Where Does “Jewish Studies” Belong

The problem of the proper location of “Jewish Studies” continues to occupy the academic community. To resolve it scholars must recognize that “Jewish Studies” is a data-field, that various disciplines can be applied to the data-field, and that the constellation of disciplines called “Religious Studies” offers the most apt methodology for dealing with the data The intra-traditional mode of study, “Talmud Torah,” is contrasted with the extra-traditional mode, “Jewish Studies.” These modes are continuous in the integrity of their work, in their readiness to utilize new methods of inquiry, and in the tendentious or normative purpose of their work. They are discontinuous in their respective views of history — one paradigmatic, the other empirical; in the nature of their normative thrust — one religious, the other nationalist-culturalist, and in their respective views of the nature of Truth. Various ideological commitments must be identified and acknowledged as such

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