Jewish Studies is an Interdisciplinary Program offered by the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky. 

First established in 1996, the Jewish Studies Program and interdisciplinary minor has enjoyed a long history at the University of Kentucky.  Currently, the program offers a two-course, year-long sequence in Jewish culture and civilization, HJS 324-325 along with courses on the history, literature and film of the Holocaust, Jewish philosophy, Jews in America, Jewish Graphic Novels, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,  Women in Judaism,  the Jewish musical tradition, and Writing Jewish Kentucky. We are proud to be the only Jewish Studies program in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to offer language courses in Yiddish, Ladino, and modern and biblical Hebrew.

In addition to offering a minimum of 4-5 courses each semester, we also sponsor the Annual Zantker Lecture Series, where we have hosted scholars from across the world on topics as varied as the Bible, Yiddish, and Jewish-American culture today. We also sponsor an annual Luckens graduate essay competition and prize.

The minor in Jewish Studies familiarizes students with the historical and contemporary diversity of Jewish culture, language, literature, religion, history, and philosophy. In addition to specific courses offered by the program, students may also obtain approval from the program director to take courses from other fields provided the course subject matter is significantly relevant to the area of Jewish Studies.