The Master's in Jewish Studies is built around two core components:

• Doing Jewish Studies: this core course offers an indepth introduction to academic Jewish Studies as a profession. Centering on concrete historical cases and sources, it is designed to help each student place his/her area of specialisation within the broader field, both historically and theoretically. Students will acquire a broad repertoire of scholarly approaches, which they can apply to their own research trajectories.
• Term paper: the term paper is connected to the Winterschool in Hebrew and Jewish Studies, which offers an interdisciplinary exploration of a selected theme through a combination of lectures, reading groups, site visits and ateliers.

You can tailor the programme to your own interests through a broad range of electives. Each students trajectory is designed in close consultation with the programme director and study adviser. Some recent examples: East European Jews in the Cold War; Central texts in Jewish mysticism; Early modern Yiddish; Secular Judaism; Images of the other in rabbinic literature; Orthodoxy and LHGBTQ+; Israeli memory culture of the Shoah.

The programme includes the International Winter School in Jewish Studies: one week with staff and students on a location somewhere else in Europe or Israel, together with students from the Open University of Israel and King’s College London. Centred around a challenging theme, lectures, excursions and meetings with local Jewish communities and heritage institutions are offered

Internships are possible in the Amsterdam Jewish heritage institutions, but also at universities, libraries, media, ministries, or NGOs, both in the Netherlands and abroad. For information on available internships and the experiences of other student interns, please consult prof. Irene Zwiep, or follow check out the information on internships for international students in the A-Z list.

The Master's thesis reports on research carried out by the student under the supervision of an academic staff member involved in the programme. The subject of the thesis must be mutually agreed upon by the student and academic adviser(s).