SYLLABUS

Fall 2005

SYD 4606 WORLD JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Class #: 97321, Section B51C

and for graduate credit

SYD 5607 ADVANCED WORLD JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Class #: 97322, Section B51C

Wednesdays, 3:30-6:15 PM

Library, Room 170

Dr. Abraham D. Lavender, Professor

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, FIU, Biscayne Bay Campus

E-mail address: abelavender@aol.com

Website: www.fiu.edu/~lavender

Brief note on the professor: His doctoral dissertation (1972) was on generational changes in Jewish identity in the United States. He currently is president of The Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (see the professor=s website and www.cryptojews.com). He also is a member of Temple Beth Tov in West Miami, a small conservative synagogue on Calle Ocho which is a 50-year old temple founded by Ashkenazim but which also has a large number of Latins who have returned and/or converted to Judaism, and which integrates Sephardic and Ashkenazic perspectives. Although the course is taught from an entirely secular and sociological perspective, the course also will integrate both Ashkenazi and Sephardi perspectives.

Although modeled on a course previously taught by this professor at the University of Maryland (in the 1970s) and the University of Miami (in the 1980s), this is a relatively new course at Florida International University, being taught for the first time in Fall 2003 at the Biscayne Bay Campus and now for the second time in Fall 2005. It can be taken for undergraduate or graduate credit. Graduate students are required to do a research paper and make a presentation to the class. Undergraduate students can do so for extra credit, but it is not required. For all students, there will be one test near the middle of the semester, and a second test at the end of the semester. Each test will have a number of short essay questions covering both readings and class lectures/discussions. Attendance will be taken, and the professor reserves the right to lower a grade if more than one-fourth of classes are missed. Depending on the number of students in the class, and the undergraduate-graduate mix in the class, some of these plans might be modified. This will be discussed the first day of class.

The first part of the course will deal with major issues such as different ways of defining Jewish identity, population size, languages, types of religious identity, ways of interacting with the larger society, etc. After this part is completed, attention will turn to specific communities throughout the world, with more specific attention being given to population changes, concepts, demographics, etc., for each country and part of the world. The major topics in the first part of the course will be looked at in more detail when discussing specific communities.

Purpose of the Course

Jewish communities throughout the world represent a great diversity of patterns of interaction with larger societies, and exemplify a great diversity of sociological principles of interaction ranging from total assimilation to extermination. In addition to obtaining specific sociological knowledge of Jewish communities throughout the world, a knowledge of theoretical approaches`` to the Jewish Diaspora helps students to understand principles of minority-majority group interactions and to better understand possible future changes in these communities. More attention to world Jewish communities also can help to understand in more depth current events in the Middle East involving Israel and its Arab neighbors, how and why Jewish communities in the Diaspora relate to this conflict, and how other nations in the world relate to the Middle East conflict. The increasing interaction between different parts of the world means that students have a special need to have more in-depth knowledge of different parts of the world as well as theoretical knowledge to better understand interactions between countries and groups.

Topics to be Covered

Following are the topics to be covered:

I. An analysis of Jewish communities throughout the world:

A. Settlement patterns: brief origins and reasons for settlement

B. Population sizes, changes over time, and reasons for changes

C. Effects of major events such as the Inquisition, regional changes (trade routes, local wars, etc.), the Holocaust, and Israel independence

II. Comparisons and contrasts between Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Overview of major languages spoken by Jewish communities throughout the world in the past and today. Comparisons and contrasts among Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Liberal Jews. Analysis of different aspects of Jewish identity: religious, cultural, ethnic, national, and genetic.

III. Analysis of the overall relationship between Israel and the Jewish Diaspora

IV. Demographic analysis of selected communities including a brief history, religious identity, social status, political status, gender issues, family structure and intermarriage, position on assimilation-pluralism continuum, and relations with the larger society. The time devoted to each community will vary depending on size, importance to world events, and a goal of including examples from all regions of the world. Special attention will be given to major communities such as Israel, the United States, Argentina, England, France, and the former Soviet Union. Other areas of interest will include the Caribbean, Cuba, Spain and Portugal, Germany and central Europe, Eastern Europe, Morocco and other North African areas, Turkey, Greece, and other Balkan countries, the Middle East, Iran and Iraq, Indian, China and Japan, and selected areas in Africa.

V. Special topics of current concern, for example:

A. Little-known Jewish communities throughout the world

B. Crypto-Jews, descendants of exiles from Spain and Portugal

C. Understanding various ALost Tribes of Jews,@ e.g., in India and Africa

D. Emerging findings and debates on genetic (DNA) approaches to Jewish research as related to social factors, including the ACohen gene,@ the Sephardic Diaspora, and genetic comparisons of Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Kurdish Jews, Palestinians, and a number of other Middle Eastern, European, and Far Eastern groups

VI. (For Graduate Students): Expertise in one community. Selection of one Jewish community in the world, with a class presentation covering that community=s background, development, and demographic characteristics, and explaining that community=s current status, minority-majority interaction, and prediction of future development of the community. It is possible that a special topic can be chosen instead of a specific country.

Books

Following are the three required books:

(1) Sephardic & Mizrahi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Times, edited by Zion Zohar. This book gives detailed aspects of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry, but also shows how Sephardic-Oriental communities compare and contrast with Ashkenazi communities in experiences, perspectives, practices, etc.

(2) Fragile Branches: Travels Through the Jewish Diaspora, by James R. Ross, 2000. This book discusses Jews groups in Uganda, Peru, India, the Brazilian Amazon, Recife in Brazil, and Israel (the Karaites). It shows the great diversity of Jews throughout the world.

(3) Home Lands: Portraits of the New Jewish Diaspora, by Larry Tye, 2001. This book discusses seven Jewish communities throughout the world, showing Israel-Diaspora relations, generational changes, assimilation versus maintaining identity, and trends in Jewish life.

(4) Required readings also will include some special articles, etc., will be assigned during the semester. Included, in addition to others to be announced during the semester, are:

(a) Various maps showing Jewish diasporas throughout history (based largely on Martin Gilbert).

(b) Abraham D. Lavender, AArabic-Islamic and Spanish-Mediterranean Influences on the >Jewish Mind=: A Comparison to European-Christian Influences.@ The Journal of Ethnic Studies, Volume 8, Number 4, Winter 1981-1982, pages 25-35.

(c) Raphael Patai, ALanuages@ in Tents of Jacob, 1972.

(d) Abraham D. Lavender, ASephardi, Ashkenazi, and Kurdish Jewish DNA Patterns: Comparisons to Each Other and to Non-Jews.@ HaLapid: Journal of Crypto-Judaic Studies, Volume XII, Issue 2, Spring 2005, pages 1, 6, 7.

(e) Abraham D. Lavender, ADNA and the Sephardic Diaspora: Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Europe.@ HaLapid: Journal of Crypto-Judaic Studies, Volume X, Winter 2003 (December 2003), pages 1-2, 6-7.

(f) Abraham D. Lavender, ASearching for Crypto-Jews in France: From Spanish Jews to French Huguenots.@ HaLapid: Journal of Crypto-Judaic Studies, Volume 5, Number 1, Spring 1997, pages 4-8.

(g) Abraham D. Lavender, ASephardic Political Identity: Jewish and Cuban Interaction in Miami Beach.@ Contemporary Jewry, Volume 14, 1993, pages116-132.

Other books covering Jewish communities throughout the world and very relevant to this course are the classic Tents of Jacob: The Diaspora Yesterday and Today, by Raphael Patai, 1971; Diaspora: An Inquiry into the Contemporary Jewish World, by Howard M. Sachar, 1985; Across the Sabbath River: In Search of a Lost Tribe of Israel, by Hillel Halkin, 2002; Jewish Communities in Exotic Places, by Ken Blady, 2000; and Jews in Places You Never Thought Of, edited by Karen Primack, 1998. There are a number of other books which will be noted in class.