Jewish Studies

With courses in ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern Jewish history, religion, culture, law, literature, and contemporary society, the Jewish studies minor provides students with a nuanced understanding of the living and historical traditions of Judaism, the Jewish people, and the modern State of Israel. Jewish studies at Fordham seeks to introduce students to Jewish history and culture within the larger framework of Jews’ interaction with other people, with a focus on Jewish-Christian relations, thereby furthering Fordham’s mission to foster in its students an understanding of different cultures and ways of life so they may be prepared “for an increasingly multicultural and multinational society.”

Courses in Jewish studies are integrated across Fordham’s curriculum, and across its campuses and departments, among them History; Theology; Sociology and Anthropology; Art History; English; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Fordham Law. Many of the courses are part of Fordham’s Core Curriculum. With a minor in Jewish studies students will be able to follow a coherent course of study outside their majors and acquire cross-cultural literacy, while fulfilling their Core requirements.

By enrolling in a Jewish studies minor students will acquire:

• knowledge and understanding of Jewish culture and history across a broad chronological and geographic scope;
• the ability to question dominant social assumptions by gaining cross-cultural literacy;
• an awareness of interaction and mutual influence among Jews and their Christian, Muslim, and other neighbors over the course of history;
• an awareness of the complexity of social identities, as well as of social divisions and prejudice;
• the ability to understand how minority cultures live, adapt, and retain their identities among majority cultures;
• the skills necessary to find and interpret complex sources and apply them to a larger project;
• the ability to apply methods and theories from several disciplines to their studies.

For more information

Visit the Jewish studies program web page.

Courses in Other Areas

The following courses offered outside the department have the JWST attribute and count toward the Jewish Studies minor: