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HEBREW 302 INTRODUCTION
TO HEBREW LITERATURE
Instructor: Bilha Mirkin
bmirkin@wisc.edu
Classes: Tuesday & Thursday at 1:00-2:15 p.m
Short Introduction (pp. 1 - 7)
UNIT 1 Savyon Liebrecht (pp. 8 - 27)
Short Story, “The Engagement Party of Hayuta”
Deals with the attitude of Israelis toward the Holocaust and Holocaust survivors.
Background readings
UNIT 2 Amnon Shamush (pp. 28 - 64)
a.) Background readings
b.) Story, “Pictures from Elementary School”
c.) Story, “Between 2 Cities”
The two stories deal with the absorption of “eastern” immigrant in Israel.
d.) Poem, “Anna and I”
UNIT 3 Poems from the Passover Hagadah - The celebration of human freedom. (pp. 65 - 73)
UNIT 4
a.) Chapter 22 in Genesis-The Binding of Isaac (The Story of the Akedah) (pp. 74 - 108)
An artistic, psychological, and ideological reading of the text.
b.) Yehuda Amichai (pp. 109 - 124)
Poem, “The Hero of the Akedah” (The Binding)
An aesthetic analysis of the text which raises the question of the role and responsibility of politicians and parents for sending young people to their deaths in wars. The poem is based on the biblical story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son.
UNIT 5 Peace Poems (pp. 125 - 133)
We read and sing seven poems which were put to music in celebration of Israel’s Independence Day.
UNIT 6 The Pain of War (pp. 134 - 138)
a.) Story, “Ups and Downs” by Lea Kohn
b.) Excerpts of a story, “A Journey of a Father” by Aharon Megged
UNIT 7 Jerusalem (pp. 139 - 155)
a.) In Jewish sources
b.) “How wonderful is Jerusalem” from Amos Oz’s My Michael
Amos Oz is a prominent Israeli author who was a recent nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
c.) 2 poems by Yehuda Amichai
UNIT 8 Odds and Ends
a.) Slang conversation (pp. 156)
b.) Religious dichotomy (pp. 157-158
c.) Useful phrases used in discourse (particles, adverbial expressions, etc.) (pp. 159-162)
All of these units weave together a
tapestry which represent prominent writers and the
most prominent concerns of Israeli society.