University of Maryland Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies Home
University of Maryland's Jewish Studies degree combines a liberal arts education with practical career skills that last a lifetime.
Jewish Studies offers opportunities to follow your own intellectual interests to explore everything from ancient archaeology to modern politics in Jerusalem, from the narratives of the Bible and the intricacies of medieval philosophy to the complex ambitions of film makers working in English, Yiddish or Hebrew.
The interdisciplinary nature of Jewish studies provides opportunities to analyze texts, read critically, and argue persuasively in speech and in writing—qualities crucial for any career or advanced academic work.
Explore Jewish and Israel Studies
Centers and Programs
Centers and Programs
The Jewish and Israel Studies programs at the University of Maryland are centers for intellectual inquiry about Jews, Judaism and Israel.
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate Students
The Meyerhoff Center offers many opportunities for student engagement with Jewish studies and related fields. Students studying Israel Studies explore the history, culture and political structure of Israel and its place in the Middle East, including Hebrew and/or Arabic language.
Graduate Students
Graduate Students
The Meyerhoff Center and Gildenhorn Institute both offer graduate programs for students to further their exploration into Jewish and Israel Studies.
Faculty and Staff
Faculty and Staff
Access resources for faculty and staff, or find someone in the directory.
Current Research
The Meyerhoff Center and Gildenhorn Institute are dedicated to producing scholarly research that will inform and inspire today’s thought leaders and decision makers.
Explore our Current ResearchRecent Publications and Activities
No Better Home? Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging
This book begins with an audacious question: Has there ever been a better home for Jews than Canada?
Author/Lead: Vardit LightstoneThis book begins with an audacious question: Has there ever been a better home for Jews than Canada? By certain measures, Canada might be the most socially welcoming, economically secure, and religiously tolerant country for Jews in the diaspora, past or present. No Better Home? takes this question seriously, while also exploring the many contested meanings of the idea of "home."
Contributors to the volume include leading scholars of Canadian Jewish life as well as eminent Jewish scholars writing about Canada for the first time. The essays compare Canadian Jewish life with the quality of life experienced by Jews in other countries, examine Jewish and non-Jewish interactions in Canada, analyse specific historical moments and literary texts, reflect deeply personal histories, and widen the conversation about the quality and timbre of the Canadian Jewish experience. No Better Home? foregrounds Canadian Jewish life and ponders all that the Canadian experience has to teach about Jewish modernity.
Co-edited by Vardit Lightstone, Post-Doc fellow for Jewish Studies
Special Section: Forum on No Better Home? Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging
This section was inspired by the 2021 book No Better Home? Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging, edited by David S. Koffman.
Author/Lead: Vardit LightstoneThis section was inspired by the 2021 book No Better Home? Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging, edited by David S. Koffman. The book is a collection of eighteen schol-arly essays that explore topics relating to home, diaspora, and belonging within the context of Canadian Jewry. Wanting to further unpack some of the themes the book raised, we asked two groups of select scholars to read and reflect on ways these topics are manifested in their own research and fields of expertise. The first group is made of six scholars who specialize in the study of other minority groups in Canada, the other group consists of five scholars of Jewish diaspora communities in other countries.
Vardit Lightstone, Post-Doc fellow for Jewish Studies
Canadian Jewish Studies/ Etudes juives canadiennes vo. 36: Fall 2023
Read More about Special Section: Forum on No Better Home? Jews, Canada, and the Sense of Belonging
Generals in the classroom: Joint professional national security education in Israel and the United States
The national security realm poses great challenges to senior military officers and civilian officials.
Author/Lead: Ilai SaltzmanThe national security realm poses great challenges to senior military officers and civilian officials. These leaders oftentimes attend designated Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) institutions as a prerequisite for their future appointments. The article examines how these colleges and universities instill in their graduates the intellectual capacity to effectively engage and solve macro-level and acute strategic challenges as well as employ critical thinking skills to ensure intellectual agility and flexibility.