The Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies

Welcome to the Judaic Studies website. In 1993, an Endowment was established in the Department of Religious Studies to support a scholar of Judaism. This first step resulted in the creation of a Judaic Studies Program just two years later, named for Manfred and Fern Steinfeld, major donors to the program and the university. The Judaic Studies Program offers an interdisciplinary major concentration as well as a minor.

The program also offers a Judaic Studies Lecture Series supported by funding from the Knoxville Jewish Alliance, the Robinson Family Lecture Series on Modern Israel and a lecture series endowed by Dr. Alan Solomon, The Abraham and Rebecca Solomon and Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture Series in Judaic Studies . We produce an annual newsletter, and organize additional major programming, such as Holocaust conferences, Israel celebrations, film festivals, and exhibitions, often in collaboration with other university entities and outside organizations.

Judaism is an ancient civilization, with a nearly four-thousand-year-old history, culture, and religion. The Jewish people began with Abraham and Sarah, and the Jewish religion with the Exodus and Moses. From Egypt to Israel, from Babylonia to the Maghreb, from China to Spain, Jews have nurtured their religion and their culture, often in the face of serious persecution. The academic study of Judaism is an interdisciplinary enterprise, encompassing the study of Biblical Hebrew and the Modern Hebrew language; ancient biblical literature, Jewish literature and poetry from a variety of diaspora communities as well as Modern Israel; Jewish visual art and music; the religious framework of Judaism in all its diversity, from holidays to life-cycle events, as well as the history of the Jewish people and the politics of the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. To the student who is inquisitive, the study of Judaism will surely open a colorful world of familiar and new phenomena to engage in dialogue.

Contact Information

Gilya Gerda Schmidt, Ph.D.
Director, The Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies
Professor, Department of Religious Studies
501 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0450

Phone: 865-974-2466
Fax: 865-974-0965
Email: gschmidt@utk.edu