August 29: Course Introductions, Expectations
September 3: We Are What We Eat
READINGS:
“Blood in the Barbecue?” (Roof);
“From Collards to Maple Syrup, How Your Identity Impacts the Food You Like” (Kusmer);
“Jewish Food 101” (MJL)
“Why Keep Kosher?” (Artson)
TERMS:
Ashkenazi
brit
kashrut / kosher
mitzvah
Sephardi
treif
FOUNDATIONS
September 5: Approaching Judaism
READINGS:
“A Crash Course in Early Jewish History” (MJL);
“Law, the Sacred, and a Nosh” (Mazur);
“Is Belief a Jewish Notion?” (Gutting);
Deuteronomy 6: 4-9;
Deuteronomy 26: 5-11
TERMS:
Babylonian exile
First Temple / Second Temple
Mishnah
Shema
Talmud
September 10: Approaching the Divine
READINGS:
The Sabbath (Heschel) [entire];
Genesis 1: 1 – 2: 3;
Exodus 20: 1-11
TERMS:
September 12: Shabbat, “a palace in time”
READINGS:
“Sabbath” (Sacks);
“What to Expect at Synagogue Services on Saturday Morning” (Kohn);
“Guide to the Synagogue Sancturary, From Ark to Yad” (Strassfeld and Strassfeld);
“Havdalah” (Silverman);
Genesis 22: 3;
Genesis 24: 63;
Genesis 28: 11;
Exodus 23: 12;
Exodus 34: 21;
Psalms 55: 18;
Daniel 6: 11
TERMS:
Aron ha’Kodesh
bimah
Chumash / Torah
daven
eruv [eruv in Norfolk, Va.]
halakhah
kippah / yarmulke
minyan
Ner Tamid
siddur
tallit [as described in Torah]
September 17 – September 19: The Rest of the Calendar
READINGS:
“Jewish Calendar: Solar and Lunar” (MJL);
“Rosh Chodesh 101” (MJL);
“Months of the Jewish Year” (MJL);
Genesis 1: 1 – 2: 4:
Exodus 12: 1-2;
Leviticus 23: 24;
Numbers 10: 10
September 24 – October 1: Jewish Dietary Practices (downloadable chart)
READINGS:
“Kashrut 101” (MJL);
“Keeping Kosher” (MJL);
“Shopping for Kosher Food” (Greenberg);
Genesis 2: 16-17;
Genesis 32: 25-33;
Exodus 22: 30;
Exodus 23: 19;
Leviticus 11: 2-47;
Deuteronomy 14: 3-22
TERMS:
hekhsher [examples]
kashering
pareve
shomer Shabbat
October 3: NO CLASS (Rosh Hashanah)
October 8: Mid-Term review (no new readings)
Mid-term exam study guide (PDF)
October 10: Mid-Term Exam
October 15: NO CLASS (Fall Break)
October 17: FIELD TRIP ‘n FOOD (REQUIRED)
DESTINATION: Food Lion Supermarket (5461 Wesleyan Dr., near intersection with Diamond Springs Rd.) – meet at the front entrance area of the store.
[NOTE: Please download, print, and bring this WORKSHEET with you.]
SHABBAT throughout the YEAR
October 22: Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur
DUE: Selection of project topic from category A or category B (see Course Description)
READINGS:
“How Many Jewish New Years?” (Alperin);
“Rosh Hashanah 101” (MJL);
“Why Some Holidays Last Longer Outside Israel” (Kohn);
“When Do Jews Fast?” (MJL);
“The Benefits of Fasting on Yom Kippur” (Michaelson);
Exodus 23: 17;
Exodus 34: 22-23;
Leviticus 16: 30-34;
Leviticus 23: 24-32;
Micah 7: 19
TERMS:
Days of Awe
hol hamo’ed
kittel
Kol Nidre
minhag
shofar
Tashlikh
yom tov
October 24: Sukkot (and a bit more)
READINGS:
“What Are the Pilgrimage Festivals?” (Kohn);
“Sukkot Theology and Themes” (MJL);
“What is Shemini Atzeret?” (Steinberg):
“What Happens in Synagogue on Simhat Torah?” (Steinberg);
“What is Sigd?” (MJL);
Leviticus 23: 34-44
TERMS:
aliyah / aliyot
etrog
lulav
Mishnah
parsha
sukkah
Yizkor
October 29: Pesah
READINGS:
“Passover (Pesah) 101” (MJL);
“What It Means to Keep Kosher for Passover” (MJL);
Exodus 34: 18-23;
Leviticus 23: 24-25
TERMS:
Haggadah
hametz
kitniyot
matza
seder
October 31: Shavu’ot
READINGS:
“Shavu’ot 101” (MJL);
“What Happens on Shavu’ot?” (MJL);
“Revelation at Sinai” (MJL);
Exodus 34: 22
TERMS:
Oral Torah
HISTORICAL HOLIDAYS
November 5: Purim & Hanukkah
READINGS:
“The Story of Purim” (Goodman);
“Purim Themes and Theology” (MJL);
“Reading the Megillah” (Isaacs);
“The Book of Esther” (Berlin)
Book of Esther
“Hanukkah 101” (MJL);
“What You Need to Know About the Hanukkah Story” (Ross);
“Why the Maccabees Aren’t in the Bible” (Turkienicz)
TERMS:
dreidel
grogger
hamantashn
hanukkiah / menorah
latkes
Megillah
shpiel
sufganiyot
Tanakh
November 7: Memorial Days
READINGS:
“All the Holocaust Memorial Days Explained” (Harouse);
“The Three Weeks” (Roth);
Psalm 137
November 12: Other Festivals
READINGS:
“Rosh Chodesh 101” (MJL);
“What is Lag Ba’omer?” (Klagsbrun);
“Tu Bishvat, the Jewish ‘Birthday’ of the Trees” (MJL);
“Celebrating Romantic Love” (Silverman)
THE JEWISH LIFE
November 14: Entering the World
READINGS:
“Jewish Newborn Ceremonies 101” (MJL);
“The Brit Milah (Bris): What You Need to Know” (MJL);
“What’s in a Name?” (Mersack);
“What is an Upsherin, or Halaqah?” (Segal)
TERMS:
brit milah
mohel
sandek
simkhat bat / brit banot
tzedakah
November 19: Entering the Jewish World
READINGS:
“Bar and Bat Mitzvah 101” (MJL);
“Your Guide to Reading the Hebrew Bible” (MJL);
“The Torah” (MJL);
“The Making of a Torah Scroll” (Shekel);
“Jewish Texts” (MJL);
Genesis 17: 10-14;
Deuteronomy 31: 19
TERMS:
bar mitzvah / bat mitzvah
haftarah
mezuzah (as described in Torah)
parsha
sofer
tefillin (as described in Torah)
November 21: Entering the Jewish Life
READINGS:
“Conversion 101” (MJL);
“What is a Mikveh?” (Lockshin);
“How to Have an Aliyah” (Eisenberg);
“The Jewish Denominations” (MJL);
“Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Mizrahi, and Ethiopian Jews” (Solomin);
“The 22 Best Yiddish Words to Know” (MJL);
“List of English Words of Yiddish Origin” (Wikipedia)
TERMS:
aliyah (as in “making aliyah”)
anusim
beit din
Diaspora
Ladino
Yiddish
November 26: Marriage (and Divorce)
READINGS:
“Jewish Weddings 101” (MJL);
“Being a Guest at a Jewish Wedding: A Guide” (Lerner);
“The Ketubah, or Jewish Wedding Contract” (MJL);
“Jewish Divorce 101” (MJL);
“Liturgy, Ritual and Custom of Divorce” (MJL);
Genesis 29: 16-30;
Deuteronomy 7: 3-4;
Ezra 10: 10-11
TERMS:
agunah
chuppah
get
ketubah
mehitzah
mikveh
sofer
November 28: NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
December 3: Death and Mourning
READINGS:
“Jewish Death and Mourning 101” (MJL);
“Timeline of Jewish Mourning” (MJL);
“Afterlife and the Messiah 101” (MJL);
Genesis 3: 19
TERMS:
hevra kaddisha
onen
shivah
sheloshim
yahrzeit
December 5: The Point of It All
READINGS:
“Judaism After the Temple” (Salzberg);
“Israel in Jewish Thought 101” (MJL);
“The Jewish Connection to Jerusalem” (Snitkoff);
“Must a Jew Believe in God?” (Septimus);
“Is There a Jewish Afterlife?” (MJL)
TERM:
Olam Haba
December 10: Conclusions, exam review (No new reading)
December 12: Final Exam (11:30 am – 2:00 pm)
