Hebrew Study Programs at U.S. Institutions of Higher Education: Materials Towards an Assessment

Volume 9, No.3 Spring 1991 21 HEBREW STUDY PROGRAMS AT U.S. INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: MATERIALS TOWARDS AN ASSESSMENT1 Harris Lenowitz Harris Lenowitz is Professor of Hebrew at the University of Utah. He also serves as Director of the Research Center of the NAPH. I. Background The study of the study of Hebrew has drawn the attention of many scholars, most of them Hebraists themselves, and has merited much fine scholarship. Some of the researchers have been interested in the development of the linguistic techniques for the study of the language; many have been drawn to this meta-study by a broader curiosity. These seek to understand the relationship between the study of Hebrew and the social circumstances which co-occur with its peaks and troughs.2 The present study is intended to continue the long process of providing data for a study of the second sort, one which would focus on the study of Hebrew in the United States in its relation to socia-historical circumstances. The study was begun at the behest of the International Center for the University Teaching of Jewish Civilization under the auspices of the President of Israel. Dr. Moshe Davis, director of that Center, requested of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew that it undertake a survey of Hebrew studies in the U.S. The offiISpace constraints prevent our printing the questionnaire or the list of campuses contacted. For a copy of this information, please write to the author at the Middle East Center, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112. ~he casual reader in this field may profit most from the article by James Barr, "Linguistic literature, Hebrew," in the Encyclopedia Judaica, XVI coil. 1352-1401 in the first case; and from the small, fine The King James Version of the English Bible, by David Daiches (Chicago, 1941). This second, general work, limited to one focus, amplifies the two chapters in The Legacy ofIsrael (Oxford, 1927), edited by E. R. Bevan and C. J. Singer: Singer's "Hebrew scholarship in the Middle Ages Among Latin Christians," pp. 283-314, and G. H. Box, "Hebrew Studies in the Reformation Period and After: Their Place and Influence," pp.315-375. 22 SHOFAR cers of the NAPH agreed to do so, established a Research Center, and elected the present writer to conduct the survey. The officers determined that all accredited degree-granting institutions of higher education in the U.S. be surveyed, including universities, colleges, and seminaries.3 The survey has been carried out through questionnaires based on membership rosters of the NAPH, other questionnaires distributed by NAPH (at meetings, etc.), a listing of academics studying Bible in the U.S., data supplied by the U.S. Department of Education and the Modern Language Association, and a scan of the College Catalog Collection. This last source is the most comprehensive, excluding only those institutions of higher education which are not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education.4 Utilization of this source together with the questionnaires and some interviews has demonstrated the wisdom of Professor Abraham Katsh's approach in his two similar surveys. Professor Katsh sought his statistics from administrative personnel (department chairs, deans, and so on) rather than from active teachers.5 Professor Albert Bilgray used questionnaires to "all the known teachers of Hebrew" at American universities, "not church-oriented," initially; later including those "church-oriented" schools to some degree, in someways.6 3Punding for the survey has been provided by the Research Support Committee of the University of Utah, the Hebrew Development fund of the Middle East Center of the University of Utah, and the NAPH. Special note should be taken of the contributions of the associate director of the Research Center, Ms. Holly Smith, now associated with Ulpan Akiva as director of inter-university relations, and her assistant , Ms. Janet Ward. Ms. Smith created and managed the software; Ms. Ward assisted particularly in catalog research. Thanks are owed to these people and organizations without whose interest and work the survey would not have been done soon or well at all. 4Many Jewish (Orthodox) educational institutions are thus excluded here and will have to be dealt with separately...