Undergraduate Information
Programs
Fall 2025 Course Offerings
All JUST undergraduate courses that are 3000 and higher (except JUST 3065, JUST 5532 W, and JUST 5582) and 4000-level HEBR courses are considered capstone courses. Choose any one to satisfy the capstone course requirement for yeshiva/seminary transfer credits from an Israeli institution. Cross-listed courses taught by faculty outside the department do not count as a capstone.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (33926)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person (LOTE)
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1001 Elementary Hebrew I (10726)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person
Come learn Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is an elementary-level Hebrew-language class open to beginners. We will learn the Hebrew alphabet and all the speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 1002 Intermediate Hebrew II (33929)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Hanni Garti-Bar
In person
Continue learning Hebrew in an open and supportive environment! This is the next level of elementary-level Hebrew-language, open to beginners who have taken HEBR 1001 or equivalent background. We will continue speaking, reading, and writing basics. Class will include small-group work, listening to songs, and watching Israeli TV and films. This course is eligible for LOTE credit. Students are encouraged to email the instructor with any questions. This course is not open to students who have taken the Regents Exam.
HEBR 4030 / JUST 4030 Intermediate Talmud (33927)/(33928)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Associate Professor David Brodsky
In person (LOTE or Capstone)
Reading and analysis of select passages from the Talmud, the major repository of Jewish legal and ethical teaching. Readings reflect major concerns of Judaism in antiquity. Training in Rabbinic dialects of Hebrew and Aramaic. Texts will be read in the original Hebrew and Aramaic. Students may take this class for credit multiple times but may not repeat topics. Qualifies as a LOTE (Language Other Than English) course for Pathways College Option purposes. HEBR 4030 and JUST 4030 are the same course. Students should speak with the instructor or chair to assess that the course is at the right level.
JUST 1145 Classical Jewish Texts (First-Year Seminar) (33930)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
In person (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
Have you ever wished you had more familiarity with the classical Jewish canon? A deeper knowledge of its key works, their historical context, and their role in traditional Judaism? This course will address these issues by exploring the masterpieces of Jewish literature that have profoundly influenced world religions, culture, and philosophy. It will begin by analyzing a range of genres of early Jewish sources, from the Bible to Maimonides. Subsequently, students will disentangle the layers and intertextuality of modern Jewish texts and films, which often riff on earlier classics, including thought-provoking works from Shalom Aleichem to the Coen brothers.
JUST 1145 Classical Jewish Texts (11893)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:30–7:45 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
Online (Pathways: World Cultures & Global Issues)
Have you ever wished you had more familiarity with the classical Jewish canon? A deeper knowledge of its key works, their historical context, and their role in traditional Judaism? This course will address these issues by exploring the masterpieces of Jewish literature that have profoundly influenced world religions, culture, and philosophy. It will begin by analyzing a range of genres of early Jewish sources, from the Bible to Maimonides. Subsequently, students will disentangle the layers and intertextuality of modern Jewish texts and films, which often riff on earlier classics, including thought-provoking works from Shalom Aleichem to the Coen brothers.
JUST 2017 Jewish Approaches to Ethical Issues (10015)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:50–2:05 p.m.
Associate Professor David Brodsky
In person (Pathways: Individual and Society)
This course surveys the Jewish approaches to leading moral issues including: truth and lying; self-sacrifice, martyrdom and suicide; the just war; abortion; euthanasia; capital punishment; sexual ethics and morality; and business ethics. In each class we will examine the classical Jewish sources (Bible, Talmud, medieval codes) pertaining to an ethical issue and discuss the range of ethical positions that may be based on the sources. (Not open to students who have completed JUST 4017.) As of spring 2021, satisfies Pathways Flexible Core Individual and Society requirement.
JUST 2085 Jews of New York (10727)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:15–3:30 p.m.
Professor: TBA
In person (Pathways: US Experience in Its Diversity)
From a handful of Jewish refugees who arrived to New Amsterdam in 1654 to a robust population of roughly two million by the mid-20th century, Jewish New Yorkers made New York City one of the largest and most important Jewish centers in the nation and the world. They also played key roles in areas that elevated New York into America’s premier urban center like labor organizing, tenants’ rights, retail, fashion, theater, and popular song. Jewish immigrants and their children saw great promise in New York City while also playing a consistent role shaping the city’s very potential. How did that relationship come to be and how did it inform the position of New York’s Jewish residents—in the city, the nation, and the wider Jewish world.
JUST 3405 / HIST 3552 Jews in the Muslim World: Sephardic Heritage (33932)/(29953)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Associate Professor David Brodsky
In person (Capstone)
The Jewish experience in Muslim countries. Analysis of the Jewish communities in all aspects of life, culture, and mass emigration to Israel and the United States. This course is the same as History 3552.
JUST 4034 / HIST 3103 Kabbalah and Messianism (33931)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:40–4:55 p.m.
Professor Sharon Flatto
In person (Capstone)
Kabbalah (a form of Jewish mysticism) is at the root of various messianic ideologies and movements that became highly influential during the Medieval and early modern eras. Examines the central doctrines of Kabbalah, the geographic and social contexts in which kabbalistic and messianic trends evolved, and the factors that led to their popularization. This course is the same as History 3103.
