Drawing on film, short stories, television programs, and popular song videos (all in translation), and also taking advantage of helpful scholarly literature, this course will explore many facets of the contemporary cultural experience in Israel.
Long-time Jewish educator and scholar, Dr. Jacob Meskin, developed the 10-week course and partnered with Hebrew College’s Me’ah program to offer it via Zoom this fall. With very positive feedback from the fall course, we are offering “Diverse Cultures of Contemporary Israel” this winter-spring, on Thursday mornings starting February 10.
Some of the identities and topics explored:
Religious and secular Jews
Different Kinds of Jewish culture (Ashkenazi, Mizrachi, Russian, Ethiopian, etc.)
Israeli Arab Identities (Muslim, Christian, Druze, etc.)
Palestinian intellectual and cultural perspectives on Palestinian identity
How Changing Conceptions of Gender Affect Identity
The multiplicity of LGBTQ identities in Israel
Two students shared about their experiences
“It took real creative genius to merge the diverse cultures into a coherent presentation week by week. I found groups like the Yemenite Jews both historically and contemporarily fascinating. Ethiopian Jews are studied from the land they came from and how the Ashkenazi influence affects their living today in Israel. This course stimulates your thinking and I highly recommend it.”
“The opportunity to grapple with the Israeli/Palestinian issue was especially welcome. There are so few places to have an intelligent, reasonably informed conversation about that. And we had more than one opportunity and through more than one lens.”
To learn more about “The Diverse Cultures of Contemporary Israel: Exploring A Multiplicity of Identities Through Story and Film” email meah@hebrewcollege.edu or visit here. To see the list of all Hebrew College Community Education offerings visit here.
