Upcoming Courses
Please see below for Winter 2026 courses in Jewish Studies. Email jewishst@uw.edu with any questions.
JEW ST 215 Ladino Language and Culture
Instructor Canan Bolel
MW | 3:30-5:20 | ART 004
5 credit (A&H, SSc) | SLN 16100
Course Description
Fundamental elements of Modern Ladino, the traditional language of Sephardic Jews of the Balkans and Middle East, including the traditional Hebrew-based alphabet and its Romanization, and basic grammar, syntax and lexicon. Historical stages in the development of Ladino and the social and cultural life of modern Ladino speakers. No prior knowledge of Spanish or Hebrew required.
JEW ST 250 Jewish Cultural History
Instructor Noam Pianko
MW | 2:30- 4:20 | SMI 307
5 credit (SSc) | SLN 16102
Course Description
Introductory orientation to the settings in which Jews have marked out for themselves distinctive identities as a people, a culture, and as a religious community. Examines Jewish cultural history as a production of Jewish identity that is always produced in conversation with others in the non-Jewish world.
JEW ST 339 Bioethics Perspective
Instructor Hadar Khazzam-Horovitz
TTH | 12:30 – 1:50 | ART 006
3 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN 16103
Course Description
Legal, ethical, scientific, and Jewish religious perspectives on contemporary medical and biomedical research practices. Legal and civil rights of women, people with disabilities, minors and minority or marginalized groups. Key differences between secular and Biblical/Rabbinic approaches in interpretation, analysis and application of bioethics, doctor-patient relationships; reproductive methods; abortion; euthanasia; and stem cell research.
JEW ST 359 Jewish America Literature and Culture
Instructor Sasha Senderovich
TTH | 8:30 – 10:20 | THO 119
5 credits (A&H, DIV, SSc) | SLN 16104
Course Description
Examines literary and cultural production about the Jewish experience in America. Considers ways in which American Jews assimilate and resist assimilation while Jewish writers, filmmakers, comedians, and graphic novelists imitate and transform American life and literature. Emphasizes questions of immigration, identity, gender, sexuality, race, inter-generational trauma, and cultural memory.
JEW ST 459 Hist Jews & Muslims
Instructor Liora R. Halperin
MW | 10:30-12:20 | LOW 206
5 credits (SSc and DIV) | SLN 16105
Course Description
Topics include Jews’ and Muslims’ linked encounters with empire, westernization, and nationalism; Jewish culture and identity in Islamic contexts migration and diasporic identities; the impact of Zionism, European Jewish settlement in Palestine, and the State of Israel on Jewish-Muslim relations in the Middle East and beyond; Islamophobia and antisemitism.
JEW ST 462 Antisemitism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Instructor Devin E Naar
TTH | 1:30-3:20 | LOW 216
5 credits (DIV, SSc, W) | SLN 16106
Course Description
Analyzes antisemitism from ancient times to the present, exploring anti-Jewish attitudes, actions, and violence. Uses intersectional frameworks to examine connections with Islamophobia, white supremacy, anti-Black racism, and sexism. Evaluates relationships between antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and Christian Zionism, while mapping antisemitism’s role in American culture wars.
GERMAN 495 Queer Gelesen: LGBTIQ+ Literatur aus Deutschland
Instructor J. Rafael Balling
MW | 10:00- 11:20 | SWS B010
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 15293
Course Description
Special topics, the subject matter and depth of which are not included in other literature courses, arranged through consultation among students and faculty members.
MELC 305 The Biblical Prophets
Instructor Kathryn McConaughy Medill
MW | 3:30-4:50 | SAV 131
3 credits (A&H, SSc) | SLN 17589
Course Description
Explores the Biblical prophets (in translation) within their Near Eastern contexts. Historicity, literary and rhetorical sophistication, and ideological agendas. Seeks to uncover the meaning and distinctiveness of Israelite prophecy within the context of the larger Near East. No knowledge of the Bible required.
MODHEB 102 Elementary Modern Hebrew
Instructor Hadar Khazzam-Horovitz
MW | 9:30-11:20 | DEN 113
F | Asynchronous
5 credits | SLN 17741
Course Description
Modern Israeli Hebrew. Core vocabulary, grammar, conversational text, and oral and written communication. Excerpts from modern Hebrew prose and poetry. Second in a sequence of three.
MODHEB 202 Intermediate Modern Hebrew
Instructor Hadar Khazzam-Horovitz
TTh | 9:30-11:20 | ART 004
F | Asynchronous
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 17742
Course Description
Readings of selected texts in modern Hebrew with continuing emphasis on grammar, syntax, composition, and conversation. Second in a sequence of three.
Instructor Scott B. Noegel
TTh | 10:30-12:20 | DEN 110
5 credits (A&H) | SLN 11200
Course Description
Examines the language, style, and sophistication of the biblical Book of Proverbs within the context of ancient Near Eastern proverb collections and correlates close readings of the book in the original Hebrew language with various interpretations it has received since antiquity.