Jewish Studies

Shari Rabin, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Religion; chair

Matthew D. Berkman, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies
Laura B. Herron, Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Standing
Sheera S. Talpaz, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies

Appointed by Courtesy
Cynthia R. Chapman, Adelia A. F. Johnston and Harry Thomas Frank Professor of Religion

Affiliated Faculty/Staff
Amaryllis Chanda Feldman, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
Ellen B. Wurtzel, Associate Professor of History

Visit the program web page for up-to-date information on program faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

The Jewish Studies Program at Oberlin College is an interdisciplinary program that teaches students to appreciate and analyze both continuities and differences in Jewish history, religion, literature, and culture around the world. Jewish studies faculty offers courses in many fields, including history, cinema studies, German, Latin American studies, religion, comparative literature, music, theater, and dance.

The Jewish studies program supports Johnson House, also known as the Hebrew Heritage House, which is the residential program house for Jewish studies where Jewish cultural and social programs are held. Founded in 1969 by students as a winter-term project under the name Hebrew House, today about 35 students choose to live in the residential community that values Jewish learning and culture.

 Learn more about cultural program housing supported by the program.

See information about Research, Internships, Study Away, and Experiential Learning (RISE).

Explore Winter Term projects and opportunities.

Majors and Minors

• Jewish Studies Major   
• Jewish Studies Minor  

Curriculum

Most Jewish studies courses are cross-listed with other departments or programs, and students can receive credit for such courses in the majors and minors of both areas of study. Our courses are typically in either the Arts and Humanities or the Social Sciences division, and most satisfy the cultural diversity and/or writing degree requirements for the bachelor of arts degree.

Courses

• JWST 100 - Introduction to Jewish Studies: Sacred Spaces and Promised Lands
• JWST 103 - Shared Languages Program: Elementary Modern Hebrew I
• JWST 104 - Shared Languages Program: Elementary Modern Hebrew II
• JWST 203 - The Garden of Eden in Literature, Art, and Film
• JWST 204 - Biblical Prophets and Prophecy
• JWST 205 - Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern Context
• JWST 208 - New Testament and Christian Origins
• JWST 224 - The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• JWST 231 - The Nature of Suffering: The Book of Job and its History of Interpretation
• JWST 236 - Orientalism and the Jewish Question
• JWST 241 - Anti-Semitism and White Supremacy
• JWST 253 - Jewish Pilgrimage
• JWST 254 - Judaism and the Body
• JWST 274 - History of the Holocaust
• JWST 277 - Israel/Palestine in Literature and Film
• JWST 278 - Jewish/Jew-ish Literatures
• JWST 279 - Poetry and Political Activism
• JWST 281 - Jewish Communities of the Ottoman Empire, 1453-1914
• JWST 286 - Jewish Italy from Antiquity through Modernity
• JWST 291 - Anti-Semitism in European History and Literature
• JWST 306 - Biblical Biographies Told and Retold
• JWST 310 - Zionisms
• JWST 326 - Synagogues, Churches, and Mosques: Sacred Art of the Medieval Mediterranean
• JWST 335 - Seminar: Crusades - Contact and Conflict in the Mediterranean World
• JWST 336 - Jews and Other Germans
• JWST 354 - Judaism in America
• JWST 358 - Religious Outsiders and the American State
• JWST 365 - Love and Death: Jewish Literature and Culture of the Americas
• JWST 366 - Love and Death: Jewish Literature and Culture of the Americas LxC
• JWST 380 - Middle Eastern Prison Literature
• JWST 400 - Senior Capstone in Jewish Studies
• JWST 500 - Jewish Studies Honors
• JWST 995F - Private Reading - Full
• JWST 995H - Private Reading - Half