The Seventh Online NGFP Course
Are Jews a Nation?
Moderated by David N. Myers , Professor and Director, UCLA Center for Jewish Studies
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ABOUT THE COURSE The week of June 15, 2009 the Nahum Goldmann Alumni Online Magazine will conduct its seventh online course. In our current age of globalization, one can reasonably ask: do Jews represent a coherent and sustainable group? Is there a single Jewish nation or people? In what ways does it exist? How can we fortify it? To gain traction on these questions, this course will delve into the past to explore different conceptions of Jewish group identity from the late nineteenth century to the present. We will begin by studying a trio of key thinkers from the Golden Age of Jewish nationalism (1897-1933)—Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha-am and Simon Dubnow, who offered diverse and robust notions of Jewish group identity. We will then discuss an interesting, though largely neglected, mid-20th century thinker, Simon Rawidowicz (1897-1957). In our last session, we will examine whether the State of Israel represents the culmination and totality of Jewish collective identity in today’s world. The 4-lesson course is a guided reading of various articles on the topic, led by Professor David Myers. The course is free, and is conducted via email listserve over a period of four weeks. The discussion "thread" will also be viewable online by date, author, and topic at this url: http://lists.ngfp.org/pipermail/ngfp-bookclub/. READING MATERIAL The Professor has provided us with various articles he has written on this topic. Before each weekly lesson, please read the text and think about the questions Professor Myers has provided. You may submit reactions and further questions via the email list and Professor Myers will respond. |