This course is no longer offered

10249 Anti-Semitism

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Modern History of the Jewish People

Prerequisites: none

Authors: Yossi Goldstein, Lea Roth-Gerson, Philip Ben-Nathan, Yaakov Hess, Leah Leshem

Does modern anti-Semitism build upon traditional hatred of Jews or is it a new phenomenon with unique characteristics? How is anti-Semitism related to racism? to the rise of nationalism and capitalism? to the struggle for emancipation? These are some of the questions addressed by this course, which examines the attitudes towards Jews in different times and places: ancient Rome, the Middle Ages under Christian and Moslem rule, and the modern era – from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution until World War I.

Topics: Problems in studying anti-Semitism; Hatred of Jews in antiquity, and in the early and late Middle Ages; Islam and the Jews; Hatred of Jews between the Reformation and the Emancipation; Hatred of Jews in Poland and Russia; Emancipation and anti-Semitism; Modern anti-Semitism in Germany, 1850-1900; Anti-Semitism and racism (based on a translation of Toward the Final Solution: A History of European Racism, by G. L. Mosse).