A Message from our Director:
As the new Director of the Program in Judaic Studies, it is my great pleasure to welcome you back at the start of a new semester. Whether you are returning to campus, reconnecting from afar, or joining our program for the first time, I am grateful to be back together once again on College Hill.
We begin this academic year in times that are anything but ordinary. Across higher education and in broader public life, questions surrounding Jews, Judaism, and antisemitism have taken on renewed urgency and complexity. As an academic program committed to the scholarly study of Jews and Judaism, we recognize both the challenges and the responsibility this moment demands. Our commitment is to confront these issues—sometimes painful, always complex—with the academic rigor, historical depth, and scholarly integrity that have long defined Judaic Studies at Brown.
Below you will find some information about our course offerings, new faculty, upcoming events, and how to stay in touch.
I look forward to seeing many of you in the weeks ahead, and I wish you a semester of learning, growth, and intellectual community.
Paul E. Nahme
Director of the Program in Judaic Studies
Associate Professor of Judaic Studies and Religious Studies
Fall Courses:
This semester, we are proud to offer a rich set of courses, ranging from ancient texts and interpretive traditions to modern Jewish thought, literature, culture; from prayer spaces and their aesthetic history to antisemitism and its politics; from the shaping of public moral debates around Biblical texts and ideas to the history, society and politics of the modern state of Israel. We also offer Modern Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew courses. This semester our course list includes:
HEBR 0100, Elementary Hebrew
HEBR 0300, Intermediate Hebrew
HEBR 0500, Writing and Speaking Hebrew
BHBR, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew
JUDS 0050K, Hope, Longing, and Despair in Jewish Thought
JUDS 0050P, Sacred Spaces: Synagogues, Churches, Mosques
JUDS 0060, The Bible and Moral Debate
JUDS 0681, Great Jewish Books
JUDS 0682 How the Bible Became Holy
JUDS 0980K Contested and Ambivalent Belonging in Modern Israel: Questions of Ethnicity and Citizenship
JUDS 1614, The Political Theology of the “Jewish Question”
Visiting Faculty in Israel Studies:
Judaic Studies is also home to affiliated scholars whose teaching and research will further deepen the intellectual life of our program. This year, we are joined by our Israel Studies scholar, Dr. Erica Weiss. Dr. Weiss is an anthropologist and an Associate Professor at Tel Aviv University. She has conducted research in Israel/Palestine for two decades, first on conscientious objection from military service and then on religious and non-state peace initiatives, as well as minoritarian Jewish political theologies of peace. She is currently running a large-scale project on religious and ethnic coexistence from a comparative perspective in six countries. She is interested in Jewish-non-Jewish relations and the role of religion in political and public life.
Events:
Our fall events feature public lectures, conversations, and events designed to engage both our campus and broader community in fun and meaningful dialogue.
Professor Ruth Adler is planning programs that bring together members of the Brown community such as Israeli Folk Dancing and Mifgashim, where members of the Brown community come together to share a meal to practice speaking modern Hebrew. Our DUG will host an Open House, movie night, discussions with faculty and study breaks during finals.
On November 12th acclaimed author Dara Horn will give a public lecture entitled "In the Haunted Present: Jews in a Non-Jewish World.” In her latest book, Dara Horn explores a pointed question: Why do far too many people seem to love dead Jews, but ignore the living ones? In 2024, the Holocaust continues to make headlines, fill our films and fiction, and generate extraordinary interest far beyond our community. Yet ignorance and indifference towards Jew-hatred today seems to be higher than ever. What’s going on?
Professor Erica Weiss is planning a workshop on November 17th entitled “Judeo-Arab Horizons: Errant Memories, Relationality, and Imagined Futures” and will feature a public lecture by Gil Anidjar. This workshop reopens the concept of the “Arab Jew” to trace alternative Judeo-Arab modes of identification and relationality across geographies and histories, highlighting minor practices, plural grammars, and ethical possibilities that challenge narratives of inexorable enmity and imagine new political horizons.
Details will be shared in the coming weeks at Today@Brown and on our social media platform. I hope you will join us!
How to Stay Connected:
Our program thrives on the participation of students, faculty, alumni, and friends. I invite you to follow us on our YouTube Channel, Instagram, Facebook, on our DUG Listserv. As always, follow Today@Brown for our programming and event announcements.
Graduate Research Grants:
The Program in Judaic Studies aims to promote and support the study of Jews and Judaism across Brown University. To that end, we are currently accepting requests for Graduate Student Research Grants. The deadline for requests is Friday, October 10th at 5:00 p.m.
Undergraduate Essay Prize:
The Program in Judaic Studies awards the Celia & Carl Michaelson Essay Prize to the best academic essay written by a current Brown University undergraduate (regardless of concentration) on any topic relating to Jews and Judaism. We are accepting essays now through April 1, 2026. The deadline will be posted at the beginning of the spring 2026 semester. Follow Today@Brown for more information.