JWST 9 Jews and Judaism in the Americas

This course is defining America as the hemisphere – Jews in North, Central and South America – with attention to landmark events, ideas, controversies, religious innovations, and institutions that emerged from the 17th century to the present. We begin in Iberia: the 1390s riots against Jews and the subsequent mass Jewish conversions to Christianity, followed by suspicions over the “new Christians” – Conversos – that led to their investigation by the Inquisition and ultimately the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497. We’ll look at the migrations of Jews who converted to Christianity and were forced to conceal their identity (and ask if concealment is a mark of the modern) and the impact on the Jewish community of those who returned to Judaism. The course will combine primary and secondary sources, theological as well as political texts.

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Jewish Studies