Outline

Overview

This unit explores the story of Jews under Muslim and Christian rule in Europe, including Christian antisemitism, anti-Jewish decrees, expulsions, the Crusades and the expulsion from Spain. It further explores new centres of Jewish life, especially in Eastern Europe, namely Poland, and concludes with the dawn of emancipation and the re-establishment of Jewish communities in the Netherlands and England.

Unit details and rules

Unit code	JCTC2100
Academic unit	Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies
Credit points	6
Prohibitions ?	None
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 1000 level in Jewish Civilisation - Thought and Culture or 12 credit points at 1000 level in Biblical Studies and Classical Hebrew or 12 credit points at 1000 level in European Studies
Corequisites ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Michael Abrahams-Sprod, michael.abrahams-sprod@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Online task	Discussion Board Activity Weeks 8 - 13 and 5	25%	Multiple weeks	200wd x 6 (1,200 in total) and 1x300wd
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Class Participation Class Participation (online)	10%	Ongoing	Ongoing
Outcomes assessed:
Creative assessment / demonstration	Critical Assessment of Reading Critical Assessment of Reading	10%	Ongoing Due date: 02 Jun 2020 at 23:59 Closing date: 02 Jun 2020	500 word
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Research Essay Research Essay	55%	Week 11 Due date: 15 May 2020 at 23:59 Closing date: 25 May 2020	3000 word
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100
Distinction	75 - 84
Credit	65 - 74
Pass	50 - 64
Fail	0 - 49	When you don’t meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see sydney.edu.au/students/guide-to-grades

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.

Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Jews in the Middle Ages: An overview of the concept of the medieval period and the main developments of Jewish life; study of some key sources to assist in this overview. Medieval Jewish life: Everyday Jewish life during the medieval period; study of education, family relations, the role of the synagogue, communal leadership.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Jews and Islam: The life of Muhammad, the development of Islam and its impact on Jewish life. Christian Antisemitism: Christian antisemitism and the exclusion of Jews from Christian society.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Jews and Islam. Christian Antisemitism.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	Muslim Spain: The Golden Age of Spain; poets and philosophers; Jewish mysticism; Kabbalah: rationalism and revelation. Jewish Traders: Benjamin of Toledo and other examples of sources of the time and of travelogues.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	Muslim Spain. Jewish Traders.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Jews and the Ashkenaz: Jewish life in France and Germany; Rabbenu Gershom; Rashi’s commentaries and the Tosafists of France. Jewish Life in England: Jewish settlement in England and the development of Jewish life there until the expulsion of 1290.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln. Jewish life in England.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	The Crusades: Reasons and events of the period of the Crusades for Jewish communities in the Rhineland, France and Palestine. Christian Spain: The Christian Reconquista: The gradual marginalisation of Jews; Disputations; Nachmanides.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	The Crusades. Christian Spain.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Expulsions from France. The last phase of Sephardi Jewry: Expulsion from Spain 1391, the converso crisis; decline of the situation until the 1492 expulsion. Forced Conversions in Portugal: Conversos and the story of the secret Jews in Portugal.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	The Spanish Inquisition – SBS documentary and discussion.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Jewish life in Safed: The development of Safed as a centre of Jewish thought; Kabbalah and the Shulchan Arukh - Guest Lecturer: Rabbi Dr Orna Triguboff.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	The Spanish Inquisition – SBS documentary and discussion.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	The Sephardi diaspora countries where Jews settled after the expulsions. The Jews of Salonika and Turkey.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Jewish mysticism: The Safed tradition - Isaac Luria and his school.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	The Black Death: Jews in Germany and the 1348 persecutions. Jewish settlement in Poland: Patterns of Jewish life which developed in Poland, including self-government.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	The development of the Yiddish language.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	The Chelmnicki Massacres: The Cossack attack on the Jews in 1648 and its impact on Jewish life in Poland. Shabbatai Zvi and other messiahs: Factors which led to the emergence of false messiahs in this period.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Antisemitism and the Reformation – Luther.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Hassidism and Mitnagdim: Biography of the Ba’al Shem Tov (Besht) and the reasons for his wide appeal in this period. Spread of Hassidism after the Besht’s death and the development of opposition - the Gaon of Vilna.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Writings and legends of the Baal Shem Tov and later Hassidic writings.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	Jews in Renaissance Italy: The main features of Jewish life in Italy, including the poetry and literature of Italian Jewry. The Jews of Prague: The history of the Jews of Prague and the Golem of Prague.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	The writings of Spinoza and the reasons for the associated controversy.	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Jews in the Netherlands: The history of Dutch Jewry; initial Sephardi settlement and reasons for the growth of the Ashkenazi community. Return to England: Oliver Cromwell, Menasseh ben Israel and English Jewry; development of British Jewry from 1665 to 1750.	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	The writings of Menasseh ben Israel and English Jewry's literary works.	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: According to Faculty Board Resolutions, students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are expected to attend 90% of their classes. If you attend less than 50% of classes, regardless of the reasons, you may be referred to the Examiner’s Board. The Examiner’s Board will decide whether you should pass or fail the unit of study if your attendance falls below this threshold.
Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours’ preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

SOURCE BOOKS FOR LECTURE SUBJECTS

Browne, Lewis. Ed The Wisdom of Israel (London: Michael Joseph, 1960).

Chazan, R., ed, Church, State and Jew in the Middle Ages (New York: Behrman House, 1988).

Marcus, J.R. The Jew in the Medieval World (New York: Atheneum, 1969).

Milgram, Abraham E. An Anthology of Hebrew Literature (Philadelphia: The Assoc. Talmud Torahs, 1935).

GENERAL (AND EXTENDED) READING LIST

Abrahams, Israel Jewish Life in the Middle Ages New York: Meridian Books & JPSA, 1958

Almog, Shmuel (ed) Antisemitism Through the Ages Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1988

Baron, S.W. A Social and Relgiious History of the Jews,vol 3, New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

Ben-Sasson, H.H. ed., A History of the Jewish People, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1976

Encyclopaedia Judaica

Cohn-Sherbrok, The Jewish Heritage, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1988

Goitein, S. D. Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages New York: Schocken Books, 1974

Holtz, Barry W. Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Hyman, A. ‘Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles’, in Altmann, A., ed., Jewish Medieval and Renaissance Studies 1967

Jacob, L., Principles of Jewish faith, 1964

Johnson, Paul A History of the Jews New York: Harper Perennial, 1988

Margolis, Max & Marx, Alexander A History of the Jewish People

Metzger, T. and M. Jewish Life in the Middle Ages New Jersey: Chartwell Bookd, 1985.

Parkes, J. The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue New York: Meridian, 1965.

Roth, C. A Short History of the Jewish People, London: East West Library, 1948

Seltzer, R.M. Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History, New York: MacMillan Publishing Co, 1982

Shapiro, M.B. ‘Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles: the last word in Jewish theology?, Torah and Madda Journal, vol 4, 1993, pp186-242

Stillman, N.A. The Jews of Arab Lands, Philadelphia: JPSA, 1979.

Goldman, S. ‘The halachic foundation of Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles’, in Zimmels, H.J., Rabbinowitz, & Finestein, I., eds., Essays presented to Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie, vol 1, pp111-118, 1967

Weiss, R.L. & Butterworth C. eds., chapter 2, Ethical writings of Maimonides 1975.

Ziegler, A.K. Church and State in Visigoth Spain, Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 1930

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Demonstrate a strong foundational knowledge of Jewish religion and practice as well as the Jewish historical experience during the medieval and modern periods;
LO2. Apply one or more specific disciplinary perspectives and associated theoretical tools to analysis of aspects of Jewish history, politics, societies and cultures;
LO3. Communicate a clear and critical understanding of questions of society, history, culture and politics with regard to Jewish civilisation, thought and culture, including the global forces that shaped these developments;
LO4. Examine complex problems in the study of Jewish civilisation, thought and culture and demonstrate the ability to begin working independently to research and analyse those problems in an innovative way;
LO5. Undertake collaborative work in class discussions, class presentations and written work, generate and engage in analysis that relates issues in Jewish civilisation, thought and culture to the students' own experience, ethical framework and world-views;
LO6. Demonstrate confidence and competence in sourcing and analysing a range of digital materials - scholarly, non-scholarly, institutional, NGO, media, social media, artistic - within and in relation to relevant Jewish cultural contexts;
LO7. Demonstrate competency in academic writing and referencing.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

JCTC2100: Expulsion and Renewal: Medieval Jews

Semester 1, 2020 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect