Each semester, the Yale Program in Jewish Studies offers exciting graduate courses in the Departments of Comparative Literature, English, French, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies as well as at the Divinity School.
Alphabetical list of Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and Latin (1542), housed at the Beinecke
Recent courses include:
- “Introduction to Judaism”
- “Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times”
- “Death, Memorial, and Immortality in the Hebrew Bible and Its World”
- “Readings in Second Temple Jewish Texts”
- “Judaism in the Roman Empire: Philo of Alexandria and Jewish Apologetics”
- “The Jewish World of Jesus”
- “Introduction to Jewish Literature”
- “Twentieth-Century Jewish Politics”
- “Contemporary Israeli Society in Film”
- “Jews and Photography”
- “Letter to God: Simone Weil, Etty Hillesum, Edith Stein”
Check out Spring 2026 Courses
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"The Crucible of Jewish Statehood: The Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean Dynasty"
Instructor: Rotem Avneri Meir
Course Code: JDST 3007
MW 11:35am-12:50pm
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"Jerusalem: Judaism, Christianity, Islam"
Instructor: Sarit Kattan Gribetz
Course Code: JDST 0035 (HIST 0623; HUMS 0360; RLST 0035)
MW 2:30-3:45pm
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"Israeli Narratives"
Instructor: Shiri Goren
Course Code: JDST 3060 (MMES 1157 / NELC 1570/4930)
W 9:25-11:15am
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"Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain"
Instructor: Peter Cole
Course Code: JDST 3812 (MMES 3312 / NELC 3230)
W 3:30-5:20pm
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"Piety, Profanity, Prophecy: Modern Jewish Short Stories"
Instructor: Joshua Price
Course Code: JDST 4240
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"Antisemitic Visual Culture since the Middle Ages"
Instructor: Claire Aubin
Course Code: JDST 3237 (HUMS 3937 / HIST 2248)
TTh 4-5:15pm
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"Walter Benjamin’s Critical Theory"
Instructor: Paul North
Course Code: JDST 7680 (CPLT 6180; GMAN 7090)
M 3:30-6:30pm
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"War and Memory from WWII to the Algerian War: Archive, Fiction, Theory"
Instructor: Alice Kaplan
Course Code: JDST 2511/6511 (FREN 3525/9300; CPLT 3525; HUMS 3525)
Th 1:30-3:20pm
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"Jews in Muslim Lands from the Seventh through the Sixteenth Century"
Instructor: Ivan Marcus
Course Code: JDST 3265/7264 (HIST 1645/7601; RLST 2020; AMST 7780; WGSS 7734)
TTH 11:35am-12:50am
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"Advanced Literary Translation"
Instructor: Peter Cole
Course Code: JDST 3843 (CPLT 3005; ENGL 3415; HUMS 1997)
F 9:25-11:15am
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"Antisemitism and its Opponents in the Muslim World"
Instructor: Arash Azizi
Course Code: JDST 2512 (HIST 2635; HUMS 2035; NELC 1170)
T 1:30-3:20pm
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"Concepts of Divine Law in Historical Perspective"
Instructor: Christine Hayes
Course Code: LAW 21293
T 12:10-2pm
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"The Betrayal of the Intellectuals"
Instructor: Hannan Hever
Course Code: JDST 8762 (CPLT 6044)
Th 3:30-5:20pm
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"Jewish Art and Visual Culture in Late Antiquity"
Instructor: Ra’anan Boustan
Course Code: JDST 7013 (RLST 7800)
M 3:30-5:20pm
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"Hebrew Exegesis: Exodus"
Instructor: Joel Baden
Course Code: REL 556
W 9:30-11:20am
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"Russia at War, 1914–1945: History and Memory"
Course Code: JDST 7401
Instructor: David Varshavsky
T 9:25-11:15am
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"Habsburg Myth: Imperial Imagination in Jewish Literature"
Instructor: Hannan Hever
Course Code: CPLT 6800/GMAN 6420
T 3:30-5:20pm
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"Elementary Yiddish I"
Course Code: YDSH 1100
Instructor: Joshua Price
MTWThF 10:30-11:20am
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"Elementary Yiddish II"
Course Code: YDSH 1200
Instructor: Joshua Price
MTWThF 9:25-10:15am
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"Languages in Dialogue: Hebrew and Arabic"
Course Code: JDST 8274 (HEBR 1690/5780; LING 1650; MMES 1162)
Instructor: Dina Roginsky
TTH 11:35am-12:50pm
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"Intermediate Modern Hebrew II"
Course Code: HEBR 1400/5030
Instructor: Orit Yeret
MTWThF 9:25-10:15am or 10:30-11:20am
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"From Biblical to Modern Hebrew for Reading Knowledge"
Course Code: JDST 8295 (HEBR 1640/5630; MMES 1167
Instructor: Dina Roginsky
TH 11:35-12:50pm
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"Elementary Biblical Hebrew II"
Course Code: HEBR 1270/5120
Instructor: Eric Reymond
MWF 8:20-9:10am
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"Advanced Biblical Hebrew"
Course Code: REL 576
Instructor: Jacqueline Vayntrub
W 1:30-3:20pm
We are happy to offer the following graduate courses for the Fall 2025 semester. Students may also take language courses, including Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, and Yiddish.
“Introduction to Jewish Studies” (JDST 6500)
Thursdays, 1:30pm-3:20pm (Sorkin and Gribetz)
In a society that is broadly ambivalent about—if not roundly antagonistic against—Jews and Judaism, how can one study Jewish texts and history? Is the study of Jews necessarily an act of apologetics or polemics? What does ‘objectivity’ mean in this loaded context? This course examines the inception and development of the modern field of Jewish Studies in nineteenth-century Germany and how the field evolved and spread from Europe to Palestine, Israel, and the United States. Ultimately, students will grapple with the question of the place of Jews and Jewish Studies in the modern academy.
“Jews and/as Others in Mediterranean Antiquity” (REL 7201)
Thursdays, 1:30pm-3:20pm (Boustan)
This course explores the dynamics of contact, entanglement, conflict, and differentiation between Jews and other religious or ethnic groups in the ancient Mediterranean world, both how Jews constructed the religious or ethnic “other” and how Jews were often themselves figured as “others” by those with whom they shared social and cultural worlds. The course explores the impact that intergroup encounters had on the contours of Jewish identity and practice during this formative period and on the creation and transformation of religious community and tradition from antiquity to the present.
The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American Insurrection (JDST 7445)
Mondays, 1:30-3:20pm (Stern)
This seminar explores the history of right-wing political thought from the late eighteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on the role played by religious and pagan traditions. We seeks to answer questions including: what constitutes the right? What are the central philosophical, religious, and pagan, principles of those groups associated with this designation? How have the core ideas of the right changed over time? While the course is limited to the modern period, it adopts a global perspective to better understand the full scope of right-wing politics.
“Hebrew Bible Interpretation I” (REL 503)
MWF 10:30am-11:20am (Baden)
An introduction to the contents of the Hebrew Bible and to the methods of its interpretation. The course focuses on the development of ancient Israelite biblical literature and religion in its historical and cultural context as well as on the theological appropriation of the Hebrew Bible for contemporary communities of faith. The course aims to make students aware of the contents of the Hebrew Bible, the history and development of ancient Israel’s literature and religion, the methods of biblical interpretation, and ways of interpreting the Hebrew Bible for modern communities of faith.
“Death, Memorial, and Immortality in the Hebrew Bible and Its World” (REL 560)
Mondays, 1:30pm-3:20pm (Vayntrub)
This course considers the development of biblical and ancient Near Eastern concepts of death and life-after-death. Among the topics covered are the depiction of human mortality and divine immortality in literature, dying as a social process, the development of the notion of an afterlife and the concept of the “soul,” and communication with the dead. The course examines the history of how ancient texts have shaped inherited ideas of the immortality of the soul, human suffering, and divine justice.
Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times (JDST 7261)
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm (Marcus)
The course is a comprehensive introduction for Graduate Students students as well as Yale College students. It serves as a window course to pre-modern Jewish history. For YC students, this can lead to taking seminars on more limited topics. For graduate students, it is a good preparation for comprehensive exams and provides a model survey course to be offered later on as an instructor.
“Hebrew Exegesis: Ecclesiastes/Qohelet” (REL 573)
Wednesdays, 9:30am-11:20am (Vayntrub)
The course focuses on translation and critical analysis of Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) from Biblical Hebrew, with continuous reference to ancient translations, related biblical and parabiblical texts, and ancient Near Eastern literary texts as relevant. The translation and analysis of primary texts are accompanied by critical evaluation of biblical scholarship.
“The Hebrew Bible, Race, and Racism” (REL 527)
Wednesdays, 1:30pm-3:20pm (Baden)
In this course we explore the ways that the Hebrew Bible, race, and racism have been aligned and constructed from ancient Israel to the present. Topics for the course include biblical texts related to slavery, ethnicity, and foreignness; race and the Bible in early interpretation and in modern discourse; the racializing of biblical characters; black, womanist, and Africana interpretations of the Bible; and the whiteness of traditional biblical scholarship.
Registration Information
Go to the Registrar’s webpage for registration instructions, dates, and assistance.