Course Description
Examination of the global array of minority Jewish communities—ancient, medieval, and modern—that have flourished outside the main centers of Jewish settlement. Course aims to expand our understanding of Jewish history by focusing on underrepresented or lesser-known communities, along with their distinctive languages, customs, and religious traditions.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will have the opportunity to read texts in the original languages in which they are competent (e.g., Hebrew, Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish) and write a research paper that more deeply explores the textual or cultural traditions of a particular historical community.
Athena Title
Minority Jewish Communities
Semester Course Offered
Offered every even-numbered year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will have a basic understanding of the history behind the Jewish diaspora, major migrations, and primary communities.
- By the end of this course, students will students will have knowledge of the diversity of minority Jewish communities that have existed in the last 2000 years.
- By the end of this course, students will understand the ways in which the languages, customs, traditions, canons, and cultures differ among these Jewish communities.
- By the end of this course, students will have knowledge of how different Jewish minority communities related to the non-Jewish communities around them.
- By the end of this course, students will understand how the diversity of Jewish communities applies to the present time.
Topical Outline
- Introduction and Historical Background to the Jewish Diaspora
- Diversity in the Roman and Persian Empires
- Medieval European and North African Communities
- Ashkenazic Communities
- Sephardic Communities
- Italian and French Communities
- Jews in India and China
- Central Asia Communities (including Karaites)
- Ethiopian Jewry
- Diversity in Modern Israel and the U.S.
