ABOUT THE CENTRE

The Centre acts as a focus for Jewish Studies across the whole Manchester campus and draws together staff from various departments and faculties of both the University of Manchester and other higher education institutions in the region. It attracts research students from around the world on a wide variety of PhD topics.

MISSION

The Centre seeks to:

• Maximise the teaching, undergraduate and postgraduate, of Jewish Studies in the University of Manchester;
• Foster collaborative research between staff of the University of Manchester and others in the region;
• Bring the results of academic work in Jewish Studies to the wider community through various forms of extra mural activity; and
• Maximise the benefit of these various activities through dissemination of appropriate results on the internet.

BACKGROUND

The University of Manchester has a long and distinguished record in the research and teaching of Jewish Studies, boasting such eminent scholars as Alexander Altmann, James Barr, Edward Ullendorff and Meir Wallenstein. The Centre for Jewish Studies was established when the existing provision was strengthened by the creation of the Alliance Chair in Modern Jewish Studies. In 1997, Professor Bernard Jackson was appointed to the Chair, and became Co-Director of the Centre, with Professor Philip Alexander. In 2009 Professor Jackson retired and was succeeded as co-director by Professor Alexander Samely. In 2011 Professor Alexander retired and was succeeded as co-director by Professor Daniel Langton.

Currently we have a number of outstanding academics in the fields of Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic Judaism, Jewish Thought, Holocaust Studies, ancient, medieval and modern Jewish History, Film Studies, Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations, and Israel Studies. The Centre also enjoys the participation of a number of distinguished Honorary Research Fellows from other institutions.

• The John Rylands University Library is a treasure house of books on Jewish religion, culture, society and history. In particular, its collection of Hebrew manuscripts (many of which once belonged to Moses Gaster) is surpassed in the UK only by Oxford, the British Library and Cambridge.

• Jewish Studies may be taken as a major area of concentration within the BA (Hons) in Religion and Theology (see Department of Religions and Theology). There is also a BA (Hons) in Hebrew Studies; students may also opt for other BA (Hons) degrees within Middle Eastern Studies which include Hebrew language and/or Middle Eastern history (see Department of Middle Eastern Studies). There is a wide variety of Jewish studies related courses at undergraduate level.

• The University offers an MA in Jewish Studies. There is a wide variety of Jewish studies related courses at postgraduate level.

• It also offers expert supervision and specialist resources for PhDs in the area of Jewish Studies, with the possibility of supervision offered at a distance.

• The Centre is associated with two peer reviewed journals, namely Melilah: The Manchester Journal of Jewish Studies (Gorgias Press) and the Journal of Semitic Studies (Oxford University Press).

• The University has long-established links with the local Jewish community, which dates back to the 1780s and is by far the largest in the UK outside London. Over the years numerous Jewish scholars have taught at the University. Chaim Weizmann lectured on chemistry at the University of Manchester. Weizmann's contemporary, the eminent philosopher Samuel Alexander, introduced him to Balfour. Sir Lewis Namier, one of the greatest of modern English historians, was active in assisting Weizmann in the Zionist movement.

• Manchester has one of the finest Jewish museums, the Manchester Jewish Museum, packed with archival material awaiting the attention of researchers.

In order to exploit these resources, the Centre for Jewish Studies has put in place programmes of teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. The Centre enjoys strong links with both the Department of Religions and Theology and the Department of Middle Eastern Studies.

The Co-Directors of the Centre are:

• Professor Alexander Samely, Professor of Jewish Thought
• Professor Daniel Langton, Professor of the History of Jewish-Christian Relations

The Co-administrators of the Centre are:

• Francesca Frazer
• Katharina Keim

To be placed on the mailing list of the Centre, send your email and/or postal address to cjs@manchester.ac.uk

LOCATION

We are located in the Samuel Alexander Building (Building 67 on the Campus Map). See directions

IMAGE CREDITS: A fragment in Maimonides' (1135-1204) own handwriting of a draft of his law code (Mishneh Torah), showing occasional corrections. © John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester.