Jewish Studies Program

Jewish Studies is for everyone!

The field of Jewish studies draws on a variety of academic disciplines to explore and understand the experience of Jews across the world. In the Jewish Studies Program, students engage with Jewish thought, history, and values through classroom discussion, experiential learning, and community engagement. Through our courses and other programs, we offer students both intellectual training and hands-on skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Here's what our students have to say about taking Jewish Studies courses:

"The Jewish Studies program was a truly transformative part of my education at CSUN, and the Applied Jewish Ethics course was particularly enlightening. Showcasing the relevancy of age-old tenets of Jewish ethics in modern contexts raised a fresh and valuable perspective on ethical realities for me, and meaningfully complemented my other academic involvement in Philosophy and Political Science." - Justin Vines, Class of 2023, Congressional Caseworker, Office of Congressman Brad Sherman

Jewish Studies in GE

Jewish Studies offers courses across many categories of the General Education curriculum. This is a great way to give Jewish Studies a try while also advancing in your degree program and/or completing the Jewish Studies major and minor. Here are our current GE courses:

Basic Skills, A3: Critical Thinking

JS 220: Critical Thinking About Jews on Film

C1, Arts

JS 300: Ancient and Medieval Jewish Arts and Literature

C2, Humanities

JS 100: Jewish Religion and Culture

JS 255: Great Books of Jewish Culture

JS 300: Ancient and Medieval Jewish Arts and Literature

JS 333: The Jewish Graphic Novel

C3, American History, Institutions and Ideals

JS 218: American Jewish History and Ideals (new course!)

D1, Social Sciences

JS 318: Applied Jewish Ethics

F, Comparative Cultural Studies

JS 210: History of the Jewish People (cross-listed with HIST 210)

JS 305: Sociology of Jewish Families and Communities (cross-listed with SOC 306)

JS 330: Women in the Jewish Experience

JS 335: Jewish Identity in the U.S. (cross-listed with SOC 335)

JS 378: American Jewish Experience (cross-listed with RS 378)

E, Lifelong Learning

JS 390CS: Nonprofit Internship in the Jewish Community

Event

11th Annual Maurice Amado Foundation Lecture in Jewish Ethics

Max Strassfeld

Androgynes and Eunuchs: What the Ancient Jewish Past Teaches About Contemporary Trans Politics, Professor Max Strassfeld

The ancient world offers surprising insights into contemporary gender politics. Ancient Jewish texts describe a variety of sex and gender categories, which profoundly shaped Jewish ideas about law and gender beyond a simple binary. The flexible thinking in these texts shows us how to reassess our received narratives about the relationship between religion, gender, and law today.

Trans Talmod, Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld

Prof. Max Strassfeld, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Arizona, specializes in Rabbinic Literature, Transgender Studies, and Jewish Studies. His book, Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature, won the 2023 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion - Textual Studies.

Wednesday, March 13 - 12:30-1:45 p.m. PDT
In person: Ferman Presentation Room, University Library
Zoom registration

Androgynes and Eunuchs event flyer (PDF)

Co-sponsored by the Center for Civil Discourse and Social Change; the Pride Center; the University Library; the College of Humanities; the Departments of English, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies; and the Queer Studies Program

College of Humanities