Jewish Studies

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Jewish Studies at Hampshire

The academic study of Jewish history, literature, and culture goes back to the early years of the college. In 1973, a group of students helped to organize the nation’s first college course on the Holocaust, “Thinking the Unthinkable.” Alumni of that course went on to further study of the Jewish experience, upon which they have based their careers: co-organizer Aaron Lansky founded the National Yiddish Book Center; Margo Bloom, now director of the Sol Goldman YM-YWHA of the Educational Alliance (also known as the 14th Street Y) in New York and former director of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, founded the organization Facing History and Ourselves; and Hampshire’s Dean of Faculty Aaron Berman did his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University on the history of American Zionism.

In recent years, the pursuit of Jewish Studies at Hampshire has been made possible through the generosity of the Jeremiah Kaplan Family Foundation, which has funded undergraduate grants, a postdoctoral fellowship in modern Jewish studies, and a visiting assistant professorship in American Jewish literature. In conjunction with the National Yiddish Book Center, the Kaplan Foundation also provided support for on-campus conferences on Rethinking the Holocaust, in 1998, and Contemporary Jewish Creativity, in 2000. Recent visiting lecturers on campus have included Eric Sundquist and E.L. Doctorow. In 2006, Jewish Studies joined several other programs at Hampshire and in the Five Colleges in creating an interdisciplinary series of lectures and discussions entitled "Art, Exile, Memory."

Beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year, Hampshire College has been awarded a grant from the Posen Foundation's Center for Cultural Judaism for the development of courses and programs in the study of secular Jewish history and cultures. For more details about the grant and related Hampshire courses, visit www.culturaljudaism.org/ccj/grants.

Courses in Jewish Studies at Hampshire vary from semester to semester, but are generally offered through the Schools of Social Science (SS) and Humanities, Arts & Cultural Studies (HACU). Courses are listed online via The Hub, Hampshire’s online registration system.

Jewish life at the Five Colleges is diverse. Hillel Foundation operates on three campuses in the valley (Smith College, Amherst College, and the University of Massachusetts). At Hampshire (as well as at Mount Holyoke), students have organized an independent Jewish Students Union. There is a Kosher mod on campus that is organized and maintained by observant students, and Kosher facilities are also available on other campuses.

Campus Resources For Jewish Studies:

National Yiddish Book Center
www.yiddishbookcenter.org/

Jewish Studies Resources at the Harold F. Johnson Library
library.hampshire.edu/subjects/jewish-studies.html

Jewish Studies at the Five Colleges

Program in Jewish Studies, Smith College
www.smith.edu/jewishstudies

Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts
www.umass.edu/judaic

Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College
www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/jewish

Resources for Jewish Students at the Five Colleges

Jewish Student Union at Hampshire College
Contact: Rabbi Steven Nathan
Spiritual Life Office
Phone: 413.559.5282
Email: snathan@hampshire.edu

Office of Jewish Affairs, University of Massachusetts
www. umass.edu/jewish

Smith College Hillel
www.smith.edu/chapel/resources/jewish.htm

Jewish Students Union at Mount Holyoke College
www.mtholyoke.edu/org/jsu

Amherst College Hillel
www.amherst.edu/~hillel