Jewish Studies

Ask Questions.
FIND MEANING.

At JCHS, Jewish Studies invites students to engage with thousands of years of Jewish wisdom, values, thought, and culture in order to explore questions that matter in their own lives today.

Through close reading, discussion, collaboration, and critical inquiry, students encounter multiple perspectives and develop the skills to interpret complex texts, articulate their ideas, and listen thoughtfully to others. Along the way, students build Jewish literacy while developing their own identities and connections to Jewish tradition.

With courses spanning Bible, Rabbinic Literature, History, and Culture, students can explore Jewish tradition broadly or pursue particular areas of study in greater depth.

Learning Through Chevruta

Chevruta, a traditional Jewish approach to learning, pairs students together to study, question, interpret, and discuss Jewish texts.

Rather than simply receiving answers, students learn to articulate their own interpretations, listen carefully to another point of view, challenge one another's thinking, and refine their ideas through conversation. By engaging with texts and commentaries that span centuries and represent differing perspectives, students learn that thoughtful disagreement can deepen understanding.

These skills extend far beyond Jewish Studies, preparing students to engage thoughtfully with different ideas and perspectives in an increasingly complex world.

Four Areas of Study

Students are placed in Jewish Studies courses based on their previous experience with Jewish texts, knowledge of Hebrew, and critical thinking and writing skills. All levels prepare students for continued Jewish learning at the university level, while advanced Hebrew-intensive courses also prepare students for traditional Jewish text study.

Bible

Explore foundational Jewish texts through close reading, interpretation, and discussion.

Rabbinic Literature

Engage with the Mishnah, Talmud, and centuries of Jewish debate, interpretation, and law.

Jewish History

Explore the people, events, movements, and ideas that have shaped Jewish life across time.

Jewish Culture

Examine Jewish identity, ethics, philosophy, literature, traditions, and contemporary life.

Jewish Studies Requirements

All students complete three years of core Jewish Studies courses and at least one year of a Jewish Studies elective.

EXPLORE Jewish Studies Courses

Core Courses

  • Subject Area: Tanach (Bible)
    Open to: 9

    Through texts primarily from the Tanach (Bible), students explore questions of identity, community, leadership, free will, responsibility, and consequences. Students develop foundational skills in textual interpretation and narrative analysis while learning to read closely, write analytically, speak persuasively, and listen thoughtfully to both their peers and the text.

    Please Note: English-level students study texts in English. Dual-level students encounter texts in English while developing Hebrew reading skills. Hebrew-level students read texts in the original Hebrew with an emphasis on translation and literary analysis.

  • Subject Area: Rabbinic Literature
    Open to: 10

    Students are introduced to the Mishnah and Talmud—the conversations and teachings of ancient rabbis that became foundational to Jewish thought and practice.

    Through collaborative study, students develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and interpretation while exploring Jewish law and practice, rabbinic stories, social responsibility, and the ways ancient texts can provide meaning in contemporary life. An interdisciplinary project with Chemistry asks students to apply Jewish concepts of liability to a contemporary case of damage.

  • Subject Area: Rabbinic Literature
    Open to: 9, 10
    Prerequisite: Department Approval

    Students explore the Mishnah and Gemara through questions of ethics, responsibility, pluralism, intention, and constructive disagreement. By examining the Talmud's preservation of multiple perspectives and debates, students consider how Jewish tradition models intellectual and civil discourse.

    Texts are studied in their original Hebrew and Aramaic, with attention to recurring logical and literary structures. Students develop independent Talmud study skills while considering how ancient rabbinic teachings and values can inform contemporary life and their own Jewish identities.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 12

    What makes a thought—or a thinker—Jewish? Students explore this and other open-ended questions through philosophy, poetry, history, sociology, cultural criticism, and theology.

    Drawing on diverse Jewish thinkers and writers, students examine how Jewish thought has evolved and how it continues to shape contemporary Jewish identity and culture. The course connects closely with senior English and includes interdisciplinary writing.

    The year culminates in a Senior Thesis, an in-depth research project that allows each student to investigate a topic of personal interest related to Jewish civilization and culture.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 12
    Prerequisite: B+ or higher on the Modern Jewish History final research paper and submission by the designated deadline.

    Students engage with challenging philosophical, theological, historical, and literary sources addressing what it means to be Jewish in the modern and postmodern world. Topics include diaspora and modernity, antisemitism and the Holocaust, history and memory, trauma, and the search for divinity.

    The course connects closely with senior English and places significant emphasis on analytical and research-based writing. Students culminate the year with an extensive Senior Thesis, pursuing an area of Jewish civilization or culture that particularly interests them.

    Prerequisite: B+ or higher on the Modern Jewish History final research paper and submission by the designated deadline.

Elective Courses

  • Subject Area: Tanach (Bible)
    Open to: 10, 11
    Prerequisite: Hebrew VI (or concurrent enrollment in Hebrew IV) and Department Approval

    Students explore how relationships with God, community, family, others, and ourselves evolve throughout biblical history—from wandering in the desert and conquering the land to the building and destruction of the Temple.

    Through close study of Hebrew texts and commentaries, students deepen their reading and analytical skills while considering how ancient questions about relationships and responsibility remain relevant today. Students progress toward increasingly independent study in chevruta.

  • Subject Area: Tanach (Bible)
    Open to: 11, 12
    Prerequisite: Department Approval

    This advanced Hebrew text course examines how seemingly neutral biblical characters came to be interpreted as villains. Students trace interpretations across centuries of commentary, exploring how ideas develop and change from early rabbinic sources through modern literature.

    The course concludes with feminist biblical criticism and an exploration of narratives depicting women as victims, victors, and voices. Students develop the skills and confidence to move beyond interpreting Jewish texts to creating their own midrash.

  • Subject Area: Rabbinic Literature
    Open to: 10, 11, 12
    Prerequisite: Mishnah & Gemara and Department Approval

    Students engage in intensive study of the Babylonian Talmud, exploring the rabbinic conversations, laws, ideas, and debates that became foundational to Jewish learning and practice.

    Through traditional Talmud study, students strengthen the skills needed to independently navigate rabbinic literature while engaging with topics drawn from across the Jewish canon and ancient world. Each year focuses on a different tractate, allowing students to continue developing their skills over multiple years.

    Please Note: Students may take up to four years of Advanced Rabbinic Literature and receive credit for each year completed. Course titles on transcripts may vary depending on the tractate and focus of study.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 10, 11, 12

    Students explore the beliefs, practices, cultures, and communities of several major world religions, with particular emphasis on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Judaism serves as a central point of comparison as students consider both similarities and differences among religious traditions.

    Themes include finding balance, the significance of journeys, and understanding and responding to suffering. Video exchanges with students from other religious schools provide opportunities for meaningful interfaith conversation and firsthand learning.

  • Subject Area: Jewish History
    Open to: 11, 12
    Cross-listed with: Humanities

    Students examine the Holocaust as a defining event in modern Jewish and world history. The course begins with pre-war Jewish life, the rise of Nazism, the evolution of Nazi policies toward Jews, and the development of the Final Solution, with particular attention to how and why persecution escalated to genocide.

    Students then explore the Holocaust's continuing legacy, including its relationship to authoritarianism, democracy, antisemitism, Jewish identity, and our understanding of other genocides.

    Please Note: Students may count this cross-listed course toward either their Jewish Studies or Humanities elective graduation requirement.

  • Subject Area: Jewish History
    Open to: 11, 12
    Cross-listed with: Humanities

    The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is shaped by competing experiences, narratives, and interpretations. This course helps students understand the historical turning points and perspectives that have contributed to the conflict and continue to influence political positions today.

    Through historical study and dialogue, students examine the core issues underlying the conflict, the experiences of different populations in the region, and a wide range of perspectives informing contemporary discourse. The course emphasizes open-hearted engagement, thoughtful dialogue, and an appreciation for complexity.

    Please Note: Students may count this cross-listed course toward either their Jewish Studies or Humanities elective graduation requirement.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 10, 11, 12

    How can Jewish wisdom help us understand injustice and create meaningful change? Students draw upon ancient and contemporary Jewish and non-Jewish sources to examine current social issues through a Jewish lens.

    The course explores concepts including Btzelem Elohim (being made in the divine image), teshuvah (repentance and repair), freedom and responsibility, tzedek (justice), and tzedakah. Students also examine Jewish traditions of truth-telling and protest, with particular attention to housing justice and contemporary Bay Area issues, connecting Jewish learning with practical approaches to social change.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 10, 11, 12

    Students explore the many ways Jewish communities celebrate, commemorate, and consecrate important moments throughout the Jewish calendar and human life cycle.

    Drawing from diverse Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions, students examine the foods, music, clothing, prayer, rituals, and customs that have evolved over thousands of years. Text study and historical context are combined with experiential learning, including cooking, creative projects, and occasional field trips, while students explore and create their own connections to Jewish celebration.

  • Subject Area: Rabbinic Literature
    Open to: 11, 12
    Texts: English

    This course tackles some of today's biggest ethical questions through the lens of 3,000 years of Jewish thought and tradition. Students explore contemporary issues including medical ethics, human cloning, surrogacy, genetic identity and manipulation, abortion, citizenship, and governance.

    Through biblical, Mishnaic, Talmudic, and later rabbinic sources, students examine how Jewish ethical thinking has evolved across time and how ancient wisdom can contribute to modern conversations. Students develop their own perspectives while gaining the knowledge and skills to participate thoughtfully in communal dialogue.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 10, 11, 12
    Texts: English
    Cross-listed with: Humanities

    Students explore the emergence of a distinctly Jewish American literary culture in New York City, beginning with the mass immigration of Eastern European Jews in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continuing into the present.

    Through poetry, short stories, novels, and essays, students examine immigration, assimilation, Jewish racial identity, multilingualism, the American melting pot, and responses to the Holocaust. Students engage with these works through both critical and creative writing, approaching literature as readers, critics, and writers.

    Please Note: Students may count this cross-listed course toward either their Jewish Studies or Humanities elective graduation requirement.

  • Subject Area: Jewish Culture
    Open to: 10, 11, 12
    Texts: English, with Hebrew available for Hebrew readers

    Great design can bring text to life. Students explore centuries of Jewish manuscript art and the ways scribes and artists have used calligraphy, illustration, typography, and ornamentation to add meaning to sacred texts.

    Through text study, commentary, personal interpretation, and encounters with guest artists, students discover the relationship between visual expression and Jewish learning. The course culminates in a Jewish manuscript portfolio showcasing each student's artistic and textual interpretations.

Finding Our Way

Hear from Tamar Rabinowitz, Dean of Jewish Studies, about how students connect with ancient Jewish texts, wrestle with challenging questions, and discover meaningful ways to make Jewish learning their own.