With an emphasis on reclaiming the richness of Jewish history, the chronological exploration investigates significant crossroads where Jews took major decisions that shaped our shared identity and destiny. This course merges the concepts of history and memory in order to better understand how each has shaped Judaism today. Register today.
This course is taught in conjunction with Ethics of Jewish Living. Explore options for taking both courses together here.
Table of Contents
Lesson 1 - The Memory of Crossroads
Lesson 2 - From Tribal Society to Kingship
Lesson 3 - Destruction of the First Temple to Ezra
Lesson 4 - From Judeans to Jews
Lesson 5 - Internal Tensions: Controversies of the Sadducees and the Pharisees
Lesson 6 - Destruction of the 2nd Temple to Bar Kokhba: The Making of a Diaspora
Lesson 7 - Confrontation with Early Christianity
Lesson 8 - Internal and External Disparity between Eretz Yisrael and Bavel
Lesson 9 - Confrontation with Early Islam
Lesson 10 - Geonim Consolidate Power
Lesson 11 - Ushering in the Age of Ashkenazim and Sephardim
Lesson 12 - The First Crusades
Lesson 13 - Jews on Trial
Lesson 14 - The Decline and Destruction of the Sephardi Community in Spain
Lesson 15 - A Community Dispersed: Finding Meaning in Mysticism
Lesson 16 - From Despair to Ecstasy to Despair
Lesson 17 - Fighting for the Soul of Eastern Europe: Chasidim and Mitnagdim
Lesson 18 - A Brave New World: The Modernization of Judaism
Lesson 19 - The Jewish Question is Born: Political Emancipation in Western Europe
Lesson 20 - Responses to Political Emancipation With Religious Reformation
Lesson 21 - Answers to the Jewish Question: Anti-Semitism and Zionism
Lesson 22 - Exodus from Europe: The Immigrant Experience in South Africa and the United States
Lesson 23 - The Holocaust
Lesson 24 - The Creation of the State of Israel
Lesson 25 - Arab Jewish Emigration
Lesson 26 - Answers to the Jewish Question: Communism and Anti-Zionism
Lesson 27 - The Ethiopian Journey: From Exodus to Integration
Lesson 28 - Claiming a Jewish Woman's Voice
Lesson 29 - Religious Authority in Contemporary Israel
Lesson 30 - A Link in the Great Chain