Major and Minor
To discuss declaring a major or minor in Jewish Studies or Hebrew Studies please contact Assistant Director of Jewish Studies, Professor Claire Sufrin, c-sufrin@northwestern.edu
Requirements for the major
Prerequisite: Students must complete second-year Hebrew or place out of second-year Hebrew before completing the major.
Courses: The major in Jewish Studies will require the successful completion of twelve courses, at least six of which must be at the 300 level. These courses must include:
- Any two courses from the following list:
- Third-year Hebrew. (A single quarter of third-year Hebrew will suffice to satisfy this requirement.)
- A course on a classical Jewish text in Hebrew in the Department of Religious Studies.
- A course on Hebrew literature read in Hebrew.
Students who complete two years of Yiddish language are exempted from this requirement and need only complete ten courses to complete the major.
- Religion 230: Introduction to Judaism.
- One course covering the biblical period.
- One course covering the rabbinic period.
- Two courses covering the post-rabbinic periods (viz., post-800 C.E.)
- Five other courses listed by Jewish Studies as counting for major or minor credit. (Third-year Hebrew and third-year Yiddish can count toward this requirement.)
Of these twelve courses, at least one must be in the Department of History and one in a department that focuses on the study of literature.
The Jewish Studies major was approved by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences in October 2008.