Hebrew 31

Hebrew 31 
Hebrew Literature in Translation IIDesigned for the non-Hebrew speaking student, Hebrew 31 satisfies the Group Requirement for Literature/Philosophy and articulates with CUNY’s literature courses in English translation.    All texts and classroom instruction are in English translation.  NO knowledge of the Hebrew language is required.

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the Hebrew Literature of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries by selecting representative works of the various genres of that period:  Hasidism, Enlightenment (Haskalah), and Zionism.

Students will be able to discern the various trends of Modern Hebrew Literature, compare them to contemporary situations,  and appreciate the complexity and intensity of motifs and issues that preoccupied the Modern Hebrew writers. 

They will be able to analyze and interpret writings of representative Haskalah authors; to correlate the relationship between Hasidism and Jewish Mysticism; recognize the themes and motifs in Hasidic literature; evaluate samples of early Zionist writers.  Students will attain a cross-cultural perspective; interact more effectively with the bearers of the culture; and  understand and be sensitive to the range of political, religious, and cultural realities pervading our society.