Presented by the Israel Engagement Committee
Instructor: Jacob Meskin Ph.D.  - Academic Advisor and Senior Lecturer, Me'ah Program 
Cost: $225, financial aid is available  

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This is the second half of "Crucial Moments in Israeli History Through The Lens Of Short Stories".  In these two five-week courses we study famous short stories written by Israeli authors, accompanied by optional selections from historical background materials. We hope to gain appreciation of the stories as engaging and evocative works of literary art; yet at the same time, the stories can open up for us uniquely visceral and imaginative windows on many of the compelling events, and still unsettled debates, that have shaped the history of Israel.  

In the second five weeks this fall 2023, our topics will include: "Religion And Secularity In The State", "The Mizrachi Experience", "Reflections on The Aftermath of The 1948 War", "The Wars of 1967, 1973, and 1982-1985 (Lebanon)", and "Palestinian and Arab Israeli Stories and Perspectives".  

Our authors will include Shai Agnon, Amos Oz, Savyon Liebrecht, Aharon Megged, Mira Magen, Shimon Ballas, A.B. Yehoshua, Ayelet Tsabari, Sayed Kashua, Suad Amiry, and Yahya Yakhlif. (Biographical information is supplied on the authors being read each week.)   

 In the first five weeks of Part One this past spring, we started with the earliest waves of immigration and settlement, worked through the War of Independence (1947-1949), and then considered responses to the novelty of statehood, and to the dark past of the holocaust. 

For more information, contact Maureen Mintz

Please Note: 
Although various optional academic materials will be provided each week to shed light on the complex developments we will be studying, our central guide and companion for this journey will be Anita Shapira’s Israel: A History (2012).  You will need access to this book for the course.  It is available in many libraries, as well as being for sale online in both new and used editions.