Jewish Studies

Pertains to the study of ancient Judaism, Yiddish and East European Jewish culture, Jewish culture in Muslim countries, Hebrew language and literature, and Holocaust Studies, among many other areas of inquiry. Related disciplines include anthropology, folklore, history, literature, linguistics, philosophy, political science, and religious studies.

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), Der Judenstaat: First Hebrew translation by M. Berkovits, Medinat ha-Yehudim. First published Warsaw, Tushiyah, 1896. IUB, Lilly Library

History of the collections

The Indiana University Libraries have collected materials relating to Jewish studies continuously since the 1973, when The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program was founded. Today IUB’s Borns JSP is one of the top Jewish studies programs in the country. It includes research and teaching in the fields of language and literature, history and society and religion and Jewish thought. In 1989, the Department expanded its degree offerings to include the minor doctoral degree. The Jewish Studies materials collected by the Wells Library have kept pace with the curriculum, reflecting the particular strengths of the Department, while steadily growing into a well-rounded collection.

Strengths of the Collections

 Strengths of the collection include Rabbinical literature and Biblical studies, Late antiquity, Jewish history, Zionism, Jewish philosophy and thought, Jewish Diaspora, Land of Israel history and geography, Holocaust- history, literature and personal narrative documentation and biography, Hebrew literature: Piyyutim, medieval and modern, Arab-Israeli conflict, Hebrew/Israeli language and culture. The Jewish Studies collections are complemented by strong collections in Slavic Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, History and Religion Studies, as well as by rare books and manuscripts in the collections of the Lilly Library.