Welcome to SJSU Jewish Studies
The Jewish Studies Program, 50 years old this year but always in start-up mode, offers a minor degree within the History Department. We welcome SJSU students and community members into a study of Jewish ethnicity, history, literature, ethics, religion, and culture.
We work together with the SJSU Jewish Faculty & Staff Association, Hillel of Silicon Valley, and the Jewish Student Association to offer book discussions, public lectures, film screenings, and other cultural programming throughout the year.
Check back here for dates and times of classes, lectures, events.
Event: SJSU Jewish Studies 50th anniversary and annual Bob Levinson lecture
When: April 9, 2025; 3:30 to 5:30 PM
Where: Schiro Room, MLK Library, 550
Please join us in celebrating the 50th anniversary of SJSU's Jewish Studies Program!
Together with Stanford's Steven Zipperstein and SJSU's Greg Tomlinson, we will engage in a stimulating conversation about the legacy of the Kishinev Pogrom, and the impacts of history on the present.
Special feature: a presentation of documents from the Library's Special Collections, by Aidan Rauh, SJSU History major: a history of the SJSU Jewish Studies Program, 1975-2025
Come early (3:30) for a guided tour of the Jewish Studies book collection and the Jewish Studies archives in Special Collections. Stay after for refreshments and conversation!
Hybrid option: the presentation and conversation will be projected over Zoom for community members at home. Please contact Vicki Harrison (victoria.harrison@sjsu.edu) for the Zoom link.
Fall 2025 SJSU courses
HEBR 1A Beginning Hebrew (4 units GE 3B), Galia Stein-Rosen MW 1:30-3:10 PM, synchronous online
HIST 170s Topics in American History: American Identities and Institutions online (3 units GE 4 + US1), Katherine Chilton, asynchronous online
MUSC 10C Pop and Rock in the US (3 units GE 3A), Thomas Langan, TR 2-3:15 in person and MW 10:30-11:45 synchronous online
RELS 70, Religious Worlds: Navigating Diversity (3 units GE 3B), Todd Perreira, TR 1:30-2:45 in person
RELS 90 Bible History and Literature (3 units GE 3B) Marianne Delaporte, asynchronous online
RELS 99 Death, Dying, and Religions (3 units, D cert), Todd Perriera, MW 9-10:15 synchronous online + TR 3-4:15 in person
RELS 162 Religion and Political Controversy in the US (3 units UD 4), Lee Gilmore, asynchronous online
RELS 191 Religion in America, (3 units UD 4), Marianne Delaporte Kabir, asynchronous online
Featured classes: Hebrew 1A and Hebrew 1B
Interested in learning Hebrew? This Spring we are offering Hebrew 1a and 1b as a combined, CSU fully online class, MW 3-4:40. Both classes are 4 units, GE area C2. The instructor is Galia Stein Rosen, Hebrew language instructor at UCSC for many years. Questions about the courses? Contact Ms Stein Rosen at galia.steinrosen@sjsu.edu
Zoom link is provided upon registration in the courses.
Open University participants are also welcome--please contact me directly for instructions on how to enroll through Open University.
Featured Faculty
Meet Galia Stein-Rosen, creator of our renewed Hebrew program in the World Languages Department. She is currently teaching Hebrew 1A and 1B, as a combined, fully differentiated class. Both classes are GE certified (C2). See her profile on the People page.
Featured Student
Outstanding Jewish Studies minor students may be selected to receive a scholarship for their studies.
Ira Zweig, first year Philosophy major, has won the fall 2023 scholarship, on the strength of his exploration of his grandfather's Holocaust history. You will find an interview he did with me on the People page.
Will you be the 2024-25 recipient? The Jewish Studies minor is now accepting new students into the program.
Featured Friend of Jewish Studies
The Jewish Studies program is blessed with friends who offer the coordinator their expertise, wisdom, sense of humor, generosity of time and resources.
One such person is SJSU Kinesiology Professor Emeritus Dr. David Furst, who last Fall launched a five-year gift of scholarships for Jewish Studies minor program students. Please read about Dr. Furst on the People page, and about Ira Zweig, the first recipient of his scholarship.
Why Study Jewish Studies? One response
From a Christian perspective, why study Jewish Studies? Here are some thoughts from Professor Janet Giddings, who teaches Philosophy of Religion:
The importance and benefits of Jewish Studies.
1. Religious literacy
2. Jesus was a Jewish man. If I am to identify as a Christian I must be Jewish first,
understand the roots of Christianity and understand Jesus.
3. The New Testament is mostly Jewish scripture.
4. Jewish studies helps me better understand and respect Qur'an and Christian scriptures.
5. Teaching Christian tradition over 19 years I came to understand how many students
do not know that Jesus was Jewish. Many of those students thought he was Christian!
He wore the tallit and tzitzit and argued with his religion. I argue with mine so
I understand and can relate to his frustration.
For so many, Jewish Studies is part of the path we need to understand ourselves and our beliefs.
Jewish news, issues, questions
Peruse the Jewish News, Issues, Questions page if you're wondering about Jewish news here in the Bay Area, or about musings in Jewish thought. I welcome guest contributors to this page! Please email me with your interest.
The organization Amcha issued a report on the significant threat to students' Jewish identity, in the face of anti-Semitism on college campuses. If you or someone you know is a victim of identity-based aggression or micro-aggression at SJSU, please let's talk to explore your/their options. Email me so we can meet?
Message from the coordinator
Welcome–I’m glad you’ve stopped by. I’m Vicki Harrison, the Jewish Studies Program coordinator. My career path has been that of a wandering Jew–a PhD in English at Rutgers in New Jersey, a professorship in English at UC Santa Barbara, founding member of Kehillah Jewish High School’s faculty, chair of Notre Dame High School’s English department, and currently Subject Area Coordinator for SJSU's Social Sciences teacher credential program. In between and again, I have coordinated Jewish Studies here at San Jose State, served as faculty advisor to the Jewish Students Association and as co-president of the Jewish Faculty and Staff Association.
Are you a student considering an interdisciplinary, flexible minor that will challenge you as a critical thinker and as a human exploring the diversity of our world? Are you a community member considering the potentials of lifelong learning? Are you a language lover, seeking to learn another (or two) languages (Hebrew and Yiddish)? Please return to the Jewish Studies website often, as I update it whenever I have something new to show you! Email me with any questions/comments.
