Project Judaica

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) conducts a joint academic program in Jewish Studies at the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH) in Moscow. RSUH is the flagship academic institution of the Russian State Republic. The program:

  • trains accredited specialists in Jewish history and culture within the framework of Russian higher education;
  • trains the future leaders of Russian Jewish communal life;
  • acquaints college students with Jewish history and civilization;
  • locates, rescues, and records all archival collections in the FSU that are related to Jewish history and culture; and
  • trains professional archivists so that they are competent to catalog the Jewish collections and put them in order, making these resources accessible to scholars.

Students pursue the university's general curriculum while majoring in Jewish history and culture.

Instruction is provided by visiting foreign professors and local instructors in Hebrew and Yiddish languages, Bible, Rabbinic literature, Jewish history, Jewish philosophy and thought, and modern Jewish literature and culture. Graduates receive diplomas (equivalent to MAs in the United States) from RSUH and earn certificates in Jewish studies granted by JTS.

In addition to Project Judaica’s academic program, 2006 marks the first year of collaboration with the Reform Movement on a Community Leadership Training Program. This new program, held in the evening to suit student’s needs, is designed to educate and prepare future professionals for Jewish communal leadership. Students take specially tailored courses under the auspices of Project Judaica.

Student Resources

RSUH houses a Judaica reference library of more than 5,000 volumes in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and English, for use by students, faculty, and the general reading public.

Archival Project

The end of the Soviet Union provided an unprecedented opportunity to investigate materials held in Soviet archives which had been unavailable to researchers for several generations. Millions of pages of material relating to European Jewry and the Holocaust were hidden and stored in archival repositories throughout the FSU. These archives are the Cairo Geniza of modern Jewish history: a treasure trove that could expand and revise the previous understanding of the European Jewish experience. Project Judaica’s Jewish Archival Survey has now published four archival guides, covering the Russian State Military Archives, Belarus, Moscow, and Kiev with more to come.

Publications

Project Judaica publishes an annual Jewish studies journal, Judaica Rossica, featuring scholarly studies by the program’s faculty and graduates. It also publishes university-level Judaica textbooks in Russian for universities, including: From Abraham to the Present: Lectures in Jewish History and Literature (edited by David E. Fishman and Burton Visotzky, 2003), Anthology of Hebrew Literature (edited by Hamutal Bar Yosef, 2000), Yiddish for Russian Speakers (Shimon Sandler, 2001), Introduction to the Pentateuch (Igor Tantlevsky, 2000) and The Medieval Hebrew Book (Shimon Iakerson, 2004).

Contact Information

RSUH is located at 6 Miusskaya Ploschad, Moscow. For more information, please contact Alla Tishina at this address or by phone at (7) 495-250-6470. In the United States, inquiries should be directed to the director of Project Judaica, Dr. David E. Fishman, The Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027; or to the assistant director of Project Judaica at (212) 678-8983, projectjudaica@jtsa.edu.