About the Program

Minor

The undergraduate minor in Jewish Studies was founded in 2005. The program involves faculty from a large number of disciplines including arts and humanities, social sciences, and law, and students may choose from a range of exciting offerings from across the breadth of Jewish Studies inquiry.  After completing an introductory survey course, participants in the minor may take classes and seminars offered within the Jewish Studies program itself, language courses in the Near Eastern Studies (Hebrew) and German (Yiddish) Departments, hands on experiential learning through the Magnes Collection for Jewish Art and Life, and relevant courses offered in departments including history, comparative literature, near eastern studies, music, sociology, and political science. The program allows students to work closely with members of the faculty, to be mentored by graduate students, and to participate in the intellectual life of the broader Jewish Studies community on campus. Application instructions for the minor (Word Document) .

Declaring the Minor

For information on declaring the minor, please contact the Jewish Studies Program

Visit Group Website

Minor Requirements

Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but they are not noted on diplomas.

General Guidelines

1. All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements below must be taken for graded credit.
2. A minimum of three of the upper division courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
4. Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.
5. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
6. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which you plan to graduate. If you cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, please see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
7. All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements tab.)

The study of Modern Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew, or Yiddish is encouraged and is essential for some but not all of the courses. However, there is no language requirement for the Jewish Studies minor and only advanced language courses are applicable to the minor.

Requirements

To Declare Jewish Studies Minor

Students must meet with the JS minor adviser to declare the minor. Bring your complete application to meeting. This includes:

• A completed Jewish Studies Minor Application Form (Word document).
• A current copy of your UCB transcript printed from BearFacts with your name printed on the document. Please highlight all courses that apply to the minor, including courses in progress and transferable credits from other institutions (community colleges, study abroad). Also, indicate which course (if any) will overlap between the JS minor and your major.
• Copies of transcripts from colleges other than UC Berkeley if course work is to be counted towards the minor. Transcripts may be unofficial. We do not have access to transcripts in the Registrar's Office. Students must request copies themselves and submit them with their applications. Please highlight all courses to be applied to the minor.

Once admitted, minors are required to contact the JS minor adviser at least once each semester to get approval for any changes to their program.

To Complete Jewish Studies Minor

Fill out the following two forms : "Completion of L&S Minor" and "Major-Minor Overlap Check form" and submit both forms to JS Minor adviser no later than the fifth week of classes of your final semester before graduation. Forms can be found here: http://ls-advise.berkeley.edu/fp/00minor.pdf The College of Letters & Science will be notified of minor completion approximately four weeks after the final minor course has been completed for inclusion in student's diploma.

Courses

Jewish Studies

Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

Kenneth A. Bamberger, Professor.

Benjamin Brinner, Professor. Indonesia, Java, Bali, Israel, musical memory, situated musical cognition, musical interaction, improvisation, gamelan, music and oral narrative.
Research Profile

John M. Efron, Professor. Cultural and social history of German Jewry.
Research Profile

Ronald Hendel, Professor. Textual criticism, Hebrew bible, ancient Near Eastern religion and mythology, Northwest Semitic linguistics.
Research Profile

Chana Kronfeld, Professor. Comparative literature, modernism, Hebrew, Yiddish, modern poetry, minor literatures, politics of literary history, feminist stylistics, intertextuality, translation studies.
Research Profile

Jill H. Stoner, Professor. Architecture, architecture as fiction, derivation of spatial words, Jewish ghettos in Italy.
Research Profile

Ann Swidler, Professor. Religion, culture, Africa, AIDS, political sociology, theory, development, NGOs.
Research Profile

Lecturers

Rutie Adler, Lecturer.

Joan Bieder, Senior Lecturer. History of Jewish communities in South East Asia.
Research Profile

Yael Chaver, Lecturer.

Visiting Faculty

Andrea A. Sinn, Visiting Assistant Professor.

Emeritus Faculty

Robert B. Alter, Professor Emeritus. Comparative literature, Near Eastern studies, 19th-century European and American novel, modernism, literary aspects of the bible, modern and biblical Hebrew literature.
Research Profile

Claude S. Fischer, Professor Emeritus. Social networks, American social history, technology, urban sociology, sociology.
Research Profile