.2 or 53.)
JUST 3035 Medieval Jewish History (37996) / HIST 3101 Medieval Jewish History (41041)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40 p.m.–4:55 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
In Person (Capstone)
Medieval Jews and their interaction with the Christian and Muslim worlds. Crusades, blood libels, and expulsions; philosophers, Talmudists, and religious debaters; forced converts, moneylenders, and courtiers.
JUST 3050 History of the Holocaust (38749) / HIST 3242 History of the Holocaust (38859)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Professor Sarah Zarrow
In person (Capstone)
History and analysis of Nazi Germany’s attempt to annihilate European Jewry, 1933-45. Ghettos and killing centers. Deportations and killings. Jewish physical and spiritual resistance, liberation, and postwar displaced persons camps.
Fall 2026 Course Offerings
All JUST undergraduate courses that are 3000 and higher (except JUST 3065, JUST 5532 W, and JUST 5582) and 4000-level HEBR courses are considered capstone courses. Choose any one to satisfy the capstone course requirement for yeshiva/seminary transfer credits from an Israeli institution. Cross-listed courses taught by faculty outside the department do not count as a capstone.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (40601)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (40600)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1002 Intermediate Hebrew II (40599)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Continue learning Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is the next level of elementary-level Hebrew-language, open to beginners who have taken HEBR 1001 or equivalent background. We will continue speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 4027 Mishnah (40598)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In person (LOTE)
Reading and analysis of select passages from the Mishnah, the first code of Rabbinic Jewish law, dating to the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE, out of which all subsequent Rabbinic law developed. The Mishnah reflects major concerns of Judaism in antiquity including agricultural, marital, and business law, rules regarding the sabbath and holidays, sacrifices, purity, and impurity. Training in Rabbinic dialects of Hebrew. Texts will be read in the original Hebrew. Students may take this class for credit multiple times but may not repeat topics. Qualifies as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) course for Pathways College Option purposes. This course is the same as JUST 4027. Prerequisite: None, but the student should speak with the instructor or chairperson to assess that the course is at the right level for the student.
JUST 1025 The Jewish Diaspora (College Option: Intercultural Competency Course) (42380)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Sarah Zarrow
Online, Synchronous (Inter-Cultural Competence)
Jewish Diaspora is an introduction to the worldwide mosaic of Jewish communities spread around the globe for over 2,000 years, but maintaining a shared Jewish identity as well as uniquely diverse Jewish individual communal cultural identities. How did those communities incorporate both ancient Jewish aspects and local characteristics of shared cultural diversity. This course is for people who are new to Jewish culture and ideas and for people familiar with their own cultural identities in a city of broad diversity.
JUST 1095 Anti-Semitism: Longest Hatred (40597)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 11–12:15 p.m.
Professor: TBA
In person (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
This course examines the nature of the persistent and varied forms of anti-Jewish prejudice from antiquity through the middle ages and into the modern era. Some peoples claimed that Jews hated every other nation or religion, while others spread rumors and outrageous myths about Jews being bloodthirsty predators. In more recent centuries, Jews were characterized by Shakespeare and others as greedy merchants peddling substandard goods. With the rise of secular movements of socialism and revolution, Jews were labeled “Reds” who could not be loyal. The dilemma for Jews was how to survive and overcome hatred that reached its peak during the Nazi Holocaust and continues to be powerful among those dissatisfied with democratic norms and those opposed to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Our readings and discussions will delve into all these matters at a time when anti-Jewish language and violence is now flaring up ever more violently. Synchronous ONLINE (Starting Spring 2025: this course fulfills Pathways World Cultures Global Issues. No ENGL pre-requisite required. Contact department for permission if you have not already taken ENGL 1012)
JUST 1145 Classical Jewish Texts (40596)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
In person (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
Have you ever wished you had more familiarity with the classical Jewish canon? A deeper knowledge of its key works, their historical context, and their role in traditional Judaism? This course will address these issues by exploring the masterpieces of Jewish literature that have profoundly influenced world religions, culture, and philosophy. It will begin by analyzing a range of genres of early Jewish sources, from the Bible to Maimonides. Subsequently, students will disentangle the layers and intertextuality of modern Jewish texts and films, which often riff on earlier classics, including thought-provoking works from Shalom Aleichem to the Coen brothers.
JUST 2017 Jewish Approaches to Ethical Issues
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:05–6:20 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In-Person (Pathways: Individual & Society, not a Capstone)
This course surveys the Jewish approaches to leading moral issues including: truth and lying; self-sacrifice, martyrdom and suicide; the just war; abortion; euthanasia; capital punishment; sexual ethics and morality; and business ethics. In each class we will examine the classical Jewish sources (Bible, Talmud, medieval codes) pertaining to an ethical issue and discuss the range of ethical positions that may be based on the sources. (Not open to students who have completed JUST 4017.) Starting Spring 2021 Satisfies Pathways Flexible Core Individual and Society requirement.
JUST 2085 Jews of New York (40595)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Professor TBA
Online, Synchronous (Pathways: US Experience)
From a handful of Jewish refugees who arrived to New Amsterdam in 1654 to a robust population of roughly two million by the mid-twentieth century, Jewish New Yorkers made New York City one of the largest and most important Jewish centers in the nation and the world. They also played key roles in areas that elevated New York into America’s premier urban center like labor organizing, tenants’ rights, retail, fashion, theater, and popular song. Jewish immigrants and their children saw great promise in New York City while also playing a consistent role shaping the city’s very potential. How did that relationship come to be and how did it inform the position of New York’s Jewish residents—in the city, the nation, and the wider Jewish world.
JUST 2510 Introduction to the Bible [Old Testament/Tanakh] (40611)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In Person (Pathways: World Cultures Global Issues)
Broad survey of the Bible from Genesis through Chronicles, from creation through the Persian period. Introduces students to the Patriarchal narratives, historical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, laws of ancient Israel, poetry, and wisdom literature that have had an outsized impact on culture the world over. Starting Fall 2024 Satisfies Pathways Flexible Core World Cultures and Global Issues requirement.
JUST 3036 (42101) / HIST 3102 (32145) Mystics, Pietists, and Heretics: Topics in Early Modern Jewish History
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Prof. Sharon Flatto
In Person (Capstone)
Explores aspects of the intellectual and cultural history of the Jews from the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492 to the French Revolution in 1789. This course particularly emphasizes Jewish-Christian interaction, the Marrano Diaspora, Messianism, and the influence of such larger cultural trends as the Renaissance, Reformation, and absolutism upon the development of Jewish culture. This course is the same as History 3102.
JUST 3038 Messianic Ideas and Movements in Jewish History (40607)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Prof. Sharon Flatto
Online (Capstone)
Major Jewish messianic trends and movements emerging from Bible up until present. Miracle worker? Apocalyptic warrior? Revealer of secrets? Or savvy politician? Explore the colorful careers of numerous messianic figures and pretenders, such as Jesus, Shabbtai Zevi, Ramhal and the Lubavitcher rebbe; intellectual and historical roots of these movements, ranging from mystical yearnings to Christian and Muslim influences; its popularization among various contemporary Hasidic and political groups.
JUST 4027 Mishnah (40602)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11–12:15 p.m.
Professor David Brodsky
In person (Capstone)
Reading and analysis of select passages from the Mishnah, the first code of Rabbinic Jewish law, dating to the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE, out of which all subsequent Rabbinic law developed. The Mishnah reflects major concerns of Judaism in antiquity including agricultural, marital, and business law, rules regarding the sabbath and holidays, sacrifices, purity, and impurity. Training in Rabbinic dialects of Hebrew. Texts will be read in the original Hebrew. Students may take this class for credit multiple times but may not repeat topics. Qualifies as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) course for Pathways College Option purposes. This course is the same as JUST 4027.Prerequisite: None, but the student should speak with the instructor or chairperson to assess that the course is at the right level for the student.