American Jewish University
The University of Judaism, informally known as the UJ, is a university with undergraduate, graduate, rabbinic, cantorial, and continuing education studies. Its Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies ordains rabbis mostly in the Conservative movement and is one of the major seminaries of rabbinic studies in the United States, as well as the only independent rabbinical seminary west of the Mississippi River. The UJ is located in Los Angeles, California, on Mulholland Drive in the Sepulveda Pass.
Programs of study
The College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the program of undergraduate study at the UJ. The College currently enrolls about 200 students and is home to a number of part-time students as well. The College boasts one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios in the country: 7-1. The average number of students per class is also very low, at 20.
The academic program itself at the College grants the Bachelor of Arts degree. The core curriculum consists of over half the required credits during a student's time at the College, and consists of the study of Western, non-Western, and Jewish civilizations, foreign language studies (often Hebrew), arts, science, math, and computer study. Several academic majors and minors are offered:
- Bioethics, Business, English and Literature, Jewish Studies, Journalism, Liberal Studies, Literature and Politics, Political Science, Psychology, and U.S. Public Policy
The College also permits students to design their own majors, minors, and individualized programs of study in consultation with their academic advisor. The College also encourages students to take leadership roles in not just student organizations but in social, political, and religious work in the greater Los Angeles community.
Graduate study
The Lieber School of Graduate Studies
The Lieber School of Graduate Studies offers programs in Nonprofit Management and Jewish Communal Studies. Students may earn a Master of Business Administration degree in Nonprofit Management, or students who have already earned a Master of Arts degree in some other field may earn an M.A. in Nonprofit Management. The Lieber School also offers an M.A. in Jewish Communal Studies, which consists of studies of management skills as well as Jewish texts, history, and sociology.
The M.B.A. can be combined with the M.A. in Jewish Communal Studies and the other graduate degrees (see below).
The Fingerhut School of Education
The Fingerhut School of Education offers a Master of Arts in Education degree, in which students can choose to focus on Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, or Jewish Educational Foundations. Students in the M.A.Ed. program are also awarded a degree of Bachelor of Literature (B.Lit) in Hebrew Letters, focusing on Bible, Rabbinic Literature, Hebrew, or Jewish Philosophy.
The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
See main article: Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
In addition to Rabbinic ordination, the Ziegler School offers programs culminating in the awarding of a Master of Arts in Rabbinic Studies. This degree may be combined with the M.A.Ed. or M.B.A. programs.
Continuing education
The UJ offers many programs of study through its Continuing Education department. These studies most often take the form of individual classes that can be taken for credit at other universities and applied towards degree programs there, or that are taken simply for personal enjoyment and edification. Classes are offered in language studies, Jewish studies, literature, fine arts, dance and fitness, performance arts, and other varied areas.
Additionally, the UJ offers courses in Introduction to Judaism, as well as a class for men and women who intend to convert to Judaism.
The Department of Continuing Education also puts on each year's Public Lecture Series, which hosts men and women to speak on issues of topical importance each year at the Universal Amphitheater in Hollywood. Past speakers have included such people as President Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright, James Carville, Shimon Peres, and Ehud Barak.
History of the UJ
The University of Judaism was founded in 1947 by Mordecai Kaplan, a Jewish thinker and philosopher who wanted to create an institution as diverse in as many kinds of Judaic expression as could be found. He founded the UJ under the auspices of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Los Angeles. The campus moved several times around Los Angeles until it moved into its current campus in 1979.
Over time, the UJ added more and more programs, most recently the Ziegler School for Rabbinic Studies, which became a full-fledged program culminating in Rabbinic ordination in 1996. It ordained its first class in 1999. (Before the Ziegler School became its own program, students would typically spend two year in the Rabbinic program at the UJ before moving on to the larger programs at either the Jewish Theological Seminary or the Machon Schecter institute in Israel.)
Campus resources
The Ostrow Library boasts over 120,000 volumes, extensive electronic resources, and contains one of the West Coast's largest collections of Judaica.
The Platt Art Gallery plays host to many major exhibitions, both of Jewish and non-Jewish art, and is one of Los Angeles's important art galleries.
The Smalley Sculpture Garden on the campus grounds has a collection of most interesting sculptures.
The Gindi Auditorium is the setting of many concerts, celebrations, and other programs.
The Max and Pauline Zimmer Conference Center is a 96 acre (388,000 m²) campus in Ojai, California. It is home to Camp Ramah of California.
Faculty and staff
This list is not an exhaustive list of all faculty and staff; it is a representation of a small portion of the faculty and staff of the University of Judaism.
- Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies
- Aryeh Cohen, chair of the Department of Jewish Studies
- Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, rector of the University of Judaism
- Miriyam Glazer, chair of the Department of English and Literature
- Sue Kapitanoff, vice president for Student and Undergraduate Affairs
- Rabbi David Lieber, Professor (emeritus) of Biblical Literature and Thought
- Rabbi Moshe Rothblum, Adjunct Lecturer in Practical Rabbinics
- Rabbi Elijah Schochet, Adjunct Professor of Rabbinics
- Rabbi Robert Wexler, President of the University of Judaism
- Ronald Wolfson, Director of the Whizin Institute