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University of Maryland Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies Home

New Major Explores Roots of Western Religions

‘Religions and Cultures of the Ancient Middle East’ pulls from Jewish studies, history and classics.

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Jewish Studies and Israel Studies Book Shuk

Over 200 free books given away.

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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 Research

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?

Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies

Author/Lead: Vardit Lightstone
Dates:

This 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

University of Toronto Press

 

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.

Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies

Author/Lead: Vardit Lightstone
Dates:

This 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

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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.

Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Program and Center for Jewish Studies

Author/Lead: Ilai Saltzman
Dates:

The 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. 

Taylor & Francis Online Comparative Strategy