Vanessa Ochs
As we study the ritual of the Jewish wedding ceremony from antiquity to the present day, we will see how notions about marriage, gender relations, and the normative family are displayed and challenged. In particular, we will be investigating the establishment of innovations in the contemporary Jewish weddings (traditional, liberal, same-sex and interfaith) in America and Israel.
"LOVE LOVE LOVE! The class is so interesting and Prof. Ochs is one of the best professors I have had so far. She is super nice and patient, and will take your year, your experience with religious studies and so forth into consideration when grading. That being said, she focuses more on your overall progress and the efforts you put into. Some people are unsatisfied with the grading. In my perspective, you don't really need to know how exactly every assignment is weighted because overall you only have three assignments, which means you need to pay attention to every assignment and really do it. The most important one is the midterm assignment. I spent 1.5 hr everyday doing that for almost a month before it was due. Many thought it was a fun and easy A class, but the truth is it is very interesting but not necessarily an easy A. I would recommend it to those who are interested in the subject matter and who are willing to spend time on it."