Mission

The Taube Center’s mission includes three goals:

To promote research and the production of outstanding scholarship

Our academic activities include supporting the research of our affiliated faculty; hosting visiting scholars; collaborations with Jewish Studies programs in Israel, Europe and elsewhere in the United States; helping to develop a world-class Judaica library collection; and sponsoring the journal Jewish Social Studies and other publications.

To offer Stanford students the opportunity to study Jewish history, Hebrew, Yiddish and other Jewish languages and literatures, Talmudic Studies, and Sephardic Studies

Educational activities include a rich menu of courses, an undergraduate major and minor, an ongoing colloquium on Jews, Judaism and Jewish culture geared toward graduate students, and graduate fellowship and other kinds of support to help develop the next generation of Jewish Studies scholars.

The center is also a proud partner for the new Jim Joseph Program in Jewish Studies and Education operating through the Stanford Graduate School of Education

To serve as an intellectual resource for the broader community

Our outreach efforts include lectures and cultural events open to the general community; partnering with foundations and various organizations to offer educational programs beyond campus; and seeding internship opportunities within the larger community, locally, nationally and internationally.

Our Faculty

The center depends for all these activities on a world-class, interdisciplinary faculty that includes scholars of ancient Jewish texts, modern Jewish History, Sephardi Studies, Yiddish and European Jewish Literature, Hebrew and Israeli culture, American studies; Education and Sociology, Music, even Genetics.  

Our Students

Graduate students in Jewish Studies have gone on to become leading scholars in their fields. Undergraduate students have found success in many fields, and we are looking to do even more to make Jewish Studies a fulfilling part of their education. For interested students, the center offers opportunities within and beyond the classroom, including study abroad, service learning, creative writing opportunities, and support for research and language study.

Our Community

With generous philanthropic support, the center aims to bridge between academia and the larger world, seeking to make the insights of scholarship accessible and relevant to a broader community that includes Jews and non-Jews, specialists and the general public. Almost all of our programs are free and open to the public and include lectures by leading scholars, artists and cultural leaders as well as artistic and cultural programs. The center hopes to reach those interested in Israeli culture but also to illumine Jewish culture in all its range and diversity, include Jewish life in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. The center also aims to be highly collaborative, including among its partners community centers, museums, film festivals, consulates, and other Jewish Studies centers around the world.