Spring

The beginner’s course is the first of three sequential courses offered to students at the university. The course aims to introduce students to reading, writing and speaking Modern Hebrew. Toward that end all four-language skills are emphasized: comprehension of written and oral materials; reading of non-diacritical text; writing of directed sentences, paragraphs, and compositions; speaking. You will learn the Hebrew root pattern system, and by the end of the year you will have mastered the five (active) basic verb conjugations in both the past and present tenses (as well as simple future). This grammatical knowledge is complemented by an 800+ word vocabulary, which is presented with an eye toward the major syntactic structures, including the proper use of prepositions. At the end of the year, you will conduct short conversations in Hebrew; read materials designed to this level and write short compositions.

3D technology has transformed the way we interact with ancient artifacts and archaeological sites, from initial documentation to public outreach. This course will provide an overview of the various digital recording technologies available and will explore how they can be used for analysis, map making, creating virtual museums, and replicating ancient objects for public outreach and education. Participants will learn how to use photogrammetry to transform archaeological sites and artifacts into 3D models and 3D-printed objects. We will cover data collection using both cameras and drones, data processing, digital inking in Photoshop, 3D model export, online presentation, 3D printing and model painting. We will also consider the ways in which digital tools can be used to for public outreach, education, and to make archaeology more equitable and accessible. The course will provide valuable training to students interested in archaeology, artifact studies, conservation, museum collections, and digital humanities.

Continued reading of texts in the Ugaritic language, emphasis on prose texts.

Continue acquisition of basic Biblical Hebrew, emphasis on syntax; Increase familiarity with Biblical Hebrew poetry, emphasis on prophets; Continue acquisition of basic historical morphology; Reading ancient manuscripts.

This course assumes that students have full mastery of the grammatical and lexical content of the advanced level. The main objective is literary fluency. By the end of the course, students should have an excellent command of Hebrew. The course concentrates on the written language, especially scientific writing, as well as elements of Biblical Hebrew, literature from earlier periods and sophisticated journalistic writing. Students read the various Israeli daily newspapers as well as Israeli literature, scientific articles and legal documents (with the help of a dictionary) of varying lengths. They have a good command of synonyms and idiomatic Hebrew, and also understand the subtle differences between words. Their already substantial vocabularies now include many words from a wide variety of genres. Students considerably improve their ability to write long essays in Hebrew on a wide range of topics, incorporating idiomatic language.

The course, which builds upon Introductory Modern Hebrew (first year HEB) focuses on the acquisition of proficiency and communicative skills in Modern Hebrew.

The purpose of this class is to expand and strengthen beginners' Hebrew skills so that they become more self-assured, communicative, and versatile when they listen to, read, speak, and write Hebrew. It emphasizes both communicative and cultural themes and focuses on developing a rich and active vocabulary in several language domains.

Media Arabic is a course designed for the advanced student of Modern Standard Arabic. The course objective is to improve students' listening comprehension and writing skills. Students will advance toward this goal through listening to and reading a variety of authentic materials from Arabic Media (on politics, literature, economics, education, women, youth, etc.).

This sequence concentrates on the acquisition of speaking, reading, and aural skills in modern formal Arabic.

This course provides an introduction to the form of ancient Egyptian written and presumably spoken in the Egyptian New Kingdom (circa 1550-1069 BCE), in which literary and administrative texts and letters were written during the Egyptian Empire.

This Seminar for graduate students centers on the use of material and documentary sources for the study of early Islamic history (ca. 640-1000 CE), particularly looking at multiple religious groups, languages, and literary traditions. It will introduce the students to the study of documentary texts such as the Arabic papyri, the expansion of Arabic papyrology as a field, and the integration of literary and non-literary sources. Students will be encouraged and challenged to think of texts also as material objects. We will talk about sources and resources for the study of political, economic, social, and intellectual histories of the Islamicate world; in so doing, we will discuss also methods, problems, and perspectives.