Prague Centre for Jewish Studies, Charles University
Contact details
Celetná 20116 42 Prague 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 221 619 693
Email: kbv@ff.cuni.cz
https://kbv.ff.cuni.cz/en/research-2/prague-center-for-jewish-studies/
Contact person
Lenka Horčičková
Tel: +420 221 619 693
Email: lenka.horcickova@ff.cuni.cz
Head of Department/Director
PhDr. Pavel Sládek
Email: pavel.sladek@ff.cuni.cz
Activites
Awards degrees in Jewish Studies as a sole or major componentBA Hebrew and Jewish Studies: The programme has two principal pillars: linguistics and cultural history. The linguistics provides the student with a solid grammatical basis of the classical (Biblical) Hebrew and at the same time develops speech with an intensive course of Modern Israel Hebrew. The cultural-historical pillar briefly treats the ancient roots of Jewish culture, but it mainly concentrates on the period from the Middle Ages until the modern period. It acquaints the student with fundamental historical, literary, and religious knowledge and with the most prominent academic approaches. Methodologically, the programme combines a philological approach, embedded in the work with source languages, and a cultural-historical approach. Not only the non-language courses provide different aspects of how the Jewish society operates in the diachronic view (religion, social structure, economy, literature), but they also discuss the mutual relations between the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies, both in their polemic and collaborative aspects.
MA Hebrew and Jewish Studies: The follow-up MA Hebrew and Jewish Studies is designed as a programme that teaches Hebrew language with a strong cultural-historical component. It integrates a newer interdisciplinary Anglo-Saxon concept of “Jewish Studies” into the well-established philological paradigm. Simultaneously, it pays attention to the fact that a more profound understanding of the Jewish society and its history is impossible without the basic knowledge of Judaism. The programme allows the students to focus on the older or present-day Jewish language (languages). The programme’s non-language courses encompass the period of the creation of Rabbinic Judaism and put emphasis on the Middle Ages, early modern period and modern history but it also deals with contemporary topics. The non-language courses not only reflect different aspects of the functioning of Jewish society (history and religion, social structure, economy, literature) in the diachronic view, but they also discuss the mutual relations between the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic society in their diverse aspects, including the reflection of Jews and Judaism in non-Jewish cultures.
PhD in Jewish Studies: The PhD programme is conducted in cooperation with the Institute of Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences. The study programme Jewish Studies focuses on complex research into Jewish history and culture. It takes into consideration both the social and political aspects and the religious and intellectual dimensions of Judaism. It analyses these aspects in their mutual interconnection. The design of the programme has, in accord with contemporary academic trends, an interdisciplinary approach. Methodologically, it builds on approaches of cultural and social history, literary, and religious studies.
PhD in Middle Eastern Studies. The PhD programme Middle Eastern Studies is conducted in cooperation with the Oriental Institute at the Czech Academy of Sciences. The study programme Middle Eastern Studies is designed, in accord with contemporary methodological approaches, as area studies with a prominent exterritorial aspect. The area of the Middle East itself is perceived in its broader sense – on the one hand, it includes North Africa, but on the other, the regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan (the borderland of Central Asia). The exterritorial aspect allows us to include for instance the Arabic presence on the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages, Jewish culture in a European diaspora, or Turkish emigration to present-day Germany.
The programme also covers the historical element – it begins with the late antiquity while leaving aside the ancient history, and emphasizes the Middle Ages, early modern period, modern and present history. It compares how history relates to the development of Islamic but also Jewish and Persian culture, as well as to the significance of their presence in Western Europe. Furthermore, the programme addresses the issues of mutual relations, representations, dialogues, and clashes of Middle Eastern cultures and Europe.
Offers courses in Jewish Studies
Provides supervision in Jewish studies for students working towards a research degree
Pursues academic research activities
Degrees offered
BA Hebrew and Jewish Studies
MA Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Doctorate in Jewish Studies/Middle Eastern Studies
Main research activities
The Prague Centre for Jewish Studies was established at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, in 2012 as an interdisciplinary platform for the study of and research in the field of Jewish history and culture.
The Centre is an important place that enables coordination of research activities in the field of Jewish studies and related disciplines. It organises conferences, workshops, and guest lectures. The Centre also intensively collaborates with academic departments at other faculties of Charles University which are related to the Jewish studies, but also with other Czech universities, with institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the Jewish Museum in Prague.
Although the Centre does not have an official status of a CUFA department, because of its interdisciplinary platform, its teaching and scientific activities are performed in close cooperation with the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Czech and Comparative Literature, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Department of Germanic Studies. Members of the Centre partake in the teaching of languages, literary science, history, and philosophy courses in the follow-up MA programme Jewish Studies. Moreover, they prepared the implementation of a recently accredited BA programme Hebrew and Jewish Studies opened for the first time in the academic year 2019/2020.
There is a Jewish Studies library
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