Bachelor of Arts in Bible, Hebrew and Near Eastern Studies

Yeshiva University

The Department of Bible, Hebrew, and Near Eastern Studies (BHNES) is founded upon three propositions: The study of Tanakh is central to Judaism. The Bible and its interpretative afterlife have much to contribute to our understanding of the many ways in which Jews and Jewish texts have interacted with the rest of the world, from biblical through modern times. The Hebrew language has long nurtured the national identity of the Jewish people. From the towering classics on the Jewish bookshelf-Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah-to the modern expressions of Jewish culture such as Bialik and Agnon and contemporary writers such as Yehuda Amichai and Aharon Appelfeld, Hebrew has been both the medium and the message of a vibrant soul of a people. An appreciation for the civilizations and languages of the Near East enhances one’s appreciation of both Tanakh and the Hebrew language. Yeshiva College students are singularly suited and uniquely challenged to study Tanakh intensively while bringing to bear the breadth of knowledge gained from a liberal arts education. At Yeshiva College, Bible is a multidimensional discipline. It begins with an effort to understand the Bible in its historical context, as illuminated by the history of the Ancient Near East and its linguistic and physical culture. It continues with the study of the Bible as it has been read and interpreted throughout Jewish history, from second temple texts to the rabbis of the Talmud to the classical medieval commentators, down to the present. The Yeshiva College Bible faculty, immersed in traditional approaches and trained in contemporary scholarship, brings these mutually enriching aspects of the study of Tanakh together in a fashion rarely available elsewhere.