Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Hebrew and Jewish studies is a degree of remarkable cultural and historical reach. Hebrew is one of the world's oldest languages, carrying within it a continuous literary, religious, and philosophical tradition that extends from the biblical period through the Talmud and medieval philosophy to modern Israeli literature. Jewish studies, as a discipline, examines Jewish history, thought, religion, and culture across the millennia and across the many different communities, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi, and others, in which Jewish life has been lived.

Together the two subjects offer access to a tradition that has profoundly influenced the development of Western civilisation and that continues to raise fundamental questions about religion, identity, diaspora, and belonging.

This three-year full-time programme at University College London is offered at one of the UK's leading centres for Hebrew and Jewish studies. UCL's Slade School and its broader humanities faculty, combined with the rich Jewish cultural and intellectual life of London, provide an exceptional environment for this kind of study. With a typical tariff of 152 points, the programme is selective and attracts students who are prepared for intellectually demanding engagement with languages, texts, and cultures that require serious sustained attention.

You will develop proficiency in modern and classical Hebrew, engage with biblical and rabbinic texts, study the history of the Jewish people from antiquity to the present, and explore Jewish philosophy, literature, and contemporary culture. The analytical skills you develop, reading difficult texts carefully, thinking across languages, and engaging with the long sweep of a complex tradition, are among the most transferable that any humanities degree provides.

Graduates from Hebrew and Jewish studies programmes move into careers in education, journalism, the cultural sector, the diplomatic and civil service, research, interfaith work, and a range of roles in Jewish communal life and organisations. Many continue to postgraduate study in Jewish studies, religion, history, or related disciplines.