Jewish Studies

This MA draws on the wide-ranging expertise of UCL Hebrew and Jewish Studies, the only department of its kind in the UK, and offers modules in all areas, periods, and aspects of Jewish Studies. The programme prepares students for further research, personal engagement, and interdisciplinary study.

All students are introduced to the disciplines, theories, methods, and practice of learning and research in Jewish Studies, and those without prior knowledge of Hebrew learn the language at elementary level. An extensive range of optional modules are available in Jewish history, literature, languages, and Jewish thought, from antiquity to the modern world.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of one or two (see below) core modules (30/60 credits), between four and six optional modules (60/90 credits), and a research dissertation (60 credits).

Core modules

• Jewish Studies MA Core Course
• Biblical Hebrew or Modern Hebrew (for students without prior knowledge of Hebrew)

Optional modules

Options may include the following:

• Ancient Jewish Magic; Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions; Judaism and the Origins of Christianity
• European Jewry and the Holocaust; History of the Jews in Poland; Jews and the Metropolis
• Hebrew (biblicial, rabbinic, modern)
• Moses Maimonides in Jewish Thought and History; Hasidism and Modernity
• Old Testament Historical Texts; Introduction to Talmud
• Representation of Trauma; Family Politics in Israeli Literature; Rattling the Gender Agenda
• The Arab-Israeli Conflict; Israel and the Occupied Territories; Anglo-Israeli Relations
• Yiddish; Aramaic; Ugaritic; Syriac; Judeo-Spanish
• Yiddish Memoirs; Yiddish Literature; Special Topics

Please see department <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hebrew-jewish/prospective-students/postgraduate">website</a> for further details. 

Dissertation/research project

All students undertake an independent research project which should be based in part on primary sources. The project culminates in a dissertation of 12,000 words.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials, and other media such as occasional film viewings. Students will be expected to visit the major archives and libraries in the London area, depending on their specific areas of research and interest. Assessment is mainly through unseen examinations, coursework, long essays, and the dissertation.

Normally a minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in an arts or social science subject from a UK university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. Only basic knowledge of Hebrew (beginners level) is required. Hebrew language skills will be assessed in a short placement test during induction week. Students without prior knowledge will be obliged to take one module in Hebrew.