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Contents | Women in Judaism Instructor Ellen M. Umansky Institution Fairfield University Course Level and Type introductory level course for undergraduates / informal lectures combined with discussions, as well as guest speakers and films Enrolment and Last Year Taught 30 students / fall 1997 |
The following are required readings and are available at the campus bookstore. They are also in Nyselius library on reserve.
Judith Baskin, ed., Jewish Women in Historical Perspective
Susan Grossman and Rivka Haut, ed., Daughters of the King: Women and the Synagogue
Susan Starr Sered, Women as Ritual Experts: The Religious Lives of Elderly Jewish Women in Jerusalem
Ellen Umansky and Dianne Ashton, eds., Four Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality
Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers
In addition, you should have a Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Recommended is the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh - the Holy Scriptures or the New Oxford Annotated Bible, College Edition.
In this course, we will look at ways in which women have understood and experienced Judaism from the biblical period through the present. Included will be a discussion of women's traditional religious roles and status, the many ways in which women themselves have understood Jewish self-identity, and recent feminist efforts to reevaluate and transform contemporary Jewish life. As much as possible, we will be drawing on the words and images of women themselves.
Requirements include an in-class midterm to be given on Friday, October 17, a 10-12 page paper due on Friday, November 14; and a final examination on Wednesday, December 17 at 1:30 p.m. The midterm will count as 25% of the grade, the paper 25%, the final 40%, and class participation 10%.
Introduction
Sept. 4 Introduction to Course and to the Study of Women in Judaism
Sept. 5 Male and Female: What Does It Mean to Be a Jewish Human Being? Readings: Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1-4
**NO CLASS SEPT. 9 AND 11. BUT READ my essay "Piety, Persuasion and Friendship" in Four Centuries, 1-30 and Baskin, Jewish Women in Historical Perspective, pp., 15-24
What Does It Mean/Has It Meant to be a Jewish Woman?
Reflections: Past and Present
Biblical models of womanhood
Sept. 18, 19 & 23 Reexamining Eve; The Matriarchs, Tamar & Judah; Miriam; Hannah; The Woman of Valor
Readings: Baskin, pp. 25-42; Genesis 2-4; Genesis 17-33; 38; Exodus 1-2, 15; Number 12; I Samuel 1-2:21; Proverbs 31:10-31
Women's Roles and Religious Obligations
Sept. 25 The Codification of Gender Identity
Readings: Baskin, pp. 43-93 and I.B. Singer, "Yentl, The Yeshiva Boy" (xerox)
Sept. 26, 30 Women in the Synagogue and the Home
Readings: Grossman and Haut, Preface and pp. 3-49; 89-101, 117-134; Baskin, pp. 135-158, 202-221
NO CLASS OCT. 2-3: Rosh Hashanah but by Oct. 7, students should see (in library or through arranged class showing) Joan Micklin Silver's film, "Hester Street."
Oct 7, 9 The Celebration of Gender Identity
Readings: xeroxes of women's tkhines (petitionary prayers); Baskin, pp. 159- 182; Grossman and Haut, pp. 314-top of 321; Umansky and Ashton, pp. 242- 247, 257-265, 314-321
** NOTE: NO CLASS OCT. 10: Mid semester reading day
New Challenges and Opportunities: Jewish Women in the Modern World
Oct. 14 & 16 Judaism through the Lens of Modernity
Readings: Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers
Oct. 17 MID-TERM EXAMINATION
Oct. 21 Educational Opportunities: Secular and Religious
Readings: Baskin, pp. 182-201, 222-242; Umansky and Ashton, pp. 59-101
Oct. 23 & 24 The Influence of Women's Organizations on Community and Home
Readings: Umansky and Ashton, pp. Middle of 109-middle of 114, 127-138;
140-152,160-168
Oct. 28 & 30 The Holocaust: Women as Victims, Resisters, and Survivors
Readings: Baskin, pp. 243-264, Umansky and Ashton, pp.171-180, 286-290, 306-314 and xeroxed materials
Oct. 31 & Nov. 4 (Re)Building the Jewish State Jewish Women in Israel, Past and Present Readings: Umansky and Ashton, pp. 168-171, 216-218, 227; excerpt from Natalie Rein, Daughters of Rachel: Women in Israel (xerox) and Frances Raday, "The Concept of Gender Equality in a Jewish State" (xerox)
Nov. 6 & 7 Women as Ritual Experts Traditional Religiosity in a Contemporary Setting
Readings: Sered, Women as Ritual Experts
Women in Communal Religious Life: Participation and Leadership
Nov 11-14 Women as Jewish Religious Leaders
Readings: Umansky and Ashton, pp. 156-160,180-185, 228-229, 265-273, 276-285, 290-292 and Umansky, "Women's Journey toward Rabbinic Ordination," Janet Marder, "How Women Are Changing the Rabbinate," and Rabbi Elka Abrahamson, "Reshaping the Rabbinate" (xeroxes)
TERMS PAPERS ARE DUE BY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14
Nov. 18 Women in Public Worship
Readings: Grossman and Haut, pp. 135-181..
Nov. 20-25 Feminist Reconceptualizations of Jewish Stories, Beliefs, and Identity
Readings: Judith Plaskow, "Standing Again at Sinai: Feminist Reconstructions of Jewish Memory," Rachel Adler, "I've Had Nothing Yet So I Can't Take More," and Rebecca Alpert, "In God's Image: Coming to Terms With Leviticus" (xeroxes) and Umansky, pp. 221-222, 292-298
Dec 2 & 4 (Re)Imaging the Divine
Readings: Umansky, pp. 230-242 and Marcia Falk, "What About God?" and "Toward a Feminist Jewish Reconstruction of Monotheism"(xeroxes). Dr. Falk will be speaking on Dec. 4 in class and at 7:30 p.m. in the Quick Center.
Dec. 5 Creating New Rituals
Readings: 247-265, 314-321
Dec. 9 Equal Access and/or Transformation? Looking Towards the Future
Readings: Grossman, pp.297-305, Umansky, pp. 215-216, 321-334, and Judith Plaskow, "Beyond Egalitarianism" (xerox)
http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwaar/syllabi/women_in_judaism-umansky.html
Latest update: August 02, 2002
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