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Jewish Studies

Founded in 1981, the undergraduate Jewish Studies Program at Purdue provides students with the opportunity to become acquainted with the culture, language, literature, history, philosophy, and religious customs of the Jewish people from antiquity to the present. A major and a minor in Jewish Studies are offered, and there is considerable flexibility in fashioning a program for individual interests and goals. Extracurricular activities complement the academic course of study.

The Jewish Studies Program:

  • offers undergraduate majors and minors in Jewish Studies
  • offers instruction in both Biblical and Modern Hebrew
  • edits Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies
  • awards the Jerome Frumkin Scholarship in Jewish Studies to an outstanding undergraduate in Jewish Studies
  • awards the Saul Lerner Graduate Student Teaching Award 
  • awards Lotte Hirsch Travel Grants for graduate student Judaica research and conference participation
  • co-sponsors the Larry Axel Memorial Lectureship in Religion
  • sponsors the Ben and Louise Klatch Jewish Arts Series

Students

The Jewish Studies program offers a major and a minor in Jewish Studies. Students who major in Jewish Studies take a variety of classes in different departments in the university. Double majors with English, History, Classical Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Religious Studies are viable options. A minor in Jewish Studies accompanies any major.

Individuals wishing to major in Jewish Studies will take "Introduction to Jewish Studies" (JWST 330), four semesters of Hebrew language (HEBR 101, 102, 201, 202 [Modern Hebrew] or HEBR 121, 122, 221, 222 [Biblical Hebrew]), and 21 additional hours in Judaica. Individuals wishing to minor in Jewish Studies will take "Introduction to Jewish Studies" (JWST 330) and 18 additional hours in Judaica.