Judaistik

About us

The Institute for Judaistik at Georg August Universität in Göttingen stands for interdisciplinary perspectives, philological and historical research, and international networking. Since 2025, it has been headed by Prof. Dr. Ze'ev Strauss, holder of the Chair of Judaistik at the Faculty of Theology.

Our academic research focuses on Jewish philosophy, history, theology, rabbinic traditional literature, and their complex interconnections. A particular focus is the study of the Jewish Enlightenment movement, which ties in with Göttingen's tradition as a university of enlightenment since 1737.
Teaching is also a central task of the institute: in a broad range of courses, we seek to reflect the diversity of Jewish intellectual traditions – from antiquity through the Middle Ages to the modern era. The institute considers it essential to learn the Hebrew language in its essential forms, both biblical and modern.

The institute considers third-party funded projects to be an important catalyst for the further development of Judaistik in Göttingen. Research and teaching are currently significantly influenced by the international Emmy Noether Junior Research Group "Emancipatio Rabbinica: The Position of Rabbinic Literature in Debates on the Status of Jews in Modernity (1600–1900) in the Italian, German, and Eastern European Context." In this large-scale junior research project, a comprehensive corpus of central sources from the 17th to 19th centuries is being systematically cataloged and evaluated in its historical context for the first time.