ABOVE CLASS FOR JEWISH STUDIES STUDENTS ONLY.  OBTAIN
ON-LINE AUTHORIZATION FROM THE JEWISH STUDIES ACADEMIC ADVISOR.
ABOVE CLASS COLL INTENSIVE WRITING SECTION
ABOVE CLASS OPEN TO NDERGRADUATES ONLY
ABOVE CLASS MEETS WITH ANOTHER SECTION OF
HIST-J 300

It is often said that Jews found sovereignty in their writings where
they lacked it in their lives.  Certainly, as a diaspora people who
for most of the modern era lacked territorial sovereignty, Jewish
culture and civilization has expressed itself in the world of the
literary.  Texts themselves have also played transformative roles in
the history of the Jewish people as a whole.  This intensive writing
course will examine several of the fundamental texts that
revolutionized Jewish history in the period from the eighteenth-
century enlightenment to our own time.   We will see how the written
word proved to be a revolutionary tool in the hands of those who
lacked other instruments of persuasion.  Among the texts to be
discussed are Moses Mendelssohn’s Jerusalem, Theodor Herzl’s Jewish
State¸ and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.  Students will
learn how to analyze a variety of historical materials as primary
sources, and how to approach texts from a historical perspective. 
As an intensive writing course, this course will reinforce student
writing skills by using writing in a substantial way to enhance
learning.  The grading system for this course will place primary
emphasis on writing skills.