Milestones of the HfJS
1979-2019
Master's degree course in Middle Eastern Studies to start in winter semester 2019/20: With the approval of the transdisciplinary Master's degree course in Middle Eastern Studies by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies will be offering a joint degree course that is unique in Germany from winter semester 2019/20.
To mark the 200th anniversary of Judaism as a discipline, the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies (HfJS), Heidelberg University and the Association of Jewish Studies in Germany are hosting an international symposium in Heidelberg from June 16 to 19, 2019.
Under the title "Gray Zones: 200 Years of Jewish Studies", more than 70 academics from all over Europe, the USA, Israel and South America will come together in Heidelberg to discuss the current state of research in the various fields of Jewish Studies.
The Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its founding in 1979 with a grand ceremony on June 17, 2019 at 6 p.m. in the packed auditorium of the New University. The guest of honor will be Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Before the ceremony, the Federal President will visit the HfJS and meet a scholarship holder of "The President's Grant", among others, during a discussion with the university rabbi Shaul Friberg and students.
In the summer semester of 2018, the "Visiting Professorship for Jewish Cultures" sponsored by the "Lilli and Michael Sommerfreund Foundation" will be established and filled for the first time with Dr. Diana Matut (Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg). The chair, which is filled annually with a new guest lecturer, enriches the range of courses on offer at the HfJS, particularly in the area of Sephardic-Misrachic Jewish cultures.
December 2017: German Research Foundation gives the green light for "Corpus Masoreticum" - a twelve-year research project by the Chair of Bible and Jewish Bible Interpretation
Federal President Steinmeier donates prize money from the "Ignatz Bubis Prize for Understanding" to the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies and the Bente Kahan Foundation in Wrocław (October 2017). In future, the HfJS will use this prize money to fund "The President's Grant", which is primarily intended to support students from non-EU countries.
Professor Dr. Frederek Musall, holder of the Chair of Jewish Philosophy and Intellectual History at the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies, will be appointed Deputy Rector of the university under the auspices of the Central Council of Jews in Germany in May 2017.
Senate of the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies appoints Michael Sommerfreund as Honorary Senator in February.
Junior Professor Dr. Johannes Becke, holder of the Ben Gurion Endowed Chair for Israel and Middle East Studies, will give his inaugural lecture on 8 December 2015 in the auditorium of the Old University of Heidelberg. The topic: Land and redemption. A comparison of the Zionist project.
Federal President Joachim Gauck visits the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies on May 23, 2015, after attending the memorial service held to mark the 50th anniversary of Martin Buber's death in the auditorium of the Old University of Heidelberg as guest of honor.
Opening ceremony of the Abraham Berliner Center at the University of Jewish Studies in Heidelberg on April 21, 2015.
Admission of Ernst Robert Curtius M.A. in General and Comparative Literature for the winter semester (October).
The Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies (HfJS) participates in the EU education program ERASMUS plus (duration 2014-2020) in the field of "Higher Education" as holder of a European University Charter.
"Sacred Spaces" - Colloquium in honor of Professor Dr. Salomon Korn (March).
Adoption of the StEP 2017 structure and development plan (November).
Admission of the M.A. program Jewish Museology for the winter semester (October).
Paidea Alumni Conference at the HfJS: The first graduates of the M.A. Jewish Civilizations meet for an alumni reunion at the Heidelberg University of Jewish Studies (May).
Introduction of the B.A. Practical Jewish Studies in the winter semester 2011/12 (October).
Start of the M.A. program in Jewish Civilizations with the Paideia Institute Stockholm in the summer semester (April).
The university is involved in the new DFG Collaborative Research Center 933 Material Text Cultures at the University of Heidelberg with two sub-projects.
Bundestag President Dr. Nobert Lammert speaks as part of the Heidelberg University Speeches.
Saul Friedländer as a guest at the HfJS (Eugen Täubler lecture).
Teaching by HfJS lecturers in the community training program "Weiterbildung - Professionalität- Innovation" of the ZWSt together with the FH Erfurt in Bad Sobernheim (November).
First alumni day for former HfJS students.
The Central Archive for the History of Jews in Germany moves into the HfJS building (March).
The Ben Gurion Endowed Professorship for Israel and Middle East Studies, a foundation of the state of Baden Württemberg, begins its work (winter semester 2009/10, Prof. Rakefet Zalashik).
In the winter semester 2009/10, the HfJS celebrates its thirtieth anniversary.
Prof. Dr. Peter Hommelhoff, former rector of Ruprecht Karls University, is appointed the first honorary doctor of the University of Jewish Studies (September).
Hachnasat Sefer Torah in the Beth Midrash of the university (November).
The German Council of Science and Humanities (WR) grants the HfJS institutional accreditation for ten years.
