JUST 3465 Ashkenazic Heritage: Poland, Russia, and Beyond
3 hours; 3 credits
Poland and Russia, home to Ashkenazic Jews for 800 years. East European Jews? religious and cultural traditions. Economic basis of Jewish life. Hasidism and its opponents. Acculturation, modernization, social and religious change. Modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature. New Jewish politics of Assimilationism, Territorialism, Zionism, Bundism, Folkism, Agudas Israel. Mass migration to America, 1880-1924. First World War and revolution. Life and struggle between the World Wars. The Holocaust. Soviet Empire during Cold War. Soviet Jewry Movement, mass migration, collapse of Communism.
Prerequisite: Sophomore status or higher; or permission of Chair.