The Graduate School of Jewish Studies, established in 1981, offers courses leading to a Master of Arts degree in Jewish Studies. The Graduate School has earned a reputation for close student-faculty interaction, superior instruction and a rigorous, well-structured curriculum.
The aim of the M.A. program is to provide graduate students with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the history, literature, thought, and educational processes of the Jewish people over the past millennium. Successful completion of the Master’s program serves as a thorough foundation for further study of Judaica on the doctoral level, or for careers in Jewish education.
A branch of the Graduate School was founded in Jerusalem, Israel in 1986. In July 2004, the Jerusalem branch campus was accredited by Israel’s Council on Higher Education as an independent Israeli academic institution known as Machon Lander. Touro-New York graduate students may apply to enroll in approved Machon Lander courses in Israel, and pursue thesis research with Machon Lander faculty.
CONFERENCES AND PUBLICATIONS
The Graduate School sponsors or co-sponsors major academic conferences on a regular basis. Recent conferences include: “Aggadah and Aggadic Interpretation Throughout the Generations,” 2010 (co-sponsored with Machon Lander and Bar-Ilan University); “Rabbis and Rebbes, Artists and Intellectuals: Round-Table Conversations on the Cultures of Eastern European Jewry, 19th-20th Centuries,” 2008 (co-sponsored with YIVO Institute for Jewish Research); “Sermonic Literature and Jewish Culture,” 2007 (co-sponsored with Machon Lander and Mercaz Shazar); “Conversion and Reversion to Judaism: From the Crusades to the Enlightenment,” 2006.
Touro College Press was inaugurated by the Graduate School in 2007, and the Dean of the Graduate School serves as Editor. While specializing in academic Jewish Studies, Touro Press recently expanded the scope of its scholarly offerings to other disciplines as well, ranging from biology to business.