284a - American Judaism
Fall, 2004
Tuesday/Thursday 1-2:30 - Woodside


Ken Koltun-Fromm
Haverford College
Gest 205
Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 12:00-1:00pm
610-896-1026 (office), 610-645-8324 (home)
kkoltunf@haverford.edu

Summary

This class will explore the cultural, social, and religious dynamics of American Judaism. We will focus on the representation of Jewish identity in American culture, and examine issues of Jewish material, gender, and social practices in American history. We will study how Jews express identity through their physical and material surroundings, and how persons work with objects to produce religious meaning.


Requirements

Preparation for class discussions is required and necessary. You should be fully prepared to engage the reading material in class, and offer reflective comments upon the reading and the ideas of others. To help in this preparation, you should write a brief account of what you think most central, provocative, or confusing in the reading for that day with the expectation that you will share these thoughts in class (this writing should be a short paragraph - 3-5 sentences - for your eyes only).

You will write three five page, doubled-spaced papers during the semester, and a longer, twelve page research paper for you final, due the last day of finals period. The first of the three papers can be rewritten and turned in for a grade a week after I return the initial paper to you. The due dates for the papers are as follows:

First paper: October 12th, Friday, 5pm
Second paper: November 2nd, Friday, 5pm
Third paper: November 21st, Wednesday, 5pm
Final paper: December 21st, Friday, 5pm

All papers must be turned in on the second floor of Gest building in the appropriate box labeled for this class. If coming to the Haverford College campus proves difficult on Fridays, you may email a copy of your paper to me by the 5pm deadline, but only if you inform me before then that you wish to do so, and I confirm. I suggest that you cc a copy to yourself, and seek a reply from me that I have received and can open the document. If I cannot open the document and print it from my computer, I will not consider the paper to be turned in until I can do so. Your paper will be marked down for each day late.

Grading

Your final grade will be based on the above assignments, with significant weight placed on your engagement in class discussions. I do not evaluate each task with percentage accuracy (your final paper is not worth, say, 30% of your grade, for example), but instead examine all your work as a piece, and provide a grade that I hope fairly expresses the work and attention rendered to the class assignments, your peers in class, and your class participation. This process also allows me to take into account improvement over the course of the semester.

Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability are encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester. Students should also contact Rick Webb, Coordinator, Office of Disabilities Services (rwebb@haverford.edu, 610-896-1290) to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations as soon as possible. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.

Texts for Purchase

Jenna Weissman Joselit, The Wonders of America
Riv-Ellen Prell, Fighting to Become Americans
Steven Cohen and Arnold Eisen, The Jew Within


Syllabus


September

4 (T) - Introduction to class (Orsi, "Everyday Miracles," pp. 3-6)

6 (Th) -Marc Lee Raphael, "A History of Judaism in America," 39-73, and "The Synagogue," 97-114 (on Blackboard)


Jewish Material Consumption

11 (T) - Heinze, Adapting to Abundance, 1-48

13 (Th) - (No class - Rosh Hashanah)

18 (T) - Heinze, Adapting to Abundance, 51-85, 89-115

20 (Th) - Heinze, Adapting to Abundance, 116-160

25 (T) - Heinze, Adapting to Abundance, 181-218

27 (Th) - (No class - Sukkot)

October

2 (T) - Joselit, The Wonders of America, 3-54

4 (Th) - Joselit, The Wonders of America, 55-88, 135-169

9 (T) - Joselit, The Wonders of America, 171-218, Diner, "Food Fights," in Hungering
for America, 178-219 (on Blackboard)

11 (Th) - Joselit, The Wonders of America, 219-295

12 (F) - First Paper due, 5pm

Fall Break

Jewish Music and Food (Jazz Singer and trip to Jewish history museum)

23 (T) - David Stowe, "Yossele, Yossele!," 171-195, from How Sweet the Sound

25 (Th) -

30 (T) -

Movie: The Jazz Singer

November

1 (Th) -

2 (F) - Second Paper due, 5pm

Jewish Gender and Sexuality

6 (T) - Prell, Fighting to Become Americans, 1-57

8 (Th) - Prell, Fighting to Become Americans, 58-123

13 (T) - Prell, Fighting to Become Americans, 124-208

15 (Th) - Prell, Fighting to Become Americans, 209-252

Movie: Trembling before G-d

Jewish Identity

20 (T) - Ozick, "Envy; or, Yiddish in America," 41-100 (on Blackboard)

21 (W) - Third paper due, 5pm

22 (Th) - (No class - Thanksgiving)

27 (T) - Roth, 'Eli, the Fanatic," 249-298 (on Blackboard)

29 (Th) - Malamud, "The Magic Barrel"

December

4 (T) - Hertzberg, A Jew in America, Prologue and 1-44 (on Blackboard)

6 (Th) - Eisen and Cohen, The Jew Within, 1-42

11 (T) - Eisen and Cohen, The Jew Within, 43-99

13 (Th) - Eisen and Cohen, The Jew Within, 155-207









Final paper due: December 21st, Friday, 12pm