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Sarah Bunin Benor: Courses

Sarah Bunin Benor: Courses

The Jew in American Society (JS 381)
University of Southern California
Fall 2010


Course Description: A social science course examining contemporary American Jews and Judaism. Topics include Jewish identities, layers of community, and changing patterns of Jewish observance and affiliation. Students will learn about the American Jewish denominations, institutions, forms of education, approaches to Zionism, attitudes toward intermarriage, and cultural preferences, including food, music, and language. This class also looks at a number of Jewish subpopulations, including gay and lesbian, deaf, immigrant, and multi-racial Jews.

*Syllabus


Jewish Social Research: Trends and Analysis (CS 562)

Course Description: This class is designed to expose students to social science research on contemporary American Jewish identities, communities, and institutions. Students are expected to:
  1. become critical consumers of such research
  2. obtain the skills and experience to conduct their own research and
  3. learn about trends and issues among contemporary American Jews.
Students will be introduced to the capstone project requirement and will have an opportunity to begin their research.

*Syllabus


American Jewish Language and Identity in Historical Context (CS 513)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Summer 2007

Course Description: Around the world, wherever Jews have lived, they have distinguished themselves linguistically from their non-Jewish neighbors. They have spoken languages as diverse as Arabic, Spanish, Persian, and Malayalam and infused them with distinctly Jewish features, such as Hebrew and Aramaic words and elements of other Jewish languages. American Jews are no exception to this linguistic trend. This class compares and contrasts "American Jewish English" with Diaspora Jewish languages throughout history, and it explores the linguistic diversity among subgroups of American Jews, especially according to denomination, Jewish education, region, ancestral origin, and orientation towards Israel.

*Syllabus


Jewish Languages Past and Present (HIS 510)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Spring 2007

Course Description: Around the world, wherever Jews have lived, they have distinguished themselves linguistically from their non-Jewish neighbors. They have spoken languages as diverse as Arabic, Spanish, Persian, and English and infused them with distinctly Jewish features, such as Hebrew and Aramaic words and elements of other Jewish languages. This class explores the processes of alignment and distinction that have engendered Jewish language varieties throughout the history of the Diaspora. Students learn some methodologies and theories of linguistics as they analyze Yiddish, Ladino, Jewish English, Jewish Malayalam, and other Jewish language varieties.

*Syllabus


Research Methods in Contemporary Jewry (CS 562)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
School of Jewish Communal Service
Spring 2007

Course Description: This class is designed to expose students to qualitative and quantitative approaches to social science research. Students are expected to become critical consumers of research on contemporary American Jews and to obtain the skills and experience necessary to conduct such research. This class is an opportunity for students to begin research for their masters thesis or project.

*Syllabus


Language and Identity Among 'Hyphenated' Americans (ARLT 100g)
University of Southern California
General Education
Fall 2006

Course Description: In the multicultural society of the United States, people have multiple allegiances. Racial, ethnic, and immigrant groups construct their identities partly through distinct ways of speaking English. This class explores the connection between language and identity through short stories, essays, memoirs, novels, poetry, film, and music. It fulfills the Arts and Letters humanities requirement.

*Syllabus


Contemporary American Jewish Issues (CS 426)
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
School of Jewish Communal Service
Summer 2006

Course Description: A social science course examining contemporary issues in Jewish religion, culture, and demographics. Topics include Jewish identities, layers of community, changing patterns of Jewish observance and affiliation, family dynamics, intermarriage, economics, Jewish distinctiveness, and the relationship between universalism and particularism. This class looks at a number of Jewish subpopulations, including gay and lesbian Jews, Deaf Jews, recent immigrants, and multi-racial Jews.

*Syllabus


Introduction to Judaism (JS 180)
University of Southern California and
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
Fall 2005

Course Description: This class is an introduction to Jewish beliefs, practices, and history from the biblical period to the present. Students become familiar with Jewish holidays, lifecycle events, and philosophical issues by reading key texts of the Jewish tradition. The diversity within the Jewish world - according to geography, gender, and modern religious movement - is represented.

*Syllabus


*All syllabi are in PDF Format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here to download the program.

Created with help from the Department of Distance Education (desupport@huc.edu).