The Jewish Studies Program at Kalamazoo College seeks to advance the knowledge of the rich history, religion, and culture of the Jewish people. By identifying interested faculty and coordinating interdisciplinary course offerings, the Program expands opportunities for studying Jewish subjects at Kalamazoo College. In the short term, we plan to create an official Jewish Studies Concentration, an interdisciplinary minor available to students throughout the College.

Through its sponsorship of Jewish cultural programming and student activities, the Program promotes awareness of and interest in Jewish Studies on the Kalamazoo campus and serves as a valuable learning resource for the greater Kalamazoo community. Equally important, a strong Jewish Studies Program provides a source of academic support for the College’s Jewish Student Organization. The Program’s pursuit of these goals contributes to the fullness of Jewish life on campus and to the international flavor of a Kalamazoo College education.

Why Jewish Studies?

Exploring Jewish history, religion, and culture, enables students of all backgrounds to deepen their understanding of basic human questions. Studying the Jewish experience raises important intellectual and ethical issues such as majority/minority relations, identity formation, and the relationship between the religious and the secular. Jewish Studies courses also train students in textual traditions, teaching them to read beyond the page and to consider the broader impact of the written word. In this manner, the Jewish Studies Program encourages students to become thoughtful scholars and morally aware human beings.

• Introduction to Jewish Traditions
• The American Jewish Experience
• Movin' on Up: Migration, Community and Self
• Modern Jews in Enlightenment and Upheaval, 1750-1880
• Modern Jewry: Upheaval and Response, 1881-1967
• Women and Judaism
• Zionism - From Idea to State

Prospective Courses

• Jewish Migrations
• Jewish Nationalism
• Jews on Film

Related Courses

• German-Jewish Literature and Culture, 1750-1945
• Classical Judaism
• Introduction to the Old Testament
• Studies in the Old Testament
• Israeli Politics in the Middle East
• Politics of the Holocaust

Director: Jeffrey Haus

Jeffrey Haus received his Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University in 1997. He has taught and lectured widely on Judaism and Jewish history, and is the author of several articles exploring the history of modern French. He is currently at work on a book about the financial relationship between Judaism and State in nineteenth-century France, and is also guest-editor of an upcoming issue of the CCAR Journal commemorating the bicentennial of the Paris San Hedrin.

Please contact him at (269)-337-5789 or jhaus@kzoo.edu.

Cultural Programming and Related Activites

• Professor Lee Shai Weissbach, University of Louisville, gave two presentations: "Synagogue Buildings and the Patterns of American and Jewish Life" and "The Jewish History of Small-town America"
• Esther Dischereit, a major intellectual voice in Berlin, read from her work and discussed Jewish identity in Germany today.
• Noam Weiner, a former Israeli Army officer, spoke to the students about his experience in the West Bank.
• Rabbi Steven Leder of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple headed a lively presentation and discussion on "Race and Class in America"
• Everything is Illuminated, written by Jonathan Safran Foer, was selected as the Summer Common Reading program. The author spent two days meeting and taking with freshman during orientation week.
• The Jewish Student Organization held a campus-wide Seder attended by more than 100 participants
• The Jewish Student Organization co-sponsered a lecture by Professor Scott Strauss of University of Wisconson-Madison, on the genocide in Darfur.
• The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band entertained the freshmen class during orientation week.
• Dr. Haus addressed the Sisterhood of the Congregation of Moses in Kalamazoo. His talk was entitled “Lakeville Reconsidered: What Makes a ‘Good Jew?’”
• One Voice presented "Do You Know What the Isreali and Palestinian Peoples Actually Want?"
• Nadim Sheiban spoke on "Life in Jerusalem as a Christian Israeli Arab"
• Dr. Haus spoke at the weekly Chapel service at Kalamazoo College on November 11, 2005. His talk was entitled, “Up to My Neck in Sand: Making Peace with My Academic Life.”
• Dr. Phillip and Sherril Horwich of Kalamazoo donated several cartons of books to the Program. Most of these are now housed in the College Library, and have significantly augmented its Judaica holdings.  

Links to Other Sites of Interest

• American Jewish Archives
• Center for Jewish History
• Jewish History Resource Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Jewish-American History on the Web
• American Jewish Historical Society Internet Resources index

For More Information

• Please contact Jeffrey Haus, Director of Jewish Studies at (269)337-5789 or jhaus@kzoo.edu