Teaching Judaism in Three Weeks: Selectivity and the Position of the Instructor

I write this essay with the hope of opening a discussion with colleagues about the difficult choices one makes when teaching about Judaism in an introductory-level comparative religion course. What is most important to include, when what we teach in one course may be all a person ever learns about Judaism? This question is a variation of what we ask for every course we teach, always making tiny selections from vast resources. Yet the selection process is especially challenging in such a course because of conflicts in perspective between students and teacher, audience and "author": the students are mostly Christian, while I, the teacher, am Jewish; they want to learn about the present, while I think we must learn first about the past to understand the present. How can I remain true to myself while structuring a course that fits the needs and concerns of my students?