About the Department
Jewish Studies has been an important field of research at The University of Chicago since the institutions founding in 1892. Among its first five full professors two, in fact, taught Judaica. William Rainey Harper and Emil Gustav Hirsch. The University first president, Professor Harper was a renown Biblical scholar and oversaw the beginnings of programs in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations. A few decades later, these early initiatives received a huge institutional boost with the founding of the Oriental Institute, which remains one of the pre-eminent centers for the study of ancient Near Eastern language, civilization, and archeology. Professor Hirsch held a chair in rabbinical literature and Jewish philosophy. Current to his duties as the principal rabbi of Congregation Sinai, Hirsch taught until his death in 1923 a full range of courses in Talmud, Midrash and Jewish philosophy.
The subsequent flourishing of Jewish Studies at the years at Chicago has been sustained by appointments in a wide range of departments: professorships of Jewish Hellenism in Classics, Medieval Jewish Philosophy in Philosophy, Jewish Social and Economic History in History, to name only a few. During the past decade and a half, the University has appointed eminent scholars in the study of Hebrew Bible, Midrash, Jewish Medieval Studies, Hebrew Literature, American Jewish Literature, Jewish political thought, Yiddish literture, Modern Jewish Thought, and German Jewish Culture. Working together, they have created one of the most comprehensive, distinguished and interdisciplinary programs in Jewish Studies available at any American university.
Advanced degree programs are available at the M.A. and Ph.D. degree levels. Students can make full use of the resources in Jewish Studies available through the Divinity School (which has a "history of Judaism" tract"), the Departments of Germanic Studies, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Music, Near Eastern Languages & Literature, and the Oriental Institute. There is also a rich undergraduate program in Jewish Studies with a dynamic Hebrew language component. A Workshop on Jewish Studies meets throughout the year to bring together faculty and students from the diverse range of departments for discussion of topics related to ongoing research.
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