students gathered with protest signs

Graduate Level Certificate in Jewish Studies and Social Justice

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
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Jewish Studies and Social Justice

 

Flexible. Virtual and in-person. At your own pace. As little as 12 months.

This certificate is the country’s only graduate-level program focused on Jewish studies and social justice (JSSJ) systemically infused with JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) values, developed to train professionals to work within, between, and beyond Jewish-identified communities.

The Graduate Level Certificate in Jewish Studies and Social Justice lives at the intersection of activism and empathy through a Jewish lens. It’s an educational movement that centers on anti-oppression, social justice, and human rights, focused on defining a path to a more just and inclusive world.

Areas of Focus

  • Race
  • Comparative Conflict Analysis
  • Disability 
  • Environment 
  • Gender 
  • Genocide Studies 
  • Human Rights 
  • Indigeneity
  • Queer and Trans Studies
  • & more

Details

  • Applications are currently being accepted on a rolling basis.
  • Begin at any time! Sample one or two courses without a full certificate commitment.
  • BIPOC + Queer/Trans scholarships available. (limited availability)
  • Inquire for more details!

Spring 2025 Courses

Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out with Yehudah Webster

Form antiracist habits and behaviors through Jewish spiritual practice in our course, Dismantling Racism from the Inside Out.

Efforts to dismantle racism are often comprised of education, advocacy, and systemic change. These efforts are not enough —it’s crucial that we also do the inner work necessary to change our habits of mind, body, and spirit to wholly dismantle racism. Indeed, it's through strengthening our habits of mind, body and spirit that we’ll be most effective and successful in our advocacy and organizing to dismantle racism systemically. We have ancestral wisdom available to support this change; Mussar is the Jewish spiritual discipline designed to integrate what the head understands with what the heart feels through daily practice. Emerge from this program with renewed ability and resilience to disrupt racism, a regular spiritual practice, and a set of concrete tools to support your antiracism efforts.

Meet the Moment - Fighting Antisemitism and Building a Just World

For many Jews, antisemitism feels omnipresent these days. Yet understanding and confronting it is more challenging than ever. Since October 7, 2023, longstanding fault lines in American political discourse around the question of antisemitism have only deepened; the Jewish community, too, remains more divided than ever. All too often, establishment leaders wield charges of antisemitism as a cudgel to stifle progressive voices. Social justice movements, for their part, often lack a textured analysis of antisemitism and its relation to other forms of oppression, allowing the Right to drive the conversation.

This course offers an intersectional, justice-driven analysis of antisemitism, tracing its deep history and contemporary manifestations in order to develop fresh strategies for combating its rise. Utilizing critical analysis and social and political frameworks to situate antisemitism alongside racial capitalism, xenophobia, anti-LGBTQ bigotry, and other systems of injustice, we will examine contemporary debates around antisemitism and Israel/Palestine, free speech, rising authoritarianism, and other timely topics, while drawing upon practical insights from on-the-ground social movements dedicated to confronting these issues. Informed by an ethos of humility and care, we will explore each participant’s personal stake in these questions, learning how a solidarity approach can carve new pathways toward collective flourishing for Jews and all people.