ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the growth of Jewish Studies since World War II reveals two contradictory aspects. In terms of numbers of both faculty and students, the field of Jewish Studies remains a very minor one. In comparison to the emphasis on almost any branch of the humanities throughout the universities of Europe, the position occupied by the whole field of Jewish Studies is almost negligible. Holland, Belgium, and particularly Italy have also witnessed considerable growth in Jewish Studies in the post-World War II period, although perhaps to a lesser extent than elsewhere in Western and Central Europe. The encouragement of the International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization, as well as the help of other outside agencies, have contributed greatly to the development of academic Jewish Studies in Eastern Europe. In the past half century, the sheer scope of Hebrew and Jewish Studies has broadened and deepened immensely.