Contact: Professor Stacy Beckwith
Hebrew is perfect if you are interested in a language with amazing historical and cultural layers. It is also fun for students who like logic – studying Hebrew is like exploring a living abacus as we see how different combinations of ‘root letters’ keep us using a range of biblical words while modern-day words slot in seamlessly to very predictable grammar and spelling patterns.
Can I major in it? Currently no major or minor is offered, but Hebrew, through the 204 level, is one of the languages that counts for the Middle East Studies and for the European Studies minors.
When does Hebrew 101 start? The Hebrew sequence is currently taught over two years so Professor Beckwith can teach additional courses in Judaic Studies. This means that Hebrew 101 and 102 are taught in Winter and Spring terms in one academic year, and Hebrew 103 and 204 are taught in Fall and Winter terms in the following academic year.
In the next few years the schedule will be:
- Winter 2025 – Hebrew 101
- Spring 2025 – Hebrew 102
- Fall 2025 – Hebrew 103
- Winter 2026 – Hebrew 204
- Winter 2027 – Hebrew 101, and so on
If you enter Carleton in a year when only the upper levels of Hebrew are being taught, please come and talk with Professor Beckwith. Your Liberal Arts advisor will help you plan as well, because you can certainly fulfill your language requirement at Carleton by starting Hebrew in your sophomore year.
Topics explored: Israeli history, society, culture, and film, through a range of Hebrew texts (newspaper, fiction, poetry, memoir), and popular Israeli media. Israeli popular music through a “Karaoke in Hebrew” project. Jewish history in Europe and the Middle East.
How to get started: Students interested in learning Hebrew can begin when the next sequence starts, in Winter term, 2025. To study more global Jewish cultural history and memory students are encouraged to enroll in MELA 230: Jewish Collective Memory in Spring 2025. For an immersion in Israeli and Palestinian film and literature side by side in translation, MELA 121: East-West in Israeli and Palestinian