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  • Senior Research

    Seniors present their research at an event each spring.

  • Rare Book Room Bird's-Eye View

    Students in Professor Beth Wenger's Jewish history class enjoying the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

  • Moldovan Jewish Scribe

    "Photograph of a Jewish scribe, ca. 1917." From the Moldovan Family Collection of Judaica, University of Pennsylvania Libraries.

Welcome

Our program reflects the full range and diverse dimensions of the Jewish experience as well as different approaches to studying Jewish life and culture. We welcome students of all backgrounds to take our courses and participate in our programs. We also offer a host of opportunities outside the classroom. Come join us!

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The Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

The Katz Center is driven by the mission to deepen and broaden the understanding of Jewish history, texts, cultures, ideas, and experiences. The research it supports spans all periods of Jewish history, from distant antiquity through to the present day; it reaches into every part of the globe where Jews have lived, and it is grounded in a wide range of disciplines and approaches. 

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Events



Gruss Workshop on Jewish Law

Empire, Law, Violence and the Jews: A Late Antique and Early Medieval Workshop
Co-conveners: Professor Christine Hayes and Professor Simcha Gross
Mar 17, 2025 (All Day) | Penn Carey Law School

Since the 6th c. BCE, Judeans and later Jews have been organized as a distinct community living within – or in the shadow of -- a succession of empires. Jewish communal structures, models of leadership,…



The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century

Matthias Lehmann
Mar 27, 2025 at - | Zoom webinar

The Baron: Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Nineteenth Century (Stanford University Press) is an award-winning book by Matthias B. Lehmann. Prof. Lehmann will discuss his book in a Zoom webinar. 

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The Scales of Suffering: Neo-Lachrymosity and the Writing of Jewish History

Mar 31, 2025 at - | Penn Museum (East Entrance)

Is the writing of Jewish history possible without tears and tales of woe? This was the challenge leveled nearly a hundred years ago by perhaps the most influential Jewish historian in the United States, Salo Baron.…

Jewish Studies @ Penn

Read the latest issue of the newsletter of the Jewish Studies Program, the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, and the Judaica Collections at the Penn Libraries.

Jewish Studies Administered Research Awards

Each fall and spring the Jewish Studies Program offers Goldfein Research Awards, Brenner Special Opportunity Awards, and Schwartz Awards to both undergraduate and graduate Penn students. Learn More >