This course sheds light on various topics of Medieval Jewish History including converso identity and the history of the Jews of Spain, Jews in Ashkenazi lands, the history of medieval ghettos, the Jews of Rome, relations between Jews and the Catholic Church, and topics in medieval Jewish family life and Jewish ritual practice including beliefs about birth and procreation, circumcision, marriage and death among other subjects.  We will study the way contemporaries viewed their life and experiences by reading the autobiography of Leon da Modena and learn about the medieval Jewish practice of writing an ethical will.  At the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of the concerns and various modes of Jewish life in the Middle Ages.