Students in the Class of 2026 will be the first eligible to earn the Judaic Studies minor. Students in the Class of 2025 will earn a certificate in Judaic Studies. Members of the Class of 2025 with questions about earning the JDS certificate should contact the program manager, Margo Bresnen, at [email protected]. 

The Program in Judaic Studies provides foundational and advanced undergraduate courses on the study of Jews and Judaism. Courses explore topics that range over the past 3,000 years of Jewish experience throughout the globe. Students can learn about these areas of the world and periods of the past from a variety of different perspectives, including textual, historical, philosophical, philological and literary. Students have the opportunity to pursue independent work in a senior thesis written with the mentorship of a member of the faculty. Students in the Judaic Studies minor graduate from Princeton with a sense of the depth and the breadth of the study of Jews and Judaism and with the capacity to express themselves on a range of issues in clear and analytic prose.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.

Admission to the Program

Students may apply to the Judaic Studies minor after declaring a major and no later than the spring of their junior year. Enrollment is open and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Once admitted to the minor, students should confer with the Judaic Studies director at the first opportunity to discuss their course of study in consideration of their goals and their major.

Program of Study

A sound program of study will involve both historical range and disciplinary breadth. Each student's course of study must be approved by the Judaic Studies director. The minor requirements are compatible with a major in any humanities or social sciences department.

Students who minor in Judaic Studies will choose one of two pathways to meet the requirements:

1. Students can successfully complete five courses approved to count toward the Judaic Studies minor. OR
2. Students can (a) successfully complete four courses approved to count toward the Judaic Studies minor, and (b) write a senior thesis in their major department that engages an issue or issues in Judaic Studies over a substantial portion of the thesis (the thesis topic must be submitted to the director of the JDS minor for approval).

In either pathway, a student’s coursework must include both:

1. JDS 202 Great Books of the Jewish Tradition, AND
2. Courses that cover both premodern and modern periods as determined by the Judaic Studies director. Students can do this by either taking multiple courses wherein one covers premodern periods and another covers modern periods OR taking one course that covers both premodern and modern periods.

Premodern-period courses include, but are not limited to:

• REL 230/JDS 230 Who Wrote the Bible
• REL 246/JDS 246 Ancient Judaism
• REL 348/JDS 348 Who’s Out and Who’s In: Ancient Jews Defining Community, Belonging, and Identity
• NES 369/HIS 251/JDS 351 The World of the Cairo Geniza

Modern-period courses include, but are not limited to:

• HIS 359/JDS 359 Modern Jewish History: 1750-Present
• NES 221/JDS 223 Jerusalem Contested: A City’s History from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives
• NES 373/JDS 373 Zionism: Jewish Nationalism Before and Since Statehood
• REL 347/JDS 347 Religion and Law

Courses that are both premodern- and modern-period include, but are not limited to:

• REL 234/JDS 234/NES 206 Sacrifice: From Moses to the Modern Era

All courses offered by Judaic Studies or cross-listed with JDS may be considered preapproved to count toward the Judaic Studies minor. Any other course requires explicit approval by the JDS director. One advanced (300-level) Hebrew course may count toward the course requirements if approved by the JDS director. Students are allowed to use up to two course requirements for the Judaic Studies minor to count toward their major.

While a junior paper in the field is not required, students are encouraged to explore the field of Judaic Studies in their junior-year independent work.

Toward the end of their senior year, students in the Judaic Studies minor come together at a capstone event to present some of their Judaic Studies research to one another and faculty members, discuss their work and respond to questions. If a student has taken Pathway 1, their presentation would typically be drawn from Judaic Studies work they have done over the course of pursuing the minor; if a student has taken Pathway 2, their presentation would typically be drawn from their senior thesis. The subject matter and form of a presentation should be decided in discussion with the Judaic Studies director. Everyone in the University’s Judaic Studies community is invited to this event, and non-seniors in the Judaic Studies minor are especially encouraged to attend.

Language Requirements

Judaic Studies has no specific language requirement apart from what is normally required by the University. However, when appropriate, students are expected to use language skills in their senior thesis research. Students also are strongly urged to develop a competency in Hebrew and may use one advanced (300-level) Hebrew course, if they wish, to fulfill the general course requirements for the minor.

Study Abroad

The program encourages students to consider studying in Israel, either for a semester or for a summer. Study in Israel provides an excellent opportunity to improve one's knowledge of Hebrew as well as to pursue other topics of interest. There are a number of intensive summer language programs in Hebrew and Yiddish in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Courses taken abroad, other than elementary language, may count for up to two of the program's required courses.