Hebrew and Judaic Studies (Bryn Mawr)
Department Website:
https://www.brynmawr.edu/hebrew
Modern Hebrew language instruction is available at Bryn Mawr through the elementary level. Students may take Intermediate Modern Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania. At Swarthmore College biblical Hebrew is offered in a two-semester sequence through the first-year level, and additional reading in Classical Jewish texts is available in directed reading, one-half-credit courses. At Haverford, Judaic Studies courses are offered by the Department of Religion. Bryn Mawr also offers several courses which complement Haverford’s offerings in Judaic Studies. All of these courses are listed in the Tri-Co Course Guide under the heading “Hebrew and Judaic Studies.”
Faculty
Grace Morgan Armstrong
Eunice M. Schenck 1907 Professor and Acting Chair of French and Francophone Studies and Program Director of Middle Eastern Languages
Courses
HEBR B001 ELEMENTARY HEBREW (1.0 Credit)
Nechama Sataty
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This year-long course is designed to teach beginners the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in Modern Hebrew. It will provide students with knowledge of the Hebrew writing system – its alphabet (Square letters for reading, cursive for writing) and vocalization – as well as core aspects of grammar and syntax. Diverse means will be utilized: Textbook, supplementary printed material, class conversations, presentations by students of dialogues or skits that they prepare in advance, and written compositions. This course, followed by Semesters 3 and 4 taken elsewhere, lays a foundation for reading of Modern Hebrew literary works.
(Offered: Fall 2025)
HEBR B002 ELEMENTARY HEBREW (1.0 Credit)
Nechama Sataty
Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)
This is a continuation of HEBR B001, the year-long course is designed to teach beginners the skills of reading, writing, and conversing in Modern Hebrew. It will provide students with knowledge of the Hebrew writing system – its alphabet (Square letters for reading, cursive for writing) and vocalization – as well as core aspects of grammar and syntax. Diverse means will be utilized: Textbook, supplementary printed material, class conversations, presentations by students of dialogues or skits that they prepare in advance, and written compositions. This course, followed by Semesters 3 and 4 taken elsewhere, lays a foundation for reading of Modern Hebrew literary works.
(Offered: Spring 2026)
HEBR B271 TOPICS IN JUDAIC STUDIES: HISTORIES OF JEWISH IDENTITY (1.0 Credit)
What makes one Jewish? Is it a matter of religion, ethnicity, race, nationality, culture, or kinship? Or, conversely, is being Jewish a symbolic, universal identity, associated with any person or collective that encounters persecution and dispossession? Must a Jew be religious? Must a Jew be a Zionist? Can a Jewish person be antisemitic? Can one choose to be Jewish, or not? In the modern world, with the emergence of both secularization and religious fundamentalism, internationalism and nation-states, capitalism and communism, the primary marker of Jew or Jewish as a member of a stateless, marginalized minority has undergone a fundamental revision. This course brings together historical and literary narratives that strive to answer these and related questions. We will engage myriad voices, Jewish and non-Jewish—including your own. Traversing three hundred years of Jewish history, we will encounter communities, individuals, and collectives across Europe, North America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Israel/Palestine. We aim to recognize not only the multiplicity of Jewish identities, but how such identities can be amalgamated, negotiated and reformed in different historical and cultural contexts.
(Offered: Fall 2025)