UM to Host the 2nd Annual Conference on the Teaching of Jewish Secularism in the University.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Higher education is witnessing a modern transformation in the study of Judaism. More and more, college students are shifting their academic interests from the study of Judaism as a religion to its examination as a secular culture. According to recent studies, including the 2001 American Jewish Identity Survey, almost half of American Jews see themselves as "secular" or "somewhat secular." These views are being considered on campuses across the U.S. and Israel as universities respond to emerging trends in Jewish Studies.

The University of Miami's Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies will host the 2nd Annual Conference on the Teaching of Jewish Secularism in the University from March 26-27. More than 30 Judaic Studies professors, representing 16 American colleges and universities, are scheduled to attend the conference. The conference is presented by the Center for Cultural Judaism and the Posen Foundation, which provides Posen Project grants for the study of secular Judaism and will feature study sessions, presentations, and a discussion of the Project's goals.

Dr. Haim Shaked, director of both the Miller Center and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies at the University of Miami, praised the conference as an opportunity to "share our experiences and discuss ways in which we can enrich our future teaching in Judaic Studies. I am immensely appreciative of the opportunity to meet with fellow professors and exchange ideas on how to improve the quality of Judaic education for all our students."

Besides offering courses in the phenomenon of secularization in Jewish life, each of the participating schools -- which include small colleges and large universities -- receive funding through the Posen Project in the form of $50,000 grants awarded to each school for the development of new courses in this area.

Some of the courses trace secularism in Jewish history from the time of Spinoza to the present day. But they differ from other Judaic Studies courses in an important way -- by treating the history of Jewish secularization as a single, coherent topic, and devoting an entire semester (or year) to understanding its impact.

Felix Posen, the chair of the Posen Foundation, which underwrites the grants, calls it the "seamless" approach to teaching about the secularization of Jewish thought.

"A course like 'The Development of the Secular Idea in Judaism' contributes to the historical understanding of Judaism in no less seminal a way than the study of religious phenomena," he said. "There is no way to understand this topic without this type of seamless historical course."

Since 2001 with the first course at Tel Aviv University, the Posen Project has grown from a concept to an established program that now includes 25 schools in the United States and Israel. The program expects to double the number of participating institutions over the next four years.

In the meantime, the conference will give professors at the participating institutions a chance to discuss and explore new ways of teaching the modern Jewish experience. According to Mark Raider, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Judaic Studies Department Chair at University at Albany, "The meeting underscores the importance of new scholarly approaches to the study of secular Jewish culture and history as well as the critical role occupied by secular Jewish life within the wider context of Judaism and Jewish civilization."

Additional U.S. institutions in the Posen Project are Bard College, Binghamton University, Brown University, Dickinson College, Graduate Theological Union, Miami University of Ohio, Rutgers University, Temple University, University of California - Davis, UCLA, University of Denver, University of Massachusetts - Amherst, University of Michigan, and University of Virginia. Programs in Israel are underway at Haifa University, Tel Aviv University, Ofakim Teachers' Program at Tel Aviv University, Oranim College, the Interdisciplinary Center for Herzliya, Kerem Teachers Training Institute, Lewinsky Teachers College, Achva Hebrew College, and Open University. A similar conference will be held in Israel in May and is the first annual gathering of Israeli professors in the program.

The Posen Project grants and the Posen conference are administered by the Center for Cultural Judaism, which was established in 2003 in response to emerging new insights into American Jewish demography that confirm that the majority of Jews are secular. The Center for Cultural Judaism supports educational programs on behalf of this large, underserved population in North America. Information on the Posen Project and syllabi of courses underway are available online at http://www.culturaljudaism.org.