Sovereignty and Secularization (RS 3CC3)
Fall 2012

TEXT PREPARATION 5

Assignment due in class on November 22*

*Since part of the value of the text preparation assignment to help you prepare the reading assignment for a particular class, it may only be submitted in class on the day it is due.  If you have to miss that day's class, please contact the instructor to make alternate arrangements.

This assignment is based on:
  • CBC Radio “The Current,” March 31, 2008 – including documentary by Kathleen Goldhar, “Faith in the Law” [details on how to listen to be communicated by e-mail]
  • Suzanne Last Stone, "The Intervention of American Law in Jewish Divorce" (2000), pp. 174-85 [print out personal copy]
In well-written paragraphs, a total of 600-700 words, please address the following question with detailed reference to the texts:
According to Suzanne Last Stone and/or persons interviewed for the radio documentary "Faith in the Law" (please give the names of anyone you cite), why or how does the issue of Jewish religious divorce (the get) pose a challenge for the separation of religion and secular law?


As was the case for previous assignments, your observations should be backed up with references that allow your reader to see what they are based on; for this purpose, please use parenthetical page references - for an example of these, see Harvey, Writing with Sources, p. 51, under "MLA Basic Rules."  

For parenthetical references to Stone, please use Stone + page number.

Please indicate the total word count at the end of your assignment.

Note: Since this is your first reading of this text, and since we have not yet discussed it in class, you needn't aim for definitive answers but preliminary, thoughtful responses based on close attention to the text.  Your fuller understanding will develop in the course of our class meetings, and with successive re-readings.

**Please print your assignment double-spaced and with one-inch margins, using a 10-12-point font.  Please number and staple the pages you hand in. 

Please keep a copy of your summary to refer to in our class discussions.

 

posted November 15, 2012