Jewish Studies Summer 2025 Seminar

Image: Photograph of Spertus Facade by Marc Evans

Summer Seminar Courses | Make your selection by April 25, 2025

Dear Jewish Studies Students:

This summer, learn in person with colleagues from across North America and beyond during a five-day seminar in Chicago.

Our summer courses span Biblical times through the Early Modern era to the present and dive into text study, historical exploration, visual arts, and sociology. Taught by four members of our acclaimed faculty, these courses fulfill degree requirements for both Master’s and Doctoral-level students. They also provide opportunities for connection, discussion, and rich learning with peers of varied backgrounds and areas of expertise.

Registration is now open. If you have questions or would like to discuss your choice of courses, please email Scarlett Andes, Manager of Student & Faculty Services, at sandes@spertus.edu.

Sincerely,

Keren Fraiman signature
Dr. Keren E. Fraiman
Dean & Chief Academic Officer
Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership

Please note that the preferred registration deadline is April 7, and the final registration deadline is April 25.

Summer Seminar | In Person at Spertus Institute | June 8-12, 2025

Four course options: Two morning courses and two afternoon courses

Morning Courses:

These courses will meet at the following times: Sunday, June 8: 1pm-4:30pm, Monday-Wednesday 9am-1pm, Thursday 8am-12pm.

Creation and Eternity

Taught by Dr. Erik Dreff
Course 4159 | 3 quarter-hour credits
Fulfills MAJS 2nd Level Core or Elective, DSJS Text or Elective, and DHL Text or Elective Core Reading Course

From the moment the God of the Hebrew Bible was confronted by the God of Greek Philosophy, Jewish thinkers sought to defend their personal God of History, the One who created the world through will and deliberately chose them, against the sweeping logic of an impersonal infinite First Cause of Existence. This course will thus be an exploration of this encounter as it variously occurred throughout Jewish History, from the Bible to the 21st Century.

Focusing on key thinkers and texts – Philo of Alexandria, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Crescas, Spinoza, and Rosenzweig, this course will come to engage numerous concepts affected by the many arguments produced in this historic debate, including: the meaning of life, the existence and nature of freewill and the afterlife, the concept of Law itself, and much more.

Jewish Continuity and Jewish Anxiety: A Sociological Perspective

Taught by Dr. David N. Gottlieb
Course 4364 | 3 quarter-hour credits
Fulfills MAJS Elective, DSJS Elective, and DHL Core (Jewish Community: Historical and Sociological Developments) or Elective Core Reading Course

In this course, students will review and analyze demographic and sociological studies of 20th- and early 21st-century Jewish communal developments, primarily in the US and Canada, to ask: How does sociological theory both illuminate and influence the changes in Jewish communities? What cultural and institutional priorities inflect definitions of Jewish identity? How does sociology reflect and influence anxiety over Jewish continuity?

Students in this course will first acquaint themselves with the most relevant schools of sociological theory — principally Structural Functionalism, Social Constructivism, and Symbolic Interactionism — before going on to explore the above questions through course readings and written assignments.

Afternoon Courses:

These courses will meet at the following times: Sunday, June 8: 5pm-7:30pm, Monday-Wednesday 2pm-6pm, Thursday 1pm-5pm.

Early Modern History

Taught by Dr. Shai Zamir
Course 3504 | 3 quarter-hour credits
Fulfills MAJS Core (Early Modern Jewish Experiences), DSJS Elective, and DHL Elective Core Reading Course

The early modern period was a transformative era that shaped many cultural trends and social developments still present in Jewish life today. In this course, we will delve into the key aspects of the Jewish experience between the 15th to the 18th centuries using both historiographical literature and historical records. We will examine the formation of new Jewish communities, particularly following the 1492 expulsion from Spain. We will also explore the new urban organization resulting from the establishment of Jewish quarters in the Italian peninsula and beyond.

Intellectual trends, such as print culture and new forms of mysticism, will be evaluated within the broader context of European influences. In addition to cultural exchange, we will focus on violent conflicts between Jews and Christians, including blood libels and the Spanish Inquisition. Finally, the course will address various facets of Jewish society, from impoverished Jews and court Jews to Jewish “heretics” like Spinoza and messianic figures such as Sabbatai Tzvi.

Visual Arts and Holocaust Representation

Taught by Dr. Brett Ashley Kaplan
Course 3355.2 | 3 quarter-hour credits
Fulfills MAJS Elective, DSJS Elective, and DHL Elective Core Reading Course

This seminar discusses how space and the visual arts intersect with memorialization of the Holocaust. Throughout the course we will look at artworks, theories, and memorials to discover different ways that the spaces associated with the Nazi genocide impacted means of memorialization. Natural spaces can sometimes reclaim the landscape, growing over, covering up the remains of what was there—former shtetls, former concentration camps, former Jewish cemeteries. But there is also a countertendency to build vast monumental structures that can sometimes ossify rather than encourage memory. In this course we will explore how space, the visual arts, and memory intersect, impede, or flow into one another.

Course registration for Summer 2025 courses is currently open.

Course Registration Details

Course registration is for current Spertus Institute Jewish Studies students. Please review course details before completing your registration.

Before registering for courses, students must be admitted to one of Spertus Institute’s Jewish Studies graduate programs — or be accepted as a non-degree student who meets prerequisite requirements and wishes to enroll in courses for credit. If you are interested in applying to become a Spertus Jewish Studies graduate student, please contact Amie Barrish at abarrish@spertus.edu.

April 7, 2025 — Preferred Registration Deadline
April 25, 2025 — Final Registration Deadline

Course Payment

Spertus Institute welcomes course registration from students with accounts in good standing. This means:

Student’s unpaid account balance is less than $2,500 (roughly two courses).
The most recent payments on past due balances are within the last six months.

Students who do not meet these criteria will need to pay down their balance prior to registering for any additional courses.

Course Costs

For MA in Jewish Studies (MAJS) Students
$400 per quarter-hour credit ($1200 per 3qh course)

For DS in Jewish Studies (DSJS) and Doctor of Hebrew Letters (DHL) Students
$475 per quarter-hour credit ($1425 per 3qh course)

A non-refundable $25 fee is charged on all course registration forms.

Refund policies vary by course format. Please review the specific policy listed on your course registration form.

Course auditing can be arranged on a select basis with approval from the Dean. Audited course tuition is $350 per 3qh course.

Questions

For questions relating to Jewish Studies courses or registration, including which course to register for next, please contact Scarlett Andes at sandes@spertus.edu.