The Challenge of Interdisciplinarity: A Conversation about Introductory Courses to Jewish Studies

This article takes as its starting point the idea that as all disciplinary boundaries are constructs, the Introduction to Jewish Studies course is a useful place to begin thinking about moving beyond a multidisciplinary menu to an interdisciplinary way of thinking. Jewish Studies is a microcosm of the diversity within the humanities and social sciences and of the variety of subjects and approaches that characterize academic inquiry, and provides rich possibilities for cross-cultural and comparative inquiry. For the same reasons, the field of Jewish Studies is not easily delimited for the purposes of an introductory course. The authors examine approaches to teaching the introduction as a genuinely interdisciplinary course that could make Jewish Studies a model of inquiry for other multidisciplinary fields.