History 201-206 seminars are open to history majors only during pre-registration. If the course does not reach its enrollment maximum, it will be open to all students beginning with drop/add on a first-come first-serve basis.
HIST 201 Jewish Political Thought
Oravetz
Taught as schedule allows (consult the Course Directory)
R | SEM | PRE-1800
What are politics in the absence of a sovereign state and government? Before the modern period, were Jews apolitical and disconnected from the governments under which they lived? Or were they engaged in political affairs behind the scenes? While both were at times true, these stereotypes don't scratch the surface of the rich internal tradition of Jewish political thought and practice. This course will explore that tradition through the 18th century: not only how Jews responded to non-Jewish politics, but how they governed their communities, understood the status of Jewish law, and imagined a Jewish state, both past (biblical) and future (messianic). We will read and analyze major texts of the Jewish political tradition (in translation), including Maimonides, Abravanel, Spinoza, and Mendelssohn, as well as the Biblical and Talmudic passages that served as their foundational texts, and other primary and secondary sources that shed light on Jewish concepts of government, nation, and law.
