V3338 Jewish Ethics

Dr. Shatz is an intelligent and charismatic lecturer. This was a great class and I learned alot, but I must say that getting any version of an A is extremely difficult without any previous background on the material. Those who have studied at Yeshiva or JTS before hand certainly have an advantage.

Great professor and a great class!!!! I definitly recommend the class although I do agree with one of the above reviews that it is easier if you went to a yeshiva for high school. There isn't any Hebrew involved and you dont have to ever have looked at a page of Talmud but it probably helped. He was a great professor, very organized, very interesting and very funny. He really loved the material and made the class love it too.

He's nice, funny, approachable. The class is very easy but it kind of goes downhill after the midterm.

Dr. Shatz is a really good teacher, especially for a topic as sensitive as Morality and Religion b/c he really listens to students' questions about Judaism and doesn't just knock any controversial question down. He is a true intellectual- in pursuit of Truth.... On a lighter note, he's just really funny!!!!! I dont think Ive ever laughed so much in any class in my life. Overall, i learnt ALOT.

Though I do like Prof. Shatz in principle (yes, class is somewhat enjoyable), unless you grew up in a Yeshiva, don't expect to get an A. It seems to me that most of the people in the class are JTS students looking for an easy class. People with no background in (Jewish) ethics will have a very hard time, even though there is no prerequisite to the class. Ultimately, I think the class fails to actually teach anyone anything.

I love prof shatz and I loved his jewish ethics course. He is really smart, very lively, interesting readings and he has good insight into them. I think everyone in the class was jewish but he does everything in english although I think it made the class much easier for me b/c I'm familiar w/ bible, talmud, and medieval commentaries. There is a midterm, a final, and one paper. All are graded very fairly, not a very hard class.