Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies

Yes, we get it. You need a major that will guarantee a career. Engineering majors get jobs in engineering. Nursing majors get jobs in nursing.

And the liberal arts? Well, upon graduation and for the rest of their lives liberal arts majors have choices. Liberal arts graduates read and analyze complex texts. They can do high-level research. They can argue a point from various angles with the written and spoken word. Most of all, in an increasingly uncertain world, they know the big questions to ask. Liberal arts majors know how to think. They never stop learning. There is ample documentation that all employers want the qualities associated with a liberal arts degree.

Actually, no. First, Jewish Studies is interdisciplinary, ranging from history to literature to political science. Second, the Jewish religious and secular tradition, ranging from law to ethics, is at the heart of our society. Jewish history is the history of Europe, but it is also the history of the Near East, from Morocco to Iran. Jewish literature and film concerns fundamental questions of justice and belonging. Antisemitism is the world’s oldest hatred, plumbing the depths of modern conspiracy theory. The Holocaust is at the center of global discourse on everything from mass criminality to reparations. Israel is the world’s most contested country, triggering debates on everything from self-determination to geopolitics to the nature of international law. Meanwhile, modern Hebrew shows that even language can be resurrected from the dead.

Yes, you do. Our Jewish Studies major can be completed in conjunction with other UF majors, and many UF students, including our majors have double and sometimes triple majors. Our Jewish Studies minor is fifteen credit hours and is self-designed. We offer interdisciplinary certificate programs in Holocaust Studies, Israel Studies, and European Jewish Studies.

Meanwhile our classes are cross-listed with political science, history, English, anthropology, religion, European literatures, and more. Did you know that you can take courses on Israel as a political science or English major? Did you know that you can learn about the Holocaust or even Jews in the Muslim world as a history major?

We also offer research opportunities with scholarships to travel abroad. Students writing honors’ thesis and other research projects with us have travelled in recent years to Washington, DC, New York, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, and Jerusalem.

Finally, the Shorstein Center has a new major and minor program in Hebrew language. We offer beginning and intermediate level Hebrew as well as advanced content courses in Hebrew on everything from Israeli media to local Jewish histories.

The University of Florida is a leading university nationally. We offer courses and programs in Jewish Studies that are simply not found at most North American institutions.

We urge you to explore our many offerings!