students gathered with protest signs

Certificate Program in JEDI + JSSJ

Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
+
Jewish Studies and Social Justice

 

Flexible. Virtual and in-person. At your own pace. As little as 12 months.

This certificate is the country’s only graduate-level program focused on Jewish studies and social justice (JSSJ) systemically infused with JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) values, developed to train professionals to work within, between, and beyond Jewish-identified communities.

JEDI + JSSJ lives at the intersection of activism and empathy through a Jewish lens. It’s an educational movement that centers on anti-oppression, social justice, and human rights, focused on defining a path to a more just and inclusive world.

Areas of Focus

  • Race
  • Comparative Conflict Analysis
  • Disability 
  • Environment 
  • Gender 
  • Genocide Studies 
  • Human Rights 
  • Indigeneity
  • Queer and Trans Studies
  • & more

Details

  • Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis for the Spring and Summer 2024 semesters.
  • Begin at any time! Sample one or two courses without a full certificate commitment.
  • BIPOC + Queer/Trans scholarships available. (limited availability)
  • Inquire for more details!

Summer 2024 Course

Julia Watts Belser

Disability and Jewish Social Justice with Rabbi Julia Watts Belser

This course aims to help students deepen their capacity to create cultures of accessibility within Jewish social justice practices. We’ll bring classical Jewish texts into conversation with the lived experiences of contemporary disability activists to grapple with spiritual and political questions about access and equity, invisibility and shame, and practices to transform social inequality. We’ll hone skills for recognizing and resisting ableism, and for understanding the way ableism intersects with racism, antisemitism, misogyny, queer, trans, fat hatred, and more. We’ll also examine the contours of hegemonic norms around decorum and behavior, pace and time, and physical and sensory access—and consider ways to transform our religious communities and cultural spaces so that they more fully welcome the vivid, complex diversity of all our bodies and minds.