Podcast series: “Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife”
This is a podcast series that is the outcome from the JWSH 177 course: "First Year Seminar: Life, Death, and the Afterlife in Israeli Society"
The JWSH 177 course: "First Year Seminar: Life, Death, and the Afterlife in Israeli Society" is offered by Prof. Rami Zeedan. This course deals with various issues related to beliefs and practices about life, death, and the afterlife in Israel's diverse religious and ethnic communities. Our larger question for this seminar is: How do religious beliefs and practices shape social identity in modern Israeli society? We will discuss loss, funeral practices, grief, remembrance, and bereavement while exploring differences between genders, between civilians and military personnel, and levels of religiosity. We will explore various religious views of the sanctity of life and the importance of burial. The most exciting item for students will be learning about the various beliefs and practices regarding the afterlife, such as reincarnation in the Jewish Kabala (Gilgul) and among the Druze (Taqamus). The goal is for each student to speak intelligently about these religious beliefs and practices and their connection to social identity in modern society while using the case of communities in Israel. These communities include, for example, Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Mizrahi or Ashkenazi Jews, Russian Jews, Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel), Sunni-Muslims, Bedouins, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Druze, and Baha'i. The main assignment in this course is for students to produce podcast episodes on one of the social groups in Israel. All episodes by the students contribute to this podcast series: “Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife”, edited by Prof. Rami Zeedan.
Podcast Episode from JWSH 177: First-Year Seminar (Fall 2023)
In fall 2023, the Jewish Studies First Year Seminar, focused again on "Life, Death, and Afterlife in Modern Israeli Society" with Prof. Rami Zeedan.
Each student produced a short podcast episode on one of the social groups in Israel. Below are two examples of the students' projects:
Episode 3: “Sufi Muslims in Israel and How They Live”
This episode in the series “Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife” focused on Sufi Muslims in Israel. The PDF file contains this episode's script. We suggest this citation for this episode:
Lange, Sadie (2023). “Sufi Muslims in Israel and How They Live”. Zeedan, Rami (ed.) Podcast series: Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife. The University of Kansas. Episode 2: 00:10:30 minutes.
Episode 2: “Greek Orthodox Christianity in Israel- Their Beliefs and Practices in Life, Death, and Afterlife”
This episode in the series “Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife” focused on Greek Orthodox Christianity in Israel. The PDF file contains this episode's script. We suggest this citation for this episode:
Thompson, Natalee (2023). “Greek Orthodox Christianity in Israel- Their Beliefs and Practices in Life, Death, and Afterlife”. Zeedan, Rami (ed.) Podcast series: Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife. The University of Kansas. Episode 2: 00:07:30 minutes.
Podcast Episode from JWSH 177: First-Year Seminar (Fall 2022)
In fall 2022, the Jewish Studies First Year Seminar, focused on "Life, Death, and Afterlife in Modern Israeli Society" with Prof. Rami Zeedan.
Each student produced a short podcast episode on one of the social groups in Israel. Below is one example of the students' projects (it was also presented at the 2022 Fall Undergraduate Research Showcase)
Episode 1: “Israel: Through the lens of the ‘Russian’ Jews”
This episode in the series “Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife” focused on the “Russian Jews” in Israel. The PDF file contains this episode's script. We suggest this citation for this episode:
Schwartz, Alexa (2022).“Israel: Through the lens of the ‘Russian’ Jews”. Zeedan, Rami (ed.). Podcast series: Introduction to Israel's Social Groups through Life, Death, and the Afterlife. The University of Kansas. Episode 1: 00:15:13 minutes.
Example from JWSH 601: Senior Seminar in Jewish Studies
Macie Clawson was the first in our program to work on a podcast project in Spring 2020. She
first worked on her capstone project and then developed it into a research-based podcast episode.
The title of this project is: “Israeli and Palestinian competing narratives of the Conflict.”
It aims at surveying the founding of Zionism and Arab nationalism and the leadups to war and the establishment of Israel. The student shared it online.