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The Jewish Studies program at UC Santa Cruz offers a rich, interdisciplinary curriculum that enables students to explore Jewish history and culture with remarkable depth and scope. Our courses span three thousand years and five continents, covering topics from ancient Israel's social history to contemporary Jewish cultures worldwide, with special focus on Jewish communities in major global cities. The program includes instruction in Hebrew and Yiddish, modern Jewish history, Zionism, the Hebrew Bible, Holocaust studies, Jewish histories of the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America, Jewish radicalism, anti-Semitism in American law, and Israeli history. UC Santa Cruz stands among the select California universities offering an undergraduate major in Jewish Studies.
Academic Opportunities
Students can join the UCSC Center for Jewish Studies Summer Fellowship in collaboration with Digital Heritage Mapping. Participants employ digital mapping and database tools to virtually document and protect vulnerable Jewish heritage sites throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Fellows work from either Santa Cruz or New York City and receive a substantial stipend.
Additionally, students can contribute to Leviathan, UC Santa Cruz's distinguished magazine and the oldest collegiate publication dedicated to Jewish news and perspectives.