Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
Encyclopedia
The Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (CAJS) at the University of Pennsylvania
is the world's only institution exclusively dedicated to post-doctoral research on Jewish Civilization
. It is located at 420 Walnut Street in Philadelphia
, Pennsylvania
. The center is directed by Professor David B. Ruderman.
Dropsie granted more than 200 Ph.D.
s between its inception and its closing as a degree-granting institution in 1986. Dropsie was also the publisher of the Jewish Quarterly Review
, which was at the time the most respected journal on the subject.
Annenberg merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, after which the institution was renamed the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. It continues to publish the Jewish Quarterly Review, the oldest continuously published Judaic studies journal
in English.
s each year who conduct their research at the University of Pennsylvania. Each fellow is given their own downtown Philadelphia office and meets with the others at weekly seminar
s. The papers they produce are published by the University of Pennsylvania Press
at the conclusion of their term in the program.
Each year has a specific theme; that is, the selected scholars cannot pick their own topics to study. For example, for the 2005-2006 academic year
, all fellows were required to study on the subject "The Jewish Book: Materials Texts and Comparative Contexts." For 2006-2007, they addressed "Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Life under Caliphs and Sultans."
tablets. Texts are available to scholars in Hebrew
, English
, German
, Yiddish
, Ladino, Arabic
, and Latin.
There are also 451 codices in eleven alphabet
s and 24 languages and dialect
s. Some of the languages and dialects represented, in addition to those already listed, include Judeo-Arabic, Armenian
, Telugu
, and Syriac
. Fragments from the Cairo Genizah and others written in Coptic
and Demotic
on papyrus
round out the collection.
The library also holds the personal letters of more than 50 Jewish-American leaders from the 1800s and 1900s, including Isaac Leeser
, Abraham Neuman, Cyrus Adler
(a former Dropsie College president), Mary M. Cohen, Sabato Morais
, Charles Cohen
, Ben Zion Goldberg, and the benefactor Dropsie.
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
is the world's only institution exclusively dedicated to post-doctoral research on Jewish Civilization
Jewish studies
Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...
. It is located at 420 Walnut Street in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. The center is directed by Professor David B. Ruderman.
Dropsie College
The institution now known as CAJS was founded in 1907 as the Dropsie College of Hebrew and Cognate Learning and finally as Dropsie University. It was named after its benefactor, Moses Aaron Dropsie (1821–1905), a wealthy half-Jewish religious convert who willed his entire fortune to "the promotion of and instruction in the Hebrew and cognate languages and their respective literatures."Dropsie granted more than 200 Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
s between its inception and its closing as a degree-granting institution in 1986. Dropsie was also the publisher of the Jewish Quarterly Review
Jewish Quarterly Review
The Jewish Quarterly Review is an peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on Jewish studies. It is published quarterly for the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania by the University of Pennsylvania Press. The current editors are Elliott Horowitz...
, which was at the time the most respected journal on the subject.
Recent history
Although no longer a degree-granting college, it became the Annenberg Research Institute after its 1986 closing and turned into one of the country's most noted interdisciplinary post-doctoral fellowship programs.Annenberg merged with the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, after which the institution was renamed the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. It continues to publish the Jewish Quarterly Review, the oldest continuously published Judaic studies journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
in English.
Fellowships
Today, CAJS supports approximately 24 fellowFellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
s each year who conduct their research at the University of Pennsylvania. Each fellow is given their own downtown Philadelphia office and meets with the others at weekly seminar
Seminar
Seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is...
s. The papers they produce are published by the University of Pennsylvania Press
University of Pennsylvania Press
The University of Pennsylvania Press is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
at the conclusion of their term in the program.
Each year has a specific theme; that is, the selected scholars cannot pick their own topics to study. For example, for the 2005-2006 academic year
Academic term
An academic term is a division of an academic year, the time during which a school, college or university holds classes. These divisions may be called terms...
, all fellows were required to study on the subject "The Jewish Book: Materials Texts and Comparative Contexts." For 2006-2007, they addressed "Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Life under Caliphs and Sultans."
Library
The combination of the Dropsie/Annenberg library along with the University of Pennsylvania's resulted in a 350,000-volume collection on Judaica, including more than 8,000 rare books and an assortment of cuneiformCuneiform
Cuneiform can refer to:*Cuneiform script, an ancient writing system originating in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC*Cuneiform , three bones in the human foot*Cuneiform Records, a music record label...
tablets. Texts are available to scholars in Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
, Ladino, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, and Latin.
There are also 451 codices in eleven alphabet
Alphabet
An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic...
s and 24 languages and dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. Some of the languages and dialects represented, in addition to those already listed, include Judeo-Arabic, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
, Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, and Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
. Fragments from the Cairo Genizah and others written in Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
and Demotic
Demotic (Egyptian)
Demotic refers to either the ancient Egyptian script derived from northern forms of hieratic used in the Delta, or the stage of the Egyptian language following Late Egyptian and preceding Coptic. The term was first used by the Greek historian Herodotus to distinguish it from hieratic and...
on papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
round out the collection.
The library also holds the personal letters of more than 50 Jewish-American leaders from the 1800s and 1900s, including Isaac Leeser
Isaac Leeser
Isaac Leeser was an American, Ashkenazi Jewish lay minister of religion, author, translator, editor, and publisher; pioneer of the Jewish pulpit in the United States, and founder of the Jewish press of America. He produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English to be published in...
, Abraham Neuman, Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler was a U.S. educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.-Biography:Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania in 1883 and gained a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, where he taught Semitic languages from 1884 to 1893...
(a former Dropsie College president), Mary M. Cohen, Sabato Morais
Sabato Morais
Sabato Morais was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.- Early years :...
, Charles Cohen
Charles Cohen
Charles Cohen is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area-based free jazz musician and composer. Creating music since 1971, his music is entirely improvisational and produced solely on a vintage Buchla Music Easel synthesizer, an extremely rare integrated analog performance instrument made by synthesizer...
, Ben Zion Goldberg, and the benefactor Dropsie.
Notable people
Many notable people in Judaic studies have been affiliated with CAJS or Dropsie in some capacity. Some include:Dropsie College students
- Philip BirnbaumPhilip BirnbaumPhilip Birnbaum was an author and translator, best known for his translation and annotation of the siddur , first published in 1949.-Biography:...
, author and translator, best known for his translation of the siddurSiddurA siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed... - Cyrus H. GordonCyrus H. GordonCyrus Herzl Gordon , was an American scholar of Near Eastern cultures and ancient languages.-Biography:Gordon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lithuanian emigrant and physician Benjamin Gordon...
, Near EastNear EastThe Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
scholar - did not graduate - R. Laird HarrisR. Laird HarrisRobert Laird Harris was an Presbyterian minister, church leader, and Old Testament scholar.-Biography:Harris was born near Upper Makefield Township, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. from the University of Delaware , a Th.B. and a Th.M. from Westminster Theological Seminary, an A.M. from University...
, Hebrew scholar - Meredith G. KlineMeredith G. KlineMeredith G. Kline was an American theologian and Old Testament scholar advance in Archeology, both Assyriology and Egyptology.-Academic career:...
, theologian and Old Testament scholar - Ph.D. in AssyriologyAssyriologyAssyriology is the archaeological, historical, and linguistic study of ancient Mesopotamia and the related cultures that used cuneiform writing. The field covers the Akkadian sister-cultures of Assyria and Babylonia, together with their cultural predecessor; Sumer...
and EgyptologyEgyptologyEgyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”... - Samuel Noah KramerSamuel Noah KramerSamuel Noah Kramer was one of the world's leading Assyriologists and a world renowned expert in Sumerian history and Sumerian language.-Biography:...
, Assyriologist and SumerSumerSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
iologist - did not graduate; transferred to Penn - Bernard RevelBernard RevelBernard Revel was an Orthodox rabbi and scholar. He served as the first President of Yeshiva College from 1915 until his death in 1940...
, future head of RIETS yeshiva and founder/President of Yeshiva College. 1911 doctoral thesis on Karaite Judaism. - Edward J. Young, Old Testament scholar and commentator
- Iris Habib ElmasryIris Habib ElmasryIris Habib Elmasry was a prominent Coptic Historian .-Biography:Iris Habib Elmasry was born into a righteous Coptic family 1910, Her family name Elmasry in Arabic language means The Egyptian....
, Coptic historian and scholar - David Dorsey, Old Testament scholar and author
- Rev Mark Alterman, Hebrew-Christian evangelist(www.koshergospel.com)
Dropsie College faculty
- Cyrus AdlerCyrus AdlerCyrus Adler was a U.S. educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.-Biography:Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania in 1883 and gained a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, where he taught Semitic languages from 1884 to 1893...
, Jewish religious leader and scholar - president - William ChomskyWilliam ChomskyWilliam Chomsky was an American scholar of Hebrew, born in Russia , who was a professor at Gratz College. He was made faculty president of Gratz in 1932, a position that he held for thirty seven years. He also taught at Dropsie College, a graduate school of Jewish and Semitic studies from 1955...
, noted Hebrew scholar and father of Noam ChomskyNoam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and... - Benzion NetanyahuBenzion NetanyahuBenzion Netanyahu is an Israeli historian and a professor emeritus at Cornell University. He is a specialist in the golden age of Jewish History in Spain, and is known for his opus, the Origins of the Inquisition in Fifteenth Century Spain...
, historian of Jews in medieval SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and father of Binyamin Netanyahu and Yonatan Netanyahu - Raphael PataiRaphael PataiRaphael Patai , born Ervin György Patai, was a Hungarian-Jewish ethnographer, historian, Orientalist and anthropologist.-Family background:...
, ethnographer and anthropologist - professor of anthropology, 1948–1957 - Stefan ReifStefan ReifStefan Reif is professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge. He was born in Edinburgh on January 21, 1944.He has a PhD from University College London and a Doctor of Literature from Cambridge. He held the following positions at Cambridge:...
, Jewish researcher - assistant professor of Hebrew, 1972–1973 - Bernard Weinryb, Jewish historian, author of various definitive works on history of European Jews
- Solomon ZeitlinSolomon ZeitlinSolomon Zeitlin, שְׁלֹמֹה צײטלין, Шломо Цейтлин Shlomo Cejtlin was a Jewish historian...
, historian of the second Jewish commonwealth and early Christianity.