About This Course
This course is designed to provide a survey of Jewish history between Antiquity and the early Medieval period through studying how Rabbinic Judaism emerged to become the normative form of Judaism.
This course depends heavily on your participation in the Slack channel. You will answer questions each week by posting in the channel and having conversations with your fellow students and instructor. Engagement with your instructor and fellow students is just as important as answering the questions.
Class Schedule:
Monday (end of the day) – complete pre-reading
Tuesday (end of the day)- watch video and post to slack any questions for Ariel about the lecture. (Clarification, further detail, etc..)
Wednesday (end of the day) complete post-video reading\writing assignment and post on Slack
Friday (before Shabbat) – respond to three comments on Slack
Meet Your Instructor
Ariel Simon teaches high school students at the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester. His courses focus on Jewish History, Tefilah, and Torah. He has also taught Jewish History classes for students of all ages and backgrounds in synagogues throughout the New York area.
Ariel earned undergraduate degrees in Ancient Studies from Columbia University and in Talmud and Rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He then spent two years studying Talmud at the Conservative Yeshiva, in Jerusalem. Afterwards, he enrolled at New York University's Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies where he earned a master's degree studying the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism.
MA, New York University
BA, Columbia University
BA, Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Ratings and Reviews
Paula BaruchThe comprehensiveness of this course cannot be overstated. The resources supplied are exceptional and the thorough delivery and coverage of a huge sweep of Jewish history are expertly communicated!
Donald MeltzerThought that Ariel Simon did an excellent job of creatively engaging us with really critical themes of Jewish history, integrating historical writings, archaeology, and the Bible all into the mix. Enjoyed how he challenged major assumptions about Israelite religion, Second Temple and Rabbinical judaism through out. Also he’s entertaining and fun to listen to/watch.
So much fascinating history covered in this class. I found the Scheindlin book almost too basic to be helpful, but the rest of the readings were well curated. Some technical issues made the class less enjoyable (very low audio quality, and in some lectures, most of the slides were backwards on the screen). I would have like more interaction and feedback from the instructor in this core class.