Jewish Studies Curriculum Initiative
Bring the breadth of Jewish history and civilization into your classroom with ready-to-use teaching modules curated by experts.
Organized as modules and centered around core teaching themes, each unit includes primary sources, expert interpretation, and supplementary resources for both students and instructors. Posen Library curricula offer flexibility and are designed to be easily integrated into coursework in a variety of ways—perfect for launching a new class or refreshing a syllabus to include new perspectives and voices.
Jewish Culture around the World
Jewish cultural diversity is expressed through food, music, language, and names, which balance integration and distinctiveness, tradition and creativity.
Sarah Bunin Benor
Jewish Emancipation, Citizenship, and Belonging
Trace the evolution of Jewish citizenship from 18th-century France through Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and the Middle East, where debates over rights endure.
Geraldine Gudefin
Jews of the Middle East and North Africa: Empire, Colonialism, and Identity
Islamic empires, colonial rule, and modern Israel have shaped MENA, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jewish identities across regions and centuries.
Geoffrey Levin
Sephardic Jewish History and Culture in Spain and Beyond
Explore the history of the Jews in late medieval Spain and the rebirth of Sephardic culture in 17th-century Netherlands and the Americas.
Ronnie Perelis
Sephardic Journeys: Literature, Memory, and Jewish Culture
Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) shaped modern global Jewish culture, identity, and imagination in numerous ways.
Karen E. H. Skinazi
The Origins of Rabbinic Judaism
The rabbis of late antiquity shaped Judaism through debates in the Mishnah, Talmud, and midrash, balancing continuity, change, and authority.
Erez DeGolan
Who Is American? Citizenship, Law, and Jewish History in the United States
Jewish encounters with American citizenship, from the colonial era to today, reveal how the United States has continually redefined who belongs and why.
Lila Corwin Berman
[Coming Soon!] Jewish Mysticism & Shabbat: Sacred Time and God’s Oneness
Examine Jewish mysticism through Shabbat as sacred time, exploring theology of God’s oneness, ritual practice, and mystical states of experience in Kabbalistic
Eitan Fishbane