Program in Judaic Studies

The undergraduate program in Judaic studies offers students the opportunity to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on the history, religion, languages, and culture of this dynamic and variegated civilization from biblical times to the modern day. Students may earn a certificate of proficiency by taking a minimum of five courses in Judaic studies and writing a senior thesis that draws significantly on some aspect of Judaic studies. The courses must be drawn from at least two departments, and they must include one course in classical Jewish texts (usually REL 244/JDS 244 Introduction to Rabbinic Literature or REL 245/JDS 245 Kabbalah), a second course on a topic in the period before modernity, and a course on a topic in the modern period. Students who have engaged in study of classical Jewish texts elsewhere may be permitted to substitute another course for the required course after consulting with the program director. The remaining two courses may be chosen from any of the relevant offerings. The program’s introductory course (JDS 201) is recommended for students without a strong background in Judaic studies. All students are strongly urged to include the program seminar (JDS 301) as one of their electives. This course is taught each year by different members of the faculty. Because the topic changes from year to year, it may be taken more than once. The normal expectation is that certificate students will complete either JDS 201 or JDS 301 (or both). Seniors will participate in the program’s noncredit colloquium for thesis writers. Each student’s course of study must be approved by the program director as well as by the department representative in the student’s department of concentration.

The program draws on approximately two dozen regular undergraduate courses in various departments. These consist of regular offerings, supplemented by a topics course, special one-time-only undergraduate courses, and graduate seminars. Recent examples include Introduction to Rabbinic Literature (religion); English Literature and Jewish Culture (English); Gender, Sexuality, and the Body in Judaism (Judaic studies); The Transformation of Exile: American Jewish History (history); Jewish Thought and Modern Society (religion); The Art of Jewish Storytelling (Judaic studies); American Jewish Writers (English); Golem: The Creation of an Artificial Man (religion); the Arab Israeli Conflict (Near Eastern studies); Culture Mavens: American Jews and the Arts (Judaic studies); Israeli Culture Through Film (Near Eastern studies); The Metropolis and the Jews (history); and The Holocaust: Perpetrators, Victims, and Bystanders (history).

Participating faculty come from the Departments of Anthropology, Classics, Comparative Literature, English, French and Italian, German, History, Music, Near Eastern Studies, Religion, Sociology, and the Woodrow Wilson School. Teaching and research strengths encompass areas such as Hebrew language and literature, biblical Israel, Judaism in the Greco-Roman world, rabbinic Judaism, Talmud and Midrash, medieval and modern Jewish history, Jewish mysticism, Gentile-Jewish relations, Germanic-Jewish writers, modern Jewish thought, European cultural studies, and the study of the Holocaust in literature and film. We also sponsor visiting faculty and bring a wide array of visitors to campus each semester for talks and lectures. Students can avail themselves of excellent library resources to pursue virtually any aspect of Judaic studies, including the Leonard L. Milberg ’53 collection of Jewish-American writers and the Sidney Lapidus ’59 Collection of American Judaica. The Near Eastern studies collection, for example, contains more than 26,000 modern and rabbinic Hebrew printed books, comparable in quantity and quality to the holdings of other American universities with strong Judaic studies curricula. The program has also been building a substantial library of films (both feature and documentary) on Jewish topics.

The program awards the Carolyn L. Drucker ’80 Prize for the best senior thesis or theses on a Judaic studies subject. All seniors are eligible for nomination by their departments. Some of the recent winning thesis topics include “Let Us Make a Man in Our Image: The Rabbinic Portrayal of Wicked Bibical Kings as Torah Scholars” (Near Eastern studies); “Blacks and Jews in Each Other’s Eyes: Exploring Minority Identity in 20th-Century American Fiction” (English); “The Demise of the Temple and the Rise of the Torah: Rabbinic Views of the Temple in Lamentations Rabbah” (religion); “Reacting to the Rabbi: How the Israeli Right Responded to Meir Kahana” (politics); “Jewish-Black Relations in Post-Apartheid South Africa” (Woodrow Wilson School); “Allegory and the Text in Rashi’s Commentary on Song of Songs” (religion); “Bound by Enigma: The Akedah Motif From the Bible to 20th-Century Jewish Literature” (English); “Mauritius Exiles? The Dententions of Jewish Refugees on the Island of Mauritius, 1940–45” (Near Eastern studies); and “Anti-Semitism and Its Aftermath: The ‘Jewish Problem’ and the ‘Vichy Solution’” (history).

We have been developing a junior year abroad program in Jerusalem specifically for Princeton undergraduates, in which students can improve their competency in Hebrew while taking electives that fulfill the program requirements. They can also undertake summer courses in Yiddish, which are offered in this country and abroad. Additionally, the program has Dorot Foundation grants available for summer study in Israel, as well as other resources to assist students with study and senior thesis research.

The requirements for the certificate in Judaic studies are compatible with the requirements for departmental concentrations of all types, enabling students to explore Jewish themes within their chosen field of study as well as other disciplines. The certificate can be used to demonstrate serious academic grounding in Judaic studies for students intending to pursue Jewish academic or professional careers. At the same time, any student in the University will find that the program enriches understanding of a civilization that has developed continuously from the ancient Near East to the present.