Jewish Studies

The Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University is one of the largest, oldest, and most vibrant Jewish Studies programs in the country.

Over the past 35 years, IU Bloomington has developed one of the leading Jewish Studies programs in the country, the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program. Our mission is to promote cutting-edge research in Jewish Studies, to help our students learn about the Jewish people while developing their intellectual abilities and to enhance the understanding of Jewish culture among the larger public.

As part of a great public university, we want to share what we have discovered about the Jewish people and its culture with all those willing and able to learn with us—IU students and members of our larger community, Jews and non-Jews, adult

learners and alumni. Our faculty include leading experts in a wide variety of subfields—the Bible

and ancient Judaism, Hebrew, Yiddish, Sephardic Jewish culture, Jewish art, Jewish history, Jewish thought, Israel studies, and much else. What unites us across our diverse interests is a commitment to giving our students the best education we can.

Our undergraduate program is one of the largest and most popular in the country, with more majors than any other secular university in the U.S. Our students benefit from more than 60 courses offered each year in Jewish studies; a generous range of scholarships (including several newly established four-year scholarships awarded to outstanding freshmen); a wide range of extracurricular activities that include opportunities to meet world class scholars, leaders and artists; a caring student advisor; overseas study programs in Israel and elsewhere; and most importantly, a vibrant community of fellow students. We offer a major and area certificate in Jewish Studies, and minors in Hebrew and Yiddish the later (through Germanic Studies), and we seek whenever possible to help our students bridge between their studies and their professional aspirations, recently establishing a unique Jewish sacred music program for students seeking careers in the cantorate or musical leadership, and bringing to campus professionals from around the country to teach our students about community service and leadership.

We have sought to promote the next generation of scholarship by developing doctoral programs with partner departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the Department of History, one can pursue a Ph.D. in modern Jewish history (Eastern European history, Sephardic History, Holocaust Studies). The Religious Studies department offers graduate tracks for students interested in the Hebrew Bible and modern Jewish thought, and one can also pursue Jewish Studies-focused graduate studies in many other departments.

Graduate students accepted into one of these departments are eligible for one of several prestigious fellowships offered by Jewish Studies-the Glazer Family Fellowships, the Friends of the Borns Jewish Studies Program Fellowship, the Alice Ginott Cohn, Ph.D. and Theodore Cohn Fellowship and the Yiddish Graduate Fellowship. For more information, read on in our website, or contact our Associate Director, Dr. Jeffrey Veidlinger, at jveidlin@indiana.edu.

One need not be a student at IU to learn from our faculty. The program offers a busy schedule of lectures and programs throughout the academic year, almost all free and open to the public. The Institute for Jewish Culture and the Arts sponsors performances and talks by artists, writers, and musicians. The Sephardic Studies Initiative was established to promote appreciation of Sephardic Jewish culture. The New Institute offers a day-long adult education program focused on a particular theme or issue; and the Cohn Institute aims to promote understanding of Judaism and the Jews among secondary school teachers. See our calendar for upcoming events.

If you are a prospective student, I want to especially welcome you to learn about the program by reading this website and contacting our Assistant Director and Academic Advisor, Dr. Carolyn Lipson-Walker at clipsonw@indiana.edu. I always enjoy the chance to meet with students, so please feel welcome to contact me as well at sweitzma@indiana.edu.

With best wishes,

Dr. Steven Weitzman
Director