Welcome to the Meyerhoff
Center for Jewish Studies

The Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies, one of the oldest of its kind in the United States, hosts the academic programs in Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, and Religious Studies at the University of Maryland. The Center has a threefold mission: (a) to foster research in Jewish Studies and related fields; (b) to train students in the fields of Jewish Studies, Israel Studies, and Religious Studies at the Graduate and Undergraduate levels; and (c) to serve as a resource to the broader community through public programs, library collections, and special events.

Faculty expertise ranges from the Bible to the State of Israel, and covers Hebrew language and literature, Jewish history, Bible, rabbinics, Jewish philosophy, and Yiddish language and literature. The faculty's interests extend to contemporary American religions, Middle East politics and society, and digital humanities. The Center has contributed substantially to the building of the University's library collections in Jewish Studies and Israel Studies. 

Our academic programs include forty-five Jewish Studies majors, twenty-eight Jewish Studies minors, twenty-two Religious Studies minors, and twelve Israel Studies minors. In addition, a small and select group of graduate students study in our MA in Jewish Studies and in PhD programs in Jewish Studies and Israel Studies in other units. Our programs of study combine intensive languages, close contact with faculty, intellectual rigor, and interdisciplinary breadth.The Gildenhorn Institute of Israel Studies is an academic unit within the Meyerhoff Center.