2.    Reading Journal with dated summary responses to each of the assigned book

2.    Reading Journal with dated summary responses to each of the assigned book readings, as well as to articles and documents posted for the class on Blackboard. Your reading journal entries should be a thoughtful paragraph summarizing the substance of the particular reading and raising your own questions or thoughts in responses. Such thinking could be shared in class discussion, too. Moreover, your reading journal entries will help organize your thinking and provide a study guide that will be useful for both class discussions and for the final exam essays.b.    IMPORTANT HINTS: Your Journal entries should also address the question of which Jewish diaspora communities seem to have been more or less successful. Consider how we should evaluate or measure success: Survival? Prosperity? Contributions to Jewish religion and culture? Demonstration of endurance or courage? Which diaspora communities were most influential in shaping the survival of Jews? Which diaspora communities have been most successful in creating a well-rounded and Jewish life for their fellow Jews? What is the nature of the Jewish diaspora relationship with the Land of Israel and the State of Israel? And how does Israel interact with diaspora Jewish communities? All of these questions could well be models for Final Exam Essays!
Scheindlin, A Short History, Introduction and ch. One, pp. viii-xiii, 1-24.
Dahan, Jews (Stuff You Always Wanted to Knew But Didn’t Know Who to Ask), “Introduction: Who Needs This Book?,” pp. 1-12.