Fall 2011

Writing Yourself Into History: Autobiography & Jewish Identity 
RELI 498K/2 - A (3 credits) J. 1600-1815 (cross-listed with RELI 698M/2 AA)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Prerequisite: Permission of the department         

This course will approach autobiography from a creative and scholarly standpoint.  We will explore the genre, from the particular position of Jewish writing and culture.  But students will have the opportunity, as part of their written work, to write their own autobiographical diary or memoir.  This will allow us to approach things historically, generically as well as personally.  The course meetings will include conventional lectures as well as some in-class discussion of students’ own writing.  Students of Jewish history, literature, creative writing and cultural studies will find their backgrounds intersect with the course’s approach.  This is a seminar-format course in which both upper-level undergraduate and graduate students will be participating.    

Literature and the Holocaust
RELI 331/2 - A (3 credits) T.J. 1015-1130 (cross-listed with ENGL398X)     

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:45-13:00

Religious, historical, literary, and political contexts have been applied to come to terms with the events of the Holocaust. All of these are relevant as students read important and provocative novels dealing with such issues as ethics, the relationship between art and history, the use of humour and popular cultural forms, as well as the way that storytelling helps direct our understanding of events that are often said to be incomprehensible. The wider impact of fiction dealing with the Holocaust on the popular media, including film, CD ROMs, video, and news reporting, is also considered Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under an RELI 398 number may not take this course for credit.

Fall 2010

Religion & Literature  
RELI 636A/2 AA  (498F)   

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Thursdays 16:00-18:15           

What are the strengths of literary works in understanding religious tradition?  In what way can literary texts stand as revisions or re-interpretations of religious texts and belief?  This course will apply these questions with regard to a number of religious traditions.  Readings will include canonical religious, literary and critical texts.  We will consider the way that certain provocative books have created social and political unrest, as well as examining the way that certain thinkers help us understand literary undertakings as expressions of religious modes of thought and creativity.                                                                       

Canadian Jewish Literatures
RELI 332/2 – A (3 credits)   

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:45-13:00

This course explores the Jewish voice in Canadian literature which can be seen to be the first opening toward a multicultural tradition in this country. Writers such as A.M. Klein, Mordecai Richler, Henry Kreisel, and Leonard Cohen created an English-language tradition of Jewish writing that is varied, provocative, and lively. Students look at novels, short stories, some poetry, memoir, and criticism. Students also consider non-Jewish authors, such as Gwethalyn Graham and Mavis Gallant, who were among the first to write about Jewish characters for an English-speaking Canadian audience. This course allows students to consider issues related to Canadian identity and culture, ethnic studies, and multiculturalism alongside literary questions. Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under an RELI 335 number may not take this course for credit.

Winter 2009

Literature and the Holocaust
RELI 331/4 - A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Mondays and Wednesdays 13:15-14:30

Religious, historical, literary, and political contexts have been applied to come to terms with the events of the Holocaust. All of these are relevant as students read important and provocative novels dealing with such issues as ethics, the relationship between art and history, the use of humour and popular cultural forms, as well as the way that storytelling helps direct our understanding of events that are often said to be incomprehensible. The wider impact of fiction dealing with the Holocaust on the popular media, including film, CD ROMS, video, and news reporting is also considered.

Religion and Literature (Advanced Topics in Religion)
RELI 498F/4 - AA (3 credits) (cross-listed with RELI 636A/4 AA and ENGL 498A)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Mondays 16:00-18:15
Prerequisite: Permission of the department

What are the strengths of literary works in understanding religious tradition? In what way can literary texts stand as revisions or re-interpretations of religious texts and belief? This course will apply these questions with regard to a number of religious traditions. Readings will include canonical religious, literary and critical texts. We will consider the way that certain provocative books have created social and political unrest, as well as examining the way that certain thinkers help us understand literary undertakings as expressions of religious modes of thought and creativity. This is a seminar-format course in which both upper-level undergraduate and graduate students will be participating.

Fall 2008

Introduction to Canadian Jewish Studies
RELI 334/2 - A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:45-13:00

Canadian Jewish Studies is often in the shadow of work done in Jewish Studies more broadly, and American and Israeli contexts provide competition in the effort to examine the specific character of Jewish culture in Canada. In this course we will consider the history of Jewish life in Canada, as well as the relationship between the Canadian mainstream and Jewish religious, cultural and private experience. We will make use of historical texts, fiction, films and music while also considering the changing impact of city life and Canada's multicultural ethic.  Students interested in cultural studies, literary studies, history, sociology and ethnic studies will find that their disciplinary approach is central to our discussions.

Winter 2008

Canadian Jewish Writing (Selected Topics in Canadian Jewish Studies)
RELI 335B/4 – A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Mondays and Wednesdays, 14:45-16:00

This course explores the Jewish voice in Canadian literature which can be seen to be the first opening toward a multicultural tradition in this country. Writers such as A.M. Klein, Mordecai Richler, Henry Kreisel, and Leonard Cohen created an English language tradition of Jewish writing in this country that is varied, provocative, and lively. We will look at novels, short stories, some poetry, memoir and criticism. We will also consider non-Jewish authors, such as Gwethalyn Graham and Mavis Gallant, who were among the first to write about Jewish characters for an English-speaking Canadian audience. This course will allow students to consider issues related to Canadian identity and culture, ethnic studies, and multiculturalism alongside literary questions.

Montreal Jewish Community
RELI 398E/4 - A (3 credits)

Instructor: Sonia Zylberberg
Mondays and Wednesdays: 16:15 - 17:30

The Montreal Jewish community is unique in terms of its ethnic, denominational, political, linguistic and cultural composition. This course will examine some of these institutions, along with the buildings, programmes, groups and individuals that are located here. While focusing on the continuing connections to both the Jewish and the larger societies, the historical context will serve as a framework within which they are situated.

Fall 2007

Literature and the Holocaust (Selected Topics in Religion)
RELI 398A/2 - A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 11:45-13:00

Religious, historical, literary, and political contexts have been applied to come to terms with the events of the Holocaust. All of these will be relevant as we read important and provocative novels dealing with such issues as ethics, the relationship between art and history, the use of humour and popular cultural forms, as well as the way that storytelling helps direct our understanding of events that are often said to be “incomprehensible.” We will also consider the wider impact of fiction dealing with the Holocaust on the popular media, including film, cd roms, video, and news reporting. Course texts will allow us to consider European and North American responses, well-and-little-known writers, as well as figures whose work has become both iconic and problematic.

Introduction to Canadian Jewish Studies (Selected Topics in Religion)
RELI 398W/2 - A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14:45-16:00

This course will provide the student with an introduction to a variety of themes, disciplines, media and personalities that have contributed to the body of work that exists, and who are changing the way we view Canadian Jewish history, literature, religious life and public culture. We will look at important historical texts, novels, films, and museums while also considering the changing impact of city life, religious practice and the multicultural ethic of this country. The outcome should be both a definitive sense of the particularity of Jewish culture in Canada, and with a sense of its relationship to the past and to other important cultures in the United States, Europe and Israel. 

Winter 2007

The Canadian Jewish Experience: Jewish Identity and Religious Life in Canada
RELI 498L/4-A (3 credits)
(cross-listed with:  RELI 685G/4 A)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Wednesdays: 16:00-18:15

This course will focus on the character of religious life in Jewish Canadian communities from the earliest settlement till today. It will make use of a number of disciplinary frameworks, including scholarly research, literature and film. Key areas of study will include: Dr. Ira Robinson’s biographical studies of early religious figures; social history regarding early urban settlement and that of rural Prairie colonies; literary portraits, including A.M. Klein’s much-celebrated The Second Scroll; urban geographical studies of such transforming areas as Toronto’s Bathurst Street; the role of religion in Holocaust memorialization; and the contemporary impact of Chasidic communal and religious life.

This seminar format course is open to both upper level undergraduate and graduate students.

Religion and Film
RELI 354/4-A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays & Thursdays: 14:45-16:00

This course examines films that deal with religious themes-explicitly or implicitly-and provides an opportunity to analyse the language of film as a form of narrative through which cultural and religious ideas are transmitted. Note: Students who have received credit for this topic under a RELI 398 number may not take credit for this course.

A Special Compact Graduate Course in Canadian Jewish Studies and Diaspora Studies
Diasporic Culture in Theory and Practice: The Case of Canadian Jews
RELI 698H/4-AA (3 credits)

Instructors: Dr. Richard Menkis and Michael Alpert
(Emmy award winning musical director)
Daily: 10:30 - 13:00 (Term Dates: January 15th - January 26th, 2007)

Presented by the Concordia Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies and the Department of Religion, this course will explore the theoretical literature on diaspora, and examine how the Jewish diaspora can serve as a paradigm for other diasporas.  It will focus on the case of Canadian Jews, who, at various stages in their history, have asserted the traditional longing for the Land of Israel , alongside their attachment to other lost homes, including the pre-expulsion Iberian Peninsula; Great Britain ; towns in Poland and elsewhere from which they came; Iraq and North Africa .  As part of our reflection on the way these imaginary homelands have been represented, we will look at the contemporary re-imagining of Eastern Europe under the headings "Klezmer" and "Ashkenaz" in the creation of new Yiddish culture.  For the latter material, the second half of the course will be co-taught with Michael Alpert, New York based musicologist and Klezmer performer. The course will make use of a broad array of texts including cookbooks, folksongs, memoirs, literature and ritual.

Instructors

Dr. Richard Menkis is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia , cross-appointed to the Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies and the Department of History . He has recently co-edited, with Norm Ravvin, The Canadian Jewish Studies Reader (2004) and has served as the Canadian co-editor, with Harold Troper, of the second edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica, to be released in December 2006. He has published in the areas of antisemitism and Canadian Jewish cultural history, and is currently working on an extended study of the writing of Canadian Jewish history.

Michael Alpert, NYC, USA, (voice, accordion, violin, guitar, percussion) has been a pioneering figure in the current renaissance of East European Jewish klezmer music for over 25 years, winning an Emmy Award for musical direction of "Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House". Alpert is active as a scholar, producer and educator in the Jewish ethnomusicology and cultural history fields. He is translator and co-editor of Jewish Instrumental Folk Music (Syracuse University Press, 2001), and has taught and lectured at Oxford University, Columbia University, Yale University, and the New England Conservatory of Music.

Fall 2006

Literature and the Holocaust
RELI 398A/2-A (3 credits)

Instructor: Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 14:45-16:00

Religious, historical, literary, and political contexts have been applied to come to terms with the events of the Holocaust. All of these will be relevant as we read important and provocative novels dealing with such issues as ethics, the relationship between art and history, the use of humour and popular cultural forms, as well as the way that storytelling helps direct our understanding of events that are often said to be “incomprehensible.” We will also consider the wider impact of fiction dealing with the Holocaust on the popular media, including film, cd roms, video, and news reporting. Course texts will allow us to consider European and North American responses, well-and-little-known writers, as well as figures whose work has become both iconic and problematic.

Winter 2006

Judaism in Canada
RELI 498/4-AA (3 credits) (cross-listed with RELI 685B/4)

Instructor: Professor Ira Robinson
Tuesdays: 18:00-20:15 (Term Dates: January 10th - April 11th, 2006)
Location: Concordia University, SGW Campus, CL 240 (1665 St. Catherine Street West)
Prerequisite: Permission of the Department (Religion)

This course will examine the diversity of interpretation and practice of Judaism in Canada from the beginnings of the Canadian Jewish community in the eighteenth century to the present. It will explore the changing roles of religious leadership and synagogues within Canadian Jewry. It will do so by paying attention to developments of Judaic expression in the modern era, as well as by understanding major trends in the development of religion in Canada in general.

This is a seminar-format course in which both upper-level undergraduate andf graduate students will be participating.

Montreal Jewish Community
RELI 398E/4-AA (3 credits)

Instructor: Sonia Zylberberg
Mondays: 18:00-20:15 (Term Dates: January 9th - April 10th, 2006)
Location: Concordia University, SGW Campus, Hall 535

The Montreal Jewish community is unique in terms of its ethnic, denominational, political, linguistic and cultural composition. These many different groups and communities have resulted in a mix that is dynamic and vibrant, and have produced institutions that are world-renowned and have no equivalents elsewhere. This course will examine some of these institutions, along with the buildings, programmes, groups and individuals that are located here. While focusing on the continuing connections to both the Jewish and the larger societies, the historical context will serve as a framework within which they are situated. Similarily, an emphasis on the central bodies will not preclude listening to marginal and minority voices as well. To accomplish all this, we will use a variety of media, including written texts, films, guest speakers, field trips and ritual participation.

Winter 2005

RELI 335B/4-A (3 credits)
Canadian Jewish Writing

Taught by Dr. Norman Ravvin
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 14:45-16:00
Room CL-245

The Jewish voice in Canadian literature can be seen to be the first opening toward a multicultural tradition in this country. Writers such as A.M. Klein, Mordecai Richler, Henry Kreisel, and Leonard Cohen created an English language tradition of Jewish writing in this country that is varied, provocative, and lively.

We will look at novels, short stories, some poetry, memoir and criticism, to gain a sense of what led to the development of this tradition; what its influences were; and what its impact has been on Canada more broadly. We will also consider non-Jewish authors, such as Gwethalyn Graham and Mavis Gallant, who were among the first to write about Jewish characters for an English-speaking Canadian audience. This course will allow students to consider issues related to Canadian identity and culture, ethnic studies, and multiculturalism alongside literary questions.

RELI 498X/4-AA
Rebellion and Modern Jewish Identity

Taught by Dr. Norman Ravvin
Prerequisite: Permission of the department.
Thursdays,18:00-20:15
Room LS-418-2

This course will focus on important and varied developments in modern Jewish culture and religious thought, which can be viewed as major upheavals, counter- traditions, or radicalisms in contrast with the Jewish mainstream. Our key subjects will include: Chasidism, Zionism, Yiddishism, Communism, the counterculture, and the resurgence of contemporary orthodoxy. Among these are developments largely intrinsic to Jewish communal and cultural life, while others are linked with the broader cultural scene, whether that be the political context of nineteenth-century Europe or the social upheavals of the late 1960s and 1970s in America and abroad.

Our challenge will be to understand these movements, their motivations, and to examine what they reflect about Jewish identity and culture as changing phenomena. We will read scholarly works, novels, journalism, and view documentary film to gain as clear a sense as we can of how the different developments constitute a particular kind of rebellion. The broad geographical focus will include Poland, France, Russia, pre-1948 Palestine, America and Canada. There will also be an effort to understand how certain secular radicalisms stand in for religious affiliation. This is a seminar-format course in which both upper-level undergraduate and graduate students will be participating.

Fall 2004

RELI 407B / 2A
Literature and the Holocaust

Taught by Dr.Norman Ravvin,
Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:45-13:00

Religious, historical, literary and political contexts have been applied to come to terms with the events of the Holocaust. All of these elements will be relevant as we read important and provocative novels dealing with such issues as ethics, the role of history in the events of the war, the use of humour and popular cultural forms, as well as the way that storytelling helps direct our understanding of events that are often said to be “incomprehensible”. We will also consider the wider impact of fiction dealing with the Holocaust on the popular media, including film, CD ROMs, video, and news reporting.

Winter 2004

RELI 398F/4 AA
The Montreal Yiddish Experience

Taught by Rebecca Margolis, Visiting Scholar from Columbia University (New York City)
Mondays 18:00-20:15

This course will present an overview of Yiddish culture in Montreal. It will examine the individuals and institutions that were key to the development of Yiddish culture in Montreal, and will cover the following topics: (1) the history of Yiddish-speaking Jews in Montreal; (2) the Yiddish press; (3) the Yidishe Folksbibliotek (Jewish People's Library); (4) the Yiddish schools; (5) the Yiddish literary milieu; (6) the Yiddish theatre; (7) and other institutions of Yiddish life. (The course is open to all students regardless of their knowledge of Yiddish.)

The course will consist of two parts: a seminar-format class and a lecture series. The first seven weeks of the semester will be devoted to presentation of background on the above-mentioned topics and discussion of assigned related reading materials. Registered students will alternate in presenting their responses to the material. Students will submit a short written response paper after each session and author two longer papers for the course: a historiographical/ bibliographical paper and a work of original research on a topic related to the course.

The final six weeks of the course will consist of a guest lecture series. The series will feature participants and experts in the field of Montreal Yiddish culture. The lecturers will include local archivists, historians, literary critics, scholars, activists, educators, Yiddish poets and children of Yiddish poets, and others.