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Jewish Studies (Cluster)

The Jewish Studies Graduate Cluster provides students with rigorous training in Jewish history, culture, and thought.  It is comprised of faculty and students from across the humanities and social sciences, and provides opportunities for inter-disciplinary engagement, collaboration, and community building.  Courses taught under the rubric of the Jewish Studies Graduate Cluster aim to deepen students’ textual, linguistic, and analytical skills, while also forging connections with broader questions and issues beyond the strict (and sometimes artificial) boundaries of “Jewish Studies.” 

The Cluster equips students with the skills necessary to teach courses in a range of sub-fields in Jewish Studies, including Hebrew Bible, Rabbinics, Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern Jewish History, Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, and Jewish Philosophy. Cluster faculty also offer an array of specialized courses in various disciplines and fields.

The Cluster creates a productive intellectual environment that accommodates graduate students from any discipline across the Humanities and Social Sciences seeking to enhance their own scholarship by engaging a corresponding subfield in Jewish Studies. The cluster faculty includes, but is not limited to:

Programs and events

Cluster fellows participate in the Jewish Studies Graduate Colloquium, which brings together faculty and graduate students to share work and listen to invited talks in Jewish Studies. The Colloquium facilitates a vivid exchange of ideas and critical reflections between the group members and visitors, and provides an opportunity for networking and community building within and beyond the field of Jewish Studies.

Who should apply?

Doctoral candidates from any field are eligible to apply to join this intellectual “home” outside their department. Past participants have come from the following programs:

  • Anthropology
  • German
  • History
  • Music
  • Political Science
  • Religious Studies
  • Slavic Languages and Literatures
  • Theatre and Drama

How to apply

Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Professor Benjamin Frommer, Cluster Director, to discuss academic and research interests and to navigate the application process.

Who to contact

Please contact the program director, listed below, with questions about this program.

The following requirements are in addition to, or further elaborate upon, those requirements outlined in The Graduate School Policy Guide.

Students admitted through the cluster take three courses during their first two years of study. Cluster fellows also attend and, when appropriate, present their work at the Jewish Studies Graduate Colloquium series.

For more course information please visit the Jewish Studies Program website.