Overview

Bar-Ilan University’s (BIU) International School and the Multidisciplinary Department of Jewish Studies offer a Bachelor of Arts degree with a difference. Our Multidisciplinary BA in Jewish Studies opens up a rich world of study, scholarship, and community found nowhere else. Courses are offered in English, with an option to take some in Hebrew.

Jewish Studies encompass a diverse range of disciplines, combining aspects of Jewish history from ancient to modern times; Jewish literature and linguistics; Judaism; Jewish theology, philosophy, and mysticism; Bible and biblical interpretation; Holocaust Studies; Israel Studies; the arts; archaeology; sociology and more.

Despite this incredible range of areas, most undergraduate programs are limited to specific departments and one or two majors. Students rarely have the chance to delve deeply into their interests through the lenses of different disciplines – but at BIU, now they do.

Why the Multidisciplinary BA in Jewish Studies at BIU?

BIU’s Faculty of Jewish Studies is the largest of its kind in the academic world. It offers about 1,500 courses and programs taught by 300 faculty members, and it is divided into 10 departments, a School for Basic Jewish Studies, and 16 research institutes and centers.

All of these facilities are open to students of the Multidisciplinary Department, which uniquely allows students to create their own individualized curricula, best reflecting their interests within the field of Jewish Studies.

Students will therefore be able to benefit from a unique and diverse degree program unrivalled at any other international institution.

The Degree Program

The Multidisciplinary BA program offers four main concentrations in which students have a choice of introductory and advanced-level courses. These are Bible, Jewish History, Jewish Philosophy, and Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology.

Students may register for a dual-major, combining their program with English Literature, Linguistics or Communications (also in English) or with any other undergraduate program given in Hebrew (for those with the appropriate level of Hebrew). They may also register for Multidisciplinary Jewish Studies as an expanded single major.