Courses

Each semester, the Yale Program in Jewish Studies offers exciting undergraduate courses in Jewish history, literature, culture, religion, and philosophy.

Passover Seder Scene

Illumination from a Passover Haggadah (Ms. Hebrew +35, 1725 or 1726), part of the Alexander Kohut Memorial Collection at the Beinecke.

Some recent titles include “Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times,” “Reading Between the Panels: Visual Narratives and the Culture of Hebrew Graphic Novels,” “Jerusalem: Judaism, Christianity, Islam,” “Jews, Conversos, and Monarchs,” “The Jews in Nazi Europe,” “Translating Judaism,” “The Classics of Modern Hebrew Literature,” “Modern Jewish Politics,” “American Jewish Citizenship Politics, from Revolution to Civil Rights,” “The Mitnagdic Tradition,” “Israeli Popular Music,” “Yiddish Humor: A Genealogy,” “Introduction to Jewish Literatures,” “Making European Culture Jewish,” “Medieval Jews, Christian, and Muslims in Conversations,” “Modernism and Avant-Garde in Hebrew Poetry,” “Work, Rest and Leisure: A History of the Jewish Sabbath,” “The New York Intellectuals: Politics, Art, Argument,” “Contemporary Israeli Society in Film,” “Jewish Literary Masterpieces,” “The Politics of Jewish Literary Masterpieces,” “Modern Jewish Poets,” “Representing the Holocaust in Literature and Film,” and “Jewish Philosophy.”

“Courses in Jewish Studies were a consistent highlight of my undergraduate education. The world-class courses in Jewish philosophy, Hebrew poetry, and ancient history and literature that I took in Jewish Studies expanded my view of the Jewish tradition and made me a better humanist and a better scholar. I still feel their influence in my work and my life today.”

Jacob Abolafia

Jacob Abolafia, Class of 2010, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and author of The Prison before the Panopticon: Incarceration in Ancient and Modern Political Philosophy (2024)

“My time taking Jewish Studies courses in Rabbinics was one of the highlights of my college career. In fact, I went on to get a Master’s degree in Talmud and Halacha at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I am infinitely grateful to the professors who nurtured my passion for Talmud and the brilliant classmates I got to engage with.”

Sahar Segal

Sahar Segal, Yale College Class of 2013, Attorney, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP

Check out Spring 2026 Courses

  • "The Crucible of Jewish Statehood: The Maccabean Revolt and Hasmonean Dynasty"

     

    Instructor: Rotem Avneri Meir

    Course Code: JDST 3007

    MW 11:35am-12:50pm

  • "Jerusalem: Judaism, Christianity, Islam"

     

    Instructor: Sarit Kattan Gribetz

    Course Code: JDST 0035 (HIST 0623; HUMS 0360; RLST 0035)

    MW 2:30-3:45pm

  • "Israeli Narratives"

     

    Instructor: Shiri Goren

    Course Code: JDST 3060 (MMES 1157 / NELC 1570/4930)

    W 9:25-11:15am

  • "Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain"

     

    Instructor: Peter Cole

    Course Code: JDST 3812 (MMES 3312 / NELC 3230)

    W 3:30-5:20pm

  • "Piety, Profanity, Prophecy: Modern Jewish Short Stories"

     

    Instructor: Joshua Price

    Course Code: JDST 4240

  • "Antisemitic Visual Culture since the Middle Ages"

     

    Instructor: Claire Aubin

    Course Code: JDST 3237 (HUMS 3937 / HIST 2248)

    TTh 4-5:15pm

  • "Walter Benjamin’s Critical Theory"

     

    Instructor: Paul North

    Course Code: JDST 7680 (CPLT 6180; GMAN 7090)

    M 3:30-6:30pm

  • "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

  • "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

  • "Advanced Literary Translation"

     

    Instructor: Peter Cole

    Course Code: JDST 3843 (CPLT 3005; ENGL 3415; HUMS 1997)

    F 9:25-11:15am

  • "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

  • "Concepts of Divine Law in Historical Perspective"

     

    Instructor: Christine Hayes

    Course Code: LAW 21293

    T 12:10-2pm

  • "The Betrayal of the Intellectuals"

     

    Instructor: Hannan Hever

    Course Code: JDST 8762 (CPLT 6044)

    Th 3:30-5:20pm

  • "Jewish Art and Visual Culture in Late Antiquity"

     

    Instructor: Ra’anan Boustan

    Course Code: JDST 7013 (RLST 7800)

    M 3:30-5:20pm

  • "Hebrew Exegesis: Exodus"

     

    Instructor: Joel Baden

    Course Code: REL 556

    W 9:30-11:20am

  • "Russia at War, 1914–1945: History and Memory"

     

    Course Code: JDST 7401

    Instructor: David Varshavsky

    T 9:25-11:15am

  • "Habsburg Myth: Imperial Imagination in Jewish Literature"

     

    Instructor: Hannan Hever

    Course Code: CPLT 6800/GMAN 6420

    T 3:30-5:20pm

  • "Elementary Yiddish I"

     

    Course Code: YDSH 1100

    Instructor: Joshua Price

    MTWThF 10:30-11:20am

  • "Elementary Yiddish II"

     

    Course Code: YDSH 1200

    Instructor: Joshua Price

    MTWThF 9:25-10:15am

  • "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

  • "Intermediate Modern Hebrew II"

     

    Course Code: HEBR 1400/5030

    Instructor: Orit Yeret

    MTWThF 9:25-10:15am or 10:30-11:20am

  • "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

  • "Elementary Biblical Hebrew II"

     

    Course Code: HEBR 1270/5120

    Instructor: Eric Reymond

    MWF 8:20-9:10am

  • "Advanced Biblical Hebrew"

     

    Course Code: REL 576

    Instructor: Jacqueline Vayntrub

    W 1:30-3:20pm

Fall 2025 courses

  • "Jews and the World: From the Bible through Early Modern Times"

     

    Instructor: Ivan Marcus

    Course Code: JDST 2000

  • “The Global Right: From the French Revolution to the American Insurrection”

     

    Instructor: Eliyahu Stern 

    Course Code: JDST 3451

  • “Reading Between the Panels: Visual Narratives and the Culture of Hebrew Graphic Novels”

     

    Instructor: Shiri Goren

    Course Code: JDST 4205

  • Medieval Philosophy

     

    Instructors: Paul Franks, Michael Lessman

    Course Code: PHIL 2220

  • "The Frankfurt School"

     

    Instructor: Jacob McNulty

    Course Code: GMAN 3030

  • "Introduction to Jewish Literatures"

     

    Instructor: Hannan Hever

    Course Code: JDST 3856

  • "Kafka"

     

    Instructor: Paul North

    Course Code: GMAN 3333

  • "Making European Culture Jewish: Five Media, 1780–1930"

     

    Instructor: David Sorkin

    Course Code: JDST 3446

  • "Medieval Jews, Christians, and Muslims In Conversation"

     

    Instructor: Ivan Marcus

    Course Code: JDST 3270

  • "Elementary Yiddish I"

     

    Instructor: Joshua Price

    Course Code: YDSH 1100

  • "Elementary Modern Hebrew I"

     

    Instructor: Dina Roginsky

    Course Code: HEBR 1100

  • "Elementary Biblical Hebrew I"

     

    Instructor: Dina Roginsky

    Course Code: HEBR 1170

  • "Conversational Hebrew: Israeli Media"

     

    Instructor: Shiri Goren

    Course Code: HEBR 1510

  • "Introduction to Theory of Literature"

     

    Instructor: Hannan Hever

    Course Code: CPLT 3000

  • "Intermediate Modern Hebrew I"

     

    Instructor: Orit Yeret

    Course Code: HEBR 1300

Yale Course Search

Listing of Yale courses by semester.

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Registration Information

Go to the Registrar’s webpage for registration instructions, dates, and assistance.

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