The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies is a Recognized Independent Centre of the University of Oxford. Its mission is to provide an outstanding curriculum of Hebrew and Jewish studies at one of the world’s leading universities and to promote knowledge and understanding about Jewish history, religion, and culture, as well as about Jewish interactions with and contributions to other cultures.
Oxford has been an important centre of Hebrew and Jewish Studies since the sixteenth century when the Regius Professorship of Hebrew was first established. Students from diverse backgrounds come to Oxford for both undergraduate and graduate studies, pursuing courses in Jewish studies that involve a multi-disciplinary approach to the critical study of the history, languages, religion, literature and culture of the Jews from ancient to modern times. OCHJS and the Hebrew and Jewish Studies Unit at the Oriental Institute where the Centre’s Fellows are based, are the University’s principal bodies devoted to these subjects. For information about our academic staff, please see the Faculty section. Full details of the Master of Studies in Jewish Studies (or MSt) offered here at the Centre, are available in the Students’ section.
The unrivalled collections of Hebrew and Yiddish manuscripts and printed books in the Bodleian Library attract scholars from all over the world. Yarnton’s Muller Library is also a significant scholarly resource, holding several unique collections relating to European Jewry. For details of the Centre’s Visiting Fellows and Scholars programmes please view the Visitors section.
