In Jewish Studies at UNSW, we focus on the experience of Jews in the modern world, from the Enlightenment and the French Revolution to the current day. This includes the stories of Jewish emancipation, of Zionism, the Holocaust in itself, in relation to other genocides in history, and as an event that has been relived in many ways since 1945.

As part of a major sequence in Jewish Studies you can also take subjects on world religions, on European history and on the USA and Israel.

Jewish history is a universal history. The story of the Jews - their religion, culture and language and their interrelations with non-Jews and the wider society - has its own intrinsic interest and importance as an area of study. The ways in which Jews today see themselves, and the ways in which others see them, spring from the challenges they have faced and choices they have been presented with over the last two hundred years. But the experience of Jews in the modern world is also a vital part of the story of modernity. The ways in which modern societies accommodated, or failed to accommodate, the Jews living in their midst is the story of these very societies.

Studying Jewish Studies at UNSW

At an undergraduate level, the study of Jewish Studies is available with the Bachelor of Arts and related combined degree programs. Students may take a major sequence in Jewish Studies as their second major, together with a major in a school-based discipline within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Alternatively, students within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences may take one or more Jewish Studies courses toward the general requirements of their Bachelor degree.

Students in other faculties may also do Jewish Studies courses to fulfil their General Education requirements toward their own degrees.