About Us
Founded in 1955, Bar-Ilan University is one of Israel's leading institutions of higher education, uniquely combining cutting-edge scientific research with education steeped in Jewish values and social responsibility.
The Faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar Ilan is the largest and strongest of its kind in the world. Faculty members research and teach in all areas of Jewish Studies: Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Literature, Rabbinic Literature, the various types of Medieval Literature, Hasidut, the Modern and Contemporary periods. In-depth study of Jewish Intellectual History, Jewish Philosophy, and Kabbala takes place in the faculty. Several faculty members specialize in the archaeology and material culture of the Land of Israel in its various periods, and in Jewish art in different periods.
The faculty strongly emphasizes research into Hebrew language, as well different Jewish languages such as Ladino and Yiddish. Faculty members also study Semitic languages and Near Eastern Studies. All of these activities take place in the nine departments of the faculty: Bible, Talmud, Jewish History, Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Hebrew and Semitic Languages, The Literature and Art of the Jewish People, Jewish Thought, and the interdisciplinary department of Jewish Studies.
Bar-Ilan University, Centre for the Study of Philosophie, Ethics and Jewish Thought. ©Bar-Ilan University, CC BY-SA 2.0