Gratz-JCHS Online Course Offerings
These are all the available Gratz-JCHS Online courses to date. See the Gratz-JCHS Online main page for current offerings
Only juniors and seniors may receive college credits. As with all such credits, acceptance of transfer credits is subject to each college’s or university’s own requirements. In order to receive college credits, additional information and requirements will be mailed upon registration.
Israel: Current Events and Controversies (For College Credit)
This course is designed to 1) provide an introduction to the political history of Israel, from the emergence of the Zionist movement through the present, 2) situate the development of an Israeli national identity, focusing on a variety of social, cultural, and political features, and 3) provide comparative perspectives on modern national states, cultures, and identities.
Issues to be discussed include immigration, minorities and social integration, the political, military, and educational systems, media and popular culture, and relationships with neighboring states and the world community.
Israel Today: Realizing the Dream
This course begins and ends with a look at and celebration of the wonder of Israel. Students combine the 4MAT method used throughout the Etgar curriculum with a problem-solving approach for a realistic, sophisticated, and in-depth study of the many challenges Israel faces today. Lessons cover Israel’s pursuit of peace, diversity, and social justice challenges. The course is offered in partnership with Project Etgar, a joint curriculum initiative of the Melton Research Center of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. It is designed as a natural follow up for students who studied in Etgar schools in sixth and seventh grade, but is open to any teen who wants to learn about Israel in an interactive way!
Reform Judaism:
A study of Reform Judaism’s development, including its American origin, its philosophy, principles and institutions. Students will review life cycles from the Reform Jewish perspective. Students will discuss environmental issues, civil rights and the role of Israel in their Jewish lives. This course touches on topical issues like the history of anti-Semitism, homosexuality and CCAR rulings. Students will discuss various issues, dialogue with one another and explore their own belief system.
Why The Jews: History of Anti-Semitism (college credit course)
This course will examine the diversae forms that hatred of Jews has taken throughout history, from the ancient world to the present day. Our focus is the extremely difficult question: why have Jews been singled out for hatred so often for so many centuries?
Dilemmas in Jewish History
Dr. Kathy Beller
Jewish history presents many dilemmas of Jews who lived in different societies. Jews were usually strangers and sojourners in the lands where they lived, their history the symbol of homelessness and vulnerability. They wanted to obey G-d's laws but they wanted to stay alive too. The societies in which they lived forced life choices upon them, which were rarely clear options of "right and wrong." The course will question how Jews fared in the societies in which they lived and what dilemmas they had to solve in order to survive against all odds.
The Torah's Top 50 Ideas
Why is the Bible more famous than known, as Voltaire once asked?
Partly because it is an anthology of so many books, written over so many centuries, by so many different authors. It is like reading through the Encyclopedia Britannica, cover to cover. No one goes through an encyclopedic work like this page by page, book by book. It takes diligent study, infinite patience, a good teacher, and long years of commitment.
How sad, then, that the Book of Books, the literary legacy that the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel called our "greatest privilege," is so little read, and even worse, so little known.
This vast collection of morals, poetry, laws, stories and divine revelation remains a hidden treasure for most people. Yet it forms the basis of all ethical standards ("Love your neighbor as yourself"), all great moral philosophy ("In the image of God was the human formed"), and legal majesty ("There shall be one law for you and for the stranger among you").
Too many people think of the Bible as a collection of outmoded laws, descriptions of old-fashioned customs such as animal sacrifice, boring genealogies, and irrelevant miracle tales. Yet the core of the Tanakh contains the essential moral legacy of the Jewish People. This course will examine fifty verses and verse-clusters that are the fundamental principles of Jewish ethics, and the passages which make the Hebrew Bible the most important collection of books ever written
The Whole Megillah
The third section of the Tanakh includes five books, originally written on parchment scrolls, that we call the Megillot. These interesting stories are each associated with a holiday in the Jewish calendar, and recall various historical events and relate biblical wisdom that is applicable today. In this course we will examine the text, learn the historical context, the liturgical connections, and the contemporary associations of each Megillah.
Songs of My People
Throughout history, Jewish communities around the world have used music to express their values and to preserve their traditions. In this class, students will explore the diverse languages, texts and sounds that are part of Jewish culture, and discover the ways in which music has evolved in the wake of geographic location and historical circumstance. Special attention will be paid to the role and development of choral music in Jewish tradition, with particular focus on the repertoire selected by performance by HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir. Participants in this class will combine their rehearsal time in local HaZamir chapters with online study and special Forums devoted to discussion of the music and reflections on the experience of creating Jewish community through choral singing.
The New Antisemitism (college credit)
Asaf Romirowsky
Countless cycles of anti-Semitism have repeatedly run their course, along with radicalization through religion, genocide, or a combination of both. The identification of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a primary source for contemporary anti-Semitism is especially significant. In this Czarist forgery, the "true" nature of Jewish chosenness is demonstrated as conspiratorial and demonic, the perpetual and hidden effort to dominate the world. Khomeini, Hitler, the pre-eminent Islamist intellectual Sayyid Qutb, and Arafat are all graduates of the school of modern anti-Semitism that recycled many variations of the Protocols.
Today, the debate about anti-Semitism has become so intellectualized that individuals have a difficult time distinguishing racism from acceptable criticism. The "new" racial anti-Semitism is built on the "old" medieval one; cycles of hatred towards Jews reflected in Muslim and Christian writings still repeat many old anti-Semitic canards, but are now willing to embrace junk science and social Darwinian tropes whenever possible. Europe today is seeing a slow but steady growth in anti-Semitism under the guise of anti-Zionism.
Given the above we are going to tackle these issues and learn how they have metastasized over the past 63 years – since the modern State of Israel was created.
Music of Israel
Discover Israel through music! From European-influenced songs of the pioneers to exotic melodies from Arab lands, the pre-State era was filled with the sounds of ingathering. And the music continues as the State is born and grows! Hear Israel's songs of peace in times of war, the shepherd songs and love ballads that bring the Bible alive, and the drum beat of rap and religion as Israel brings together tradition and today. This course is for lovers of music, history buffs, and anyone eager to take a tour of the Jewish state -- all from the convenience of your home computer! No prior knowledge of Hebrew or music is required -- just a quick internet connection and a fascination with all things Israeli.
Hebrew-Mechina
The Preparatory Program (Mechina) provides the student with the required reading and writing skills necessary for admission and successful transition into Hebrew level one. Through extensive practice, student will gain fluency in reading and writing of Hebrew print and script,
The course uses many sources and activities to enable learning in a fun and productive way.
Hebrew I
This course is designed for students with moderate knowledge of Hebrew reading. The course focuses on the development of all language skills (speaking, listening, reading, and writing). Students will improve their mechanical Hebrew reading and writing. They will also master grammatical terms and principles such as pronouns, adjectives, gender and number agreement, prepositions, roots, numbers, special expressions and the different categories ( Gzarot) of Binian Pa’al in the present and past tense. Students will read texts that reflect Hebrew and Jewish culture. Topics will include: home and school, food, family life and the daily schedule. (This course is for Undergraduate credit only)
Students will meet once a week for a live session to learn and review the material. In addition, a special website will be available for students to log on at any time for learning and review.
Hebrew II
This course is geared for students with good reading skills and knowledge of basic Hebrew vocabulary. Students will be introduced to new verbs, adjectives, and vocabulary. They will learn to use them in all language skills such as reading, writing, listening and conversation.
We will focus on learning to discuss our daily life using the following topics: school, work, home and shopping. Students will learn how to order food at a restaurant, shop at the mall or the market, ask for phone numbers and describe their home.
A website will provide students with the ability to practice 24/7. This website has recorded text, videos and songs to improve all language skills. Each week students will meet for a live session.
In order to improve prayer comprehension, students will learn each week a verse from the Siddur (Hebrew prayer book).
Hebrew for Day School Graduates
This course is designed for students with a Hebrew day school background, preferably those who have graduated from eighth grade in Jewish day school. The goal of this course is to refresh Hebrew day school students' knowledge of Hebrew and enhance their language skills. Students will learn advanced modern Hebrew texts as well as traditional Jewish texts. We will read newspaper articles and discuss current events. Grammar topics will be reviewed as they appear in the text. This course is geared toward students with a minimum of four years Hebrew day school background. Students who desire to learn in this course must pass an admission test.
Confronting the Shoah
This course focuses on Jewish identity. Students will examine their own identities as well as those of a variety of Jewish youth who lived before and during the Shoah. They will learn hwo the Shoah was the ultimate and tragic result of manipulating identities to label one group as unworthy of living. They will also have the opportunity to respond to the Shoah through their own art, poetry or prose. The course is offered in partnership with Project Etgar, a joint curriculum initiative of the Melton Research Center of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. It is designed as a natural follow up for students who studied in Etgar schools in sixth and seventh grade, but is open to any teen who wants to learn about Israel in an interactive way!