Reflections on Teaching a Course on Jewish Identities

The article discusses a Jewish Studies course taught at Brandeis University—Half-Jews, Bu-Jews, and Queer Jews: Mapping Jewish Identities in America—during the 2104-2015 school year. The course was designed to be intersectional, relational, and in conversation with larger American discourses on religion, gender, race, and ethnicity. As such, it was cross-listed with Sociology, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Sexuality and Queer Studies. Emily Sigalow, a scholar of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, considers the course’s subject matter, enrollment, learning environment, and impact. A sample syllabus is included.