Introduction

Jewish Studies Overview

Faculty offer courses in numerous disciplines, including archaeology, art, history, languages, literature, performance, philosophy, political science, religion and sociology. Jewish Studies classes are noted for their combination of close textual study and vigorous intellectual debate.? While languages such as Hebrew and Yiddish, along with texts from biblical and rabbinic literature, remain crucial to Jewish Studies, the topics studied have expanded dramatically to include many courses in modern Jewish history, thought and culture, the Holocaust, Israeli society and Jewish popular culture.

The appeal of Jewish Studies rests on the role of Judaism as one of the fountainheads of Western civilization. In addition, because Jewish communities have developed ways of inheriting the past through a highly critical engagement both with Jewish traditions and with other cultures, Jewish Studies classes provide an excellent education in critical thinking for students of all backgrounds. Indeed, Judaism has survived by reinventing itself in response to adverse circumstances, so Jewish Studies classes also offer an excellent education in survival at a time when the social and economic change proceed at ever increasing rates and thus demand repeated reinventions. Moreover, because Jewish thought and culture have engaged in perhaps the longest sustained discussion of the role of minorities within majority cultures, Jewish Studies classes provide many resources for critical and fruitful reflection on Canada’s remarkable diversity and on Canada’s place in an increasingly global society.

Enquiries: Centre for Jewish Studies (416) 978-8118, jewish.studies@utoronto.ca
www.cjs.utoronto.ca

Centre for Jewish Studies Programs

The Jewish Studies Undergraduate Program is divided into three areas of concentration:

A: Judaism and Jewish Thought
B: Jewish History and Society
C: Jewish Language and Literature

Jewish Studies

Specialist program:

(12 full courses or equivalent, including 4 FCEs @ 300+ level and 1 FCE @ 400 level)

1. One year-long Hebrew course or written equivalency examination
2. Eight courses in one concentration (as listed above)
3. Four courses selected from the other areas of concentration

Major program:
(6 full courses or equivalent, including 2 FCEs @ 300+ level)
1. Four courses from one area of concentration (as listed above)
2. Two courses from the other areas of concentration

Minor program:
(4 full courses or equivalent, including 1 FCE @ 300+ level)