Jewish Studies Program

Jewish Studies is for everyone!

The field of Jewish studies draws on a variety of academic disciplines to explore and understand the experience of Jews across the world. In the Jewish Studies Program, students engage with Jewish thought, history, and values through classroom discussion, experiential learning, and community engagement. Through our courses and other programs, we offer students both intellectual training and hands-on skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Here's what our students have to say about taking Jewish Studies courses:

"The Jewish Studies program was a truly transformative part of my education at CSUN, and the Applied Jewish Ethics course was particularly enlightening. Showcasing the relevancy of age-old tenets of Jewish ethics in modern contexts raised a fresh and valuable perspective on ethical realities for me, and meaningfully complemented my other academic involvement in Philosophy and Political Science." - Justin Vines, Class of 2023, Congressional Caseworker, Office of Congressman Brad Sherman

Jewish Studies in GE

Jewish Studies offers courses across many categories of the General Education curriculum. This is a great way to give Jewish Studies a try while also advancing in your degree program and/or completing the Jewish Studies major and minor. Here are our current GE courses:

Basic Skills, A3: Critical Thinking

JS 220: Critical Thinking About Jews on Film

C1, Arts

JS 300: Ancient and Medieval Jewish Arts and Literature

C2, Humanities

JS 100: Jewish Religion and Culture

JS 255: Great Books of Jewish Culture

JS 300: Ancient and Medieval Jewish Arts and Literature

JS 333: The Jewish Graphic Novel

C3, American History, Institutions and Ideals

JS 218: American Jewish History and Ideals (new course!)

D1, Social Sciences

JS 318: Applied Jewish Ethics

F, Comparative Cultural Studies

JS 210: History of the Jewish People (cross-listed with HIST 210)

JS 305: Sociology of Jewish Families and Communities (cross-listed with SOC 306)

JS 330: Women in the Jewish Experience

JS 335: Jewish Identity in the U.S. (cross-listed with SOC 335)

JS 378: American Jewish Experience (cross-listed with RS 378)

E, Lifelong Learning

JS 390CS: Nonprofit Internship in the Jewish Community

Events

Campus and Community Peacebuilding Workshops sponsored by CSUN Jewish Studies

“Building Peace Across the Globe; a workshop with Brie Loskota.” Oct. 29, 10 am, Lakeview Terrace Room, USU.

Experience peacebuilding and learn about what it’s like to work in this fascinating field. Brie Loskota is a researcher with the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. She has won widespread recognition for her leadership in peacebuilding and strengthening communities all over the world. She co-founded the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute and has led community-building projects with USC, the University of Chicago, the United States Institute of Peace, and numerous NGOs.

Transforming Conflict: A Conversation with Aaron Hahn Tapper" Nov. 12, 2:30 pm, EUC 130, and Zoom

Aaron Hahn Tapper, professor at University of San Francisco, founded two peacebuilding organizations as well as the first academic program in Judaism and Social Justice. His research has taken him all over the world, from Israel/Palestine to Australia.

“Breaking Barriers, Building Hope: A Conversation with Michal Greenfield and Adnan Jaber of Standing Together.” Nov. 20, 11:30 am.

The speakers are part of a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social justice. Representatives of the organization visit campuses around the world with the goal of creating a shared society during conflict. Come and hear about their work, how they got started, and what they are doing now.

“Building Good Kids: How Twentieth-Century Jewish Culture Tried to Save the World One Child at a Time.” Dec. 2, 4:00-5:15, in Johnson Auditorium

Professor Miriam Udel, Emory University, will deliver the 12th Annual Maurice Amado Foundation Lecture in Jewish Ethics. In the early decades of the twentieth century, a lively, multifarious literature for children sprang into being across four continents in the Jewish hybrid language of Yiddish. The cultural and educational leaders who created this canon had an overarching goal, across various political ideologies, of raising “mensches”: future adults who would act ethically to create a shenere un besere velt, a more beautiful and better world. How did they imbue children’s reading material with their ethical vision, and how did they make their ethical commitments palatable for young readers?

Fostering Justice and Peace in Israel and Palestine. Feb. 6, 2025, 1 pm.

Prof. Mira Sucharov (Carleton University) and Prof. Sa’ed Atshan (Swarthmore College) are Jewish and Palestinian academics who teach people how to converse about Israel and Palestine while maintaining a positive relationship and openness to learning from each other.

Parents Circle/Bereaved Families Forum, April 1, 1 pm.

Two speakers, one Jewish Israeli and one Palestinian, will visit campus to discuss their work with this joint Israeli-Palestinian organization, made up of families who have lost loved ones to the conflict. Members visit schools and other institutions to promote their message of reconciliation and coexistence.

Dates TBA

Anthropologist Natasha Zaretsky (New York University, Rutgers University) will share her work in Cuba, Argentina, and elsewhere on how “regular citzens … have chosen to fight for memory and justice, even when accountability might not be possible in their lifetime.”

Filmmaker Judy Korin (CTVA, CSUN), screening of her new film Adrift. It tells the story of the M.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939. Immigration authorities in Havana, Cuba; Miami, Florida; and Canada refused to allow them into the country, despite their having visas to enter Cuba, and they were forced to return to Germany. Many were sent to death and concentration camps. Corin’s film uses this story to inform a portrayal of contemporary approaches to refugees.

Art-making using the Jewish Studio Process. These sessions offer an enjoyable way to process the challenging content offered by our expert speakers and community leaders. The Jewish Studio Process combines accessible Jewish learning with art therapy best practices, inspiring breakthroughs in personal and organizational wellbeing.

Scholarships

College of Humanities