Meet the Director,
Brian Horowitz

WELCOME to Jewish Studies
at Tulane University.

Jewish Studies represents an interdisciplinary approach to the study
of the Jews, their history, religion, language, thought,
culture, literature, and music.

UPCOMING EVENTS
TULANE'S JEWISH STUDIES LECTURES 2007-2008
THEMES: 60th Anniversary of Israel & Cultural Judaism
co-sponsored by the Schusterman Foundation and the Posen Foundation's Center for Cultural Judaism

March 3, 4pm, LBC 201-Race Conference Room
Mitchell Bard
Co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and AIPAC.

March 25, 7pm, Stone Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Building
David Biale, (U.C. Davis)
Jewish History

 

THIS DAY IN JEWISH HISTORY
A daily posting of events in Jewish history.

 

Recent Lectures

February, 14, 3pm, LBC 202-Rechler Conference Room
Dragan Kujundzic (University of Florida)
Empire: Geopolitics and Monstrosity
(Cultural Judaism)
Co-sponsored by the Department of English, Tulane University

LEHRHAUS LECTURES
*Jan. 23, 7pm, Touro Synagogue, 4328 St. Charles Ave
Derek Penslar (University of Toronto)
Can Zionism Be Secular? Can Post-Zionism be Religious?
(60th Anniversary of Israel)
Byron Strung Memorial Lecture

LEHRHAUS LECTURES
*Jan. 16, 7:15pm, Touro Synagogue, 4328 St. Charles Ave.
Sarina Chen (Tulane University)
The Temple Mount is in our Hands: The Current Halachic Controversy about Jewish Pilgrimage to the Temple Mount
(60th Anniversary of Israel)

LEHRHAUS LECTURES
*Jan. 9, 7pm, Touro Synagogue, 4328 St. Charles Ave
Nili Gold (University of Pennsylvania)
Yehudah Amichai: IsraelŐs National Poet
(60th Anniversary of Israel)
Byron Strung Memorial Lecture

ROSALIE COHEN DEDICATION
Dec. 7, 3:00 in the Garden of Jones Hall
Dedication Ceremony of the Rosalie Cohen Collection

Nov. 16. 7:00 pm. Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation
David Fishman (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Vilna: Jerusalem of Lithuania
Co-sponsored by Shir Hadash

Nov. 14, 7 pm. Jewish Community Center, 5342 St. Charles Ave.
D.C. Participants: Steven Zipperstein (Stanford University), Patricia Herlihy (Brown University), Marline Otte (Tulane University)
Odessa and New Orleans: Inverted Twins/Port Cities
Co-sponsored by the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington
(Secular Judaism)

October 25, 2pm, Jones Hall 108.
Dr. Geoffrey Megargee, Historian at the United States Holocaust Museum
The Role of Work Camps in the Holocaust

* Oct. 11, 7pm, Stone Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Building
Ilan Troen, The Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies at Brandeis University.
Whose Land is it Anyway? Theology and Secular Politics in the Land of Israel/Palestine?
(60th Anniversary of Israel)

Sept. 18, 7pm, Stone Auditorium in the Woldenberg Art Building
Arnie Fielkow, City Councilman, (Secular Judaism)
Adopting in Eastern Europe Today or Making a Baby Jewish

 

About Jewish Studies

The Tulane program uses methods of history to gain accurate insights into the Jews' past; sociological analysis to find the larger patterns of Jewish behavior and social interaction; and the study of philosophy to examine the comprehensive understandings of humanity and nature proposed by Jewish thinkers.

In addition, language, literature and musicology are studied in order to explore the diverse cultural creations of the Jews and the method of social anthropology allows students to characterize Jewish religion and to define its impact upon the lives of its past and present adherents. Through these several approaches, Jewish Studies attempts to comprehend the Jewish experience in antiquity, the middle ages, and the present, and to examine the identities and ways of life that Jews have developed in order to make sense of the worlds in which they have lived.

 

The Aim of Jewish Studies

Tulane's Jewish Studies Program gives students a thorough understanding of the social, cultural and intellectual processes through which people lend meaning and importance to their lives. Its underlying premise is that the Jewish experience throughout history is an important illustration of the experience of all of humanity.

Through intellectual observation and study of the Jews, we gain insight into the human condition -- into the problems that face all peoples and social groups. We attempt to understand the choices they make in confronting and overcoming these human dilemmas. This means that the study of Jews and Judaism is not parochial nor doctrinaire. It is an attempt, through the study of one group, to understand the inner dynamics of all human life.
 

After Tulane

The ability to function responsibly and effectively in social and professional settings depends upon a broad intellectual background and a keen awareness of the potentials of one's self and of others. Since Jewish Studies makes use of a wide range of scholarly approaches in order to explore the nature of the human condition, it provides an effective background for individuals interested in diverse career options -- the social sciences, business law, medicine and government. In fact, many students choose Jewish Studies as a double major along with such fields as pre-law, pre-med, areas of the sciences as well as other programs within the humanities.

At the same time, a major in Jewish studies prepares the student for a variety of careers within the Jewish community -- in education, social work or agency administration, for example. Jewish Studies also provides a solid background for those who wish to continue in areas of Jewish learning, either within graduate programs in Judaism or religion, or in rabbinical seminaries.

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Jewish Studies 312C Jones Hall New Orleans, LA 70118-5698 Ph. 504.865.5349 Fax 504.865.5348

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