Center for Cultural Judaism Awards Grants to Six Universities for the Study of Secular Judaism

APRIL 19, 2004, NEW YORK, NY - After careful consideration of some thirty applications for grants in the study of Secular Judaism, the Center for Cultural Judaism with support from the Posen Foundation is pleased to announce that six universities in the United States will receive grants of $50,000 each to underwrite new courses of study in Secular Judaism, according to Myrna Baron, executive director of the Center for Cultural Judaism. Pending annual review, these grants can be renewed for two additional years.

The six universities to propose the most significant courses are Temple University, which will introduce a new track in Secular Jewish Studies; State University of New York at Albany, which serves the largest concentration of Jewish students in the SUNY system; University of California – Davis, whose faculty is committed to using cultural studies to define Jewish identity; the University of Denver, which is transforming from a Center of Judaic Studies to a program that is grounded in the study of modern Jewish culture and society; the University of Miami, which regards the study of secular Judaism as a necessary component of a comprehensive Judaism studies program; and the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, which offers the only full-fledged department of Jewish Studies among all the public universities in New England, and one of the few nationwide wholly dedicated to cultivating an appreciation of the historical role played by Jewish culture in the development of human civilization.

Some of the courses supported by these grants, which will begin in the 2004-2005 academic year, include “Jewish Secularism and Jewish Civilization”; “Judaism and Modernity: Pluralities of Jewish Culture since the Enlightenment”; “Introduction to Jewish Cultures”; “Jews Beyond Judaism”; “The Making of Secular Jewish Culture”; “Origins of Secular Jewish Life”; “Jewish Culture in a Secular Age”; “Jewish Culture in the Modern Era”; “Modern Jewish Thought”; “Negotiating Religion and State: Jewish Secularism and Culture and the Emergence of European Modernity.”

In offering these grants, the aim of The Center for Cultural Judaism and the Posen Foundation is to support the teaching of new courses designed specifically to examine the phenomenon of Secular Judaism in its own right, as its own topic. These grants are not available for the support of courses already offered, or for courses that are reconfigured to demonstrate more emphasis on secular Jewish culture, or for courses whose topics and themes are secular.

The most significant data available on the American Jewish population was released in 2001 by leading demographers of the Jewish population, Professor Egon Mayer, Professor Barry Kosmin and Dr. Ariela Keysar. Conducted under the auspices of The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, their study, the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS 2001), was the first to collect and analyze information on the religiosity and secularity of Americans. The data indicated that nearly one-half of America's adult Jews identify themselves as secular or somewhat secular. Vast numbers of Americans who regard themselves as Jewish do not identify with Judaism as a religion, but strongly identify with Judaism as a culture and heritage. (The full AJIS report is available at www.culturaljudaism.org/pdf/ajisbook.pdf)


While Judaic Studies departments have grown dramatically over the last two decades, few include Bachelors or Masters level courses in the study of the secularization of Judaism. The Posen Foundation and the Center for Cultural Judaism believe that the secularization of Judaism is a vital and irrefutable part of modern Jewish life, and requires study and understanding with respect to its history, texts and philosophers.

[In a separate underwriting effort, the Posen Foundation supports programs in the study of secular and cultural Judaism at the University of Michigan, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, Meitar College of Judaism as Culture in Jerusalem and Alma Hebrew College in Tel Aviv, among others.]

The Center for Cultural Judaism was established in 2003 in response to emerging new insights into American Jewish demography, as cited in the American Jewish Identity Survey (AJIS 2001). Salient among those insights is the emergence of a very large population of Jews – and for many their non-Jewish spouses as well – who do not find meaning in Judaism as a religion, but for whom Judaism as a culture is meaningful. The Center for Cultural Judaism is dedicated to supporting programs on behalf of this large, under-served population.

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