Honestly I'm surprised this class wasn't a writing II credit. There was soooo much writing involved. The midterm was pretty challenging in addition to there being papers/"projects" due nearly every other week. Professor Bonesho is really sweet and I had Julianna as a TA who was awesome but definitely would not recommend taking this if you're looking for an easy and/or light GE.

Overall this class was fairly easy. 25% of your grade is small, easy assignments and participation basically. There are two papers. I felt that the grading was pretty lenient. The lectures were generally pretty engaging, but lost my attention sometimes. There can be a considerable amount of dense reading, but my friend never read and ended up with a B in the class. I started off strong, but ended up skimming most of the readings. If you are willing to put in the time and meet with your TA about your papers prior to submitting, it will definitely reflect in your grade. Also this class covers a ton of stuff and is pretty historical. I thought it was going to be more modern cultural study-ish, but it's pretty much a survey of Judaism over time (which I probably should've expected).

Grade was made of midterm, final, 4-5 page paper, 9-10 page paper, and 5 one page reflections on specific readings. My TA was super helpful and was a generous grader but I truly think the TA makes or breaks this class. This information is not helpful in life but is not very complicated. The only readings I read were to get sources for the papers and to respond to the reflections. The workload is pretty high but I think it was fair given my TA for a writing 2 class.

This class is my favorite class I have ever taken at UCLA. Overall, not too hard and very manageable as well as the TA's were so helpful. Professor Bonesho is amazing, she knows her stuff and is an engaging lecturer. I was able to learn so much about the Jewish people, history, and religion after entering the class with barely anything. Now I can answer the question "What is Judaism?" This is such a a fun GE or even just a class you can take for fun. The exams need some preparation but as long as you focus and study you should be fine. I hope you enjoy this class as much as I did.

I think the overall rating of this class was good. However, I want to make it clear that it is highly dependent on your TA. The structure of the class is not the best, just because the drafts of papers are worth so much. It seems like since drafts are preliminary versions of papers, they should not be contributing to the overall grade as much (while the final versions should be worth more, because that is where you can make edits and improve on the writing). It is essential to highlight the fact that this is not an easy Writing 2 course necessarily, even though it is a class on the historical view of "medicine." Professor Bonesho is very kind and very understanding, however it is important to note that she has little influence on your grade, as the TAs are the ones grading your assignments/papers (at least that is what was told to my section).

Professor Bonesho and Introduction to Judaism was my favorite class this semester. As a STEM major, this class was extremely easy to balance among other responsibilities and I truly enjoyed the topics presented in the class. Many people attended lectures and discussions because they were largely entertaining. The final and midterm were very manageable as long as you followed the study guides. Workload took no longer than 2 hours even for the heavily weighted assignments. Bonesho does often assign readings which I find incredibly interesting, but they were largely unnecessary. The readings expanded on what was said in the class but were never on the exams other than those reviewed in class. I attended Bonesho’s office hours nearly every week, and she was incredibly kind and helpful. She is truly passionate about her subject but has learned to balance this with a light course load. I would recommend anyone take this class for an easy GE or if you just want to take a class that will interest you!