Undergraduates
The Duke Center for Jewish Studies is an exciting interdepartmental program that offers courses including Religion, Political Science, History, Cultural Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Hebrew Language and Literature, Women's Studies, Germanic languages, and more. The Center offers students the flexibility to design a curriculum that meets their individual interests.
Introductory courses in Judaic civilization are especially suited to students who have no previous knowledge of the subject or only a rudimentary familiarity with the Bible and other aspects of Jewish history.
The Center offers a Certificate in Jewish Studies for students who complete six courses in the field. Four of these courses must be at or above the 100-level. They include Religion 40 (Judaism) and History 134C; two courses in either History or Asian and African Languages and Literature; two additional courses are drawn from the following list or approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Not more than three courses in Religion may count towards a certificate. One year of modern or Biblical Hebrew may count towards the total of six courses for the certificate. Internship courses in Jewish museum work, curating Jewish art and artifacts, and hospital visitation are also available and may be counted toward the certificate.
Students who wish to major in Jewish studies have two options: They may do so as religion majors, concentrating on Judaica, or through Duke's innovative Program II. This program offers a student the flexibility to design a curriculum to accommodate unusual interests and talents, with the aid of a faculty advisor.
Duke also offers students the opportunity for study abroad in a number of unique settings, in Europe as well as in Israel .