Hochschule für Jüdische Studien (College of Jewish Studies)
Contact details
Landfriedstraße 1269117 Heidelberg
Germany
Tel: (+49) (0) 62 21/54 192 - 00
Email: info@hfjs.eu
https://http://www.hfjs.eu/
Activites
Awards degrees in Jewish Studies as a sole or major componentBA Jewish Studies: The bachelor’s degree in Jewish Studies forms the foundation of the humanities and cultural studies branch of the Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies. It is non-denominational and requires no previous knowledge, neither in language nor in content. In this course, the students deal with the sources of Judaism, i.e. the sacred texts and their interpretation over time, with the history of the Jewish people, with Jewish philosophy, Jewish art and Jewish literature as well as the other sub-subjects, which are often also overlap thematically. As a result, the unique object is repeatedly viewed from an interdisciplinary perspective.
BA Jewish Studies 50% (teaching option): With the new bachelor's degree in Jewish Studies 50% (teacher's option), all students study in the 50% bachelor's degree programs that are potentially relevant to teaching at the University of Jewish Studies and the University of Heidelberg in polyvalent (specialist) bachelor's degree programs that give them the opportunity to Decision-making in the direction of a specialist master's degree or a teaching master's degree in the course of the bachelor's degree. The combination of the 50% Jewish Studies course (teaching post option) with another 50% subject relevant to the teaching post at Heidelberg University is required. The curriculum of the polyvalent bachelor's degree introduces students to the basics of Jewish studies, as does the bachelor's degree in Jewish studies, with which the bachelor's degree with a teaching option shares most of the modules: the students deal with the sources of the Judaism, i.e. the sacred texts and their interpretation over time, with the history of the Jewish people, with Jewish philosophy, Jewish art and Jewish literature as well as the other sub-subjects. The difference to the bachelor’s degree in Jewish Studies is that students are specially prepared for the tasks that await them as Jewish religion teachers.
BA Jewish Studies: 50% and Community Practice
The bachelor's degree in Jewish Studies 50% and Community Practice consists of two equal parts, one scientific and one religious practice. The academic part corresponds to the BA in Jewish Studies (50%). The remaining 50% are made up of practical religious modules, for example on traditional law studies, prayer practice and Jewish education. The two parts of the course are coordinated. The intensive study of traditional sources benefits Jewish Studies, as does knowledge of the more recent scientific methods of a modern conception of religion.
MA Jewish Studies: After completing the bachelor's degree in Jewish Studies with a proportion of at least 50%, the studies can be continued in order to acquire the academic degree of Master of Arts. As part of the master’s degree, knowledge from the bachelor’s degree is used and deepened. With its comprehensive range of subjects, the Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences enables students who are aiming for an MA in Jewish Studies to differentiate their own studies.
MA Jewish Museology: Museology as an academic discipline deals with the museum and museum history as a place of social formation and the associated intellectual, educational and aesthetic tasks. Jewish museums develop social self-understanding from a double perspective: on the one hand they function as a place for Jewish identity formation and on the other hand they enable the non-Jewish majority society to obtain information and form understanding. This special task requires the development of teaching, research and museum practice geared to this. The museologically gained insights and museographic knowledge are in the context of social development and are not statically defined, but require constant review and renewal.
The master’s degree in Jewish museology is intended to qualify domestic and foreign students for work in Jewish museums, exhibitions and memorial sites by imparting the scientific and practical basics of conception and cultural work.
MA Jewish Civilizations (Cooperation Paideia, Stockholm): The consecutive master's program "Jewish Civilizations" is intended to develop the ability to develop the cultural-scientific understanding of Jewish civilizations in their various expressions through intensive language and source study, with the focus on language and source competence in Hebrew. In addition, during the course of their studies in Stockholm and Heidelberg, students acquire all the necessary theoretical knowledge and methodological tools to deal with the complex forms of Jewish civilizations in the past, present and future, also in an intercultural context.
MA Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures (Cooperation University of Graz): In contrast to the consecutive MA in Jewish Studies, the MA in Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures is open to all scholars in the humanities and cultural studies, as well as to sociological and theological disciplines. For example, a bachelor's degree in political and Islamic studies also qualifies for the MA in Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures. The course offers graduates who have already become familiar with techniques and working methods in the humanities and cultural studies as part of their bachelor's degree a quick introduction to the terms and areas of Jewish studies. This allows students to specialize quickly and choose their focus according to their individual interests.
The MA Jewish Studies - History of Jewish Cultures is offered together with the Karl-Franzens-University Graz . After the first semester, which must be completed in Heidelberg, students must spend at least one semester in Graz.
MA Medieval Studies (Cooperation University of Heidelberg): Medieval studies were traditionally divided into separate subjects, but new focal points in the field of cultural studies have been added in recent decades. Accordingly, the international research landscape has become transdisciplinary in recent decades and has created its own forums for exchange. The "Heidelberg Medieval Master" takes this development into account and consistently makes it fruitful for the area of advanced studies. In doing so, he can build on the particular breadth of complementary offers in medieval teaching and research in Heidelberg. These are used by the University of Heidelberg and the University for Jewish Studies in this joint course.
MA Classic and Modern Literature (Cooperation University of Heidelberg): In association with the University of Heidelberg, the degree program will combine Latin, Romance, Greek and Jewish Studies and provide comprehensive qualifications for dealing with problems in literary studies.
MA Middle East Studies: The transdisciplinary master's program "Middle East Studies" is a joint degree program of the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg and the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies. In a unique way, it combines different disciplines that deal with the culturally and religiously diverse region of the Middle East, and through its special combination of social science and historical methods opens up new and diverse perspectives on the history and present of the Middle East. The Islamic Studies professorships of the Seminar for Languages and Cultures of the Middle East and the Ben-Gurion Endowed Chair for Israel and Middle East Studies and other Judaic subjects are involved. The students of the course are enrolled at both participating institutions and thus benefit from the combination of two special academic environments that only exist in this combination in Heidelberg.
MA Interreligious Studies (joint master's program with the universities of Heidelberg, Basel and Strasbourg):
The Master of Arts in Interreligious Studies takes up the increased social and scientific demand for interreligious competence and offers comprehensive training in questions of determining the relationship and understanding between different religions. The Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies is involved in the international course with its range of courses as a cooperation partner.
Master of Education / teaching post at high schools: The M.Ed. Jewish religious education, teaching post at grammar schools, consists of the subject Jewish religious education with its subject didactics and another subject with its subject didactics, the educational sciences, the master’s thesis and the school practice semester. He prepares for the teaching post for Jewish religious education at high schools. The other subject is selected by the students. Other subjects and educational sciences are offered and carried out within the framework of course-related university cooperations by cooperating universities in accordance with the relevant examination regulations of these universities.
Doctorate: You can write a doctoral thesis at the Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies. A dissertation in the field of Jewish Studies is ideal due to the differentiated variety of subjects at the University of Jewish Studies in Heidelberg. The prerequisite is a completed Magister or Master's degree with a major in Jewish Studies, an equivalent degree from the College of Jewish Studies, another scientific college, or a rabbinate examination that has been taken at a scientific college with a standard period of study of at least four years.
Offers courses in Jewish Studies
Provides supervision in Jewish studies for students working towards a research degree
Pursues academic research activities
Degrees offered
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts; Master of Education
Dr. der Philosofie
Main research activities
The Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies is a place of lively academic debate on all facets of Jewish religion, history, cultures and societies. The proximity to the historical heritage of the landscape in which Ashkenaz was created offers scientific and religious impulses for the work at the university. However, she is always interested in the Jewish cultures as a whole across geographic and temporal spaces: in the past and present, as self-confident Judaism, as a diaspora and also in the land of Israel.
Current research projects:
- Jewish reactions to anti-Semitism: the dissolution of the limits of what can be said and done in Jewish ritual practice
- Biblia Rabbinica: The Bible text in rabbinic literature - registration of the text variants based on the Babylonian-Yemeni text tradition.
- Mecca and Jerusalem: A Radio Program/Podcast on Jewish-Muslim Relations
- Nazi-looted property in the Albert Einstein Library of the Heidelberg University for Jewish Studies - The provenances in the estate of Rabbi Emil Davidovic
- Corpus Masoreticum: The Inculturation of the Masorah into the Jewish Learning of Western Europe in the 11th to 13th Centuries. Digital development of a forgotten knowledge culture (long-term project)
- The Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible in its different material forms in Western Europe (sub-project B4 in the SFB 933 Materiale Textkulturen)
- Theology as Science. Processes of forming the reflexivity of faith traditions in historical and systematic analysis
- Text and Textuality Working Group
- The New Gallia-Germania Judaica; Pilot project for a digital European cooperation project 'Judaica in Europe'
There is a Jewish Studies library
Publishes a journal
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