Baltimore Hebrew University's mission is far more than simply striving for academic excellence. Founded in 1919, the private institution of higher Jewish learning aims to preserve and pass on Jewish tradition to the next generation, while training the community's professional leaders.
"Jews are concerned with Jewish continuity," said Rela Mintz Geffen, president of BHU. "Also, the study of Jewish heritage and civilization for its own sake is flourishing because people want to understand their own heritage."
Located in the heart of Jewish Baltimore in Park Heights, BHU offers a broad curriculum to a cross-section of Jewish and non-Jewish students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. Courses include biblical and contemporary Jewish history, Hebrew literature and language, Jewish culture, sociology, mysticism and Middle East politics.
Continuing education courses run the gamut from "The Image of the Jew on the Silver Screen," to "Kabbalah, Creation and Creativity" and "Jewish Ethics and Spirituality."
BHU is one of five secular colleges of Jewish studies nationwide that are non-denominational. "BHU has a very open environment for Jews and non-Jews that doesn't belong to one ideology," said Geffen. "You need neutral territory where you can study tradition; it only has to be true from a scholarly perspective. But BHU has representation from every denomination, both in the faculty and student body. It's challenging and exhilarating because it's so broad-based."
Formerly Baltimore Hebrew College and Teacher Training School, BHU is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Ministry of Education of Israel.
The university confers associate and bachelor degrees; master's degrees in Jewish Studies, Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service; doctorates in Jewish Studies; and double master's degrees in Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service.
To enhance students' professional skills, BHU also offers dual degrees in joint programs with other local universities. That includes a double master's degree in social work with the University of Maryland School of Social Work; a double master's degree in policy studies with Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; a dual master's in pastoral counseling with Loyola College; and a dual master's in education with Goucher College. BHU also offers a dual certificate program in early childhood leadership with Villa Julie College.
BHU is a constituent of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, which seeks to enhance and preserve Jewish life through charitable, educational, religious, humanitarian, health, cultural and social service agencies of the Jewish community. As a constituent of The Associated, which allocates more than $1 million annually to BHU, the university offers internships with Associated agencies. Students also may practice teaching at local Jewish schools.
BHU is primarily a graduate institution and tends to draw students from the area who are older. But in recent years, the university has attracted a younger population from around the country. "It makes for a wonderful cross-section in the classroom," said Essie Keyser, BHU's director of admissions.
Students can join the nearby Jewish Community Center to work out or sign up for an art class. While there is no synagogue at BHU, more than a dozen synagogues and temples -- from Reform and Conservative to modern and right-wing Orthodox, Lubavitch, Sephardic and Iranian facilities --- are located along Park Heights Avenue. Baltimore's renowned Jewish outreach organization, the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Studies, is within walking distance, as well.
BHU's library is fully automated and online. The Joseph Meyerhoff Library specializes in Judaic books on the Bible, rabbinics, archaeology, political science in the Middle East, Jewish culture, Jewish social conditions, and Jewish, Hebrew and Yiddish literature. Texts are in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French and Russian.
The library also boasts a collection of 150 videotapes of testimony by local Holocaust survivors produced in conjunction with Yale University. In addition, there are 100 videotapes of popular Jewish films, the Holocaust and Israel; an audio collection of Jewish music; and CD-ROMs of the Encyclopedia Judaica, Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic "responsa" to questions on Jewish law.
BHU also features several adult education programs. In the fall of 2002, the university launched "Meah," which means 100 in Hebrew. Students commit to a 100-hour graduate course over two years, but do not take exams.
BHU's elderhostel -- one of only a handful of Jewish scholarly retreats for seniors nationwide -- allows seniors to study three subjects in one-week seminars. In a community program, BHU also sponsors two weekend academic retreats every fall and spring at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center in Owings Mills.
BHU's community-wide Distinguished Lecture Series at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills presents special guests such as Middle East expert Daniel Pipes and Alfred Uhry, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of "Driving Miss Daisy."
"That is our other mission, to raise the level of Jewish literacy in Baltimore," Geffen said. "Everything we do is lifelong learning."
"Jews are concerned with Jewish continuity," said Rela Mintz Geffen, president of BHU. "Also, the study of Jewish heritage and civilization for its own sake is flourishing because people want to understand their own heritage."
Located in the heart of Jewish Baltimore in Park Heights, BHU offers a broad curriculum to a cross-section of Jewish and non-Jewish students in its undergraduate and graduate programs. Courses include biblical and contemporary Jewish history, Hebrew literature and language, Jewish culture, sociology, mysticism and Middle East politics.
Continuing education courses run the gamut from "The Image of the Jew on the Silver Screen," to "Kabbalah, Creation and Creativity" and "Jewish Ethics and Spirituality."
BHU is one of five secular colleges of Jewish studies nationwide that are non-denominational. "BHU has a very open environment for Jews and non-Jews that doesn't belong to one ideology," said Geffen. "You need neutral territory where you can study tradition; it only has to be true from a scholarly perspective. But BHU has representation from every denomination, both in the faculty and student body. It's challenging and exhilarating because it's so broad-based."
Formerly Baltimore Hebrew College and Teacher Training School, BHU is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the Ministry of Education of Israel.
The university confers associate and bachelor degrees; master's degrees in Jewish Studies, Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service; doctorates in Jewish Studies; and double master's degrees in Jewish Education and Jewish Communal Service.
To enhance students' professional skills, BHU also offers dual degrees in joint programs with other local universities. That includes a double master's degree in social work with the University of Maryland School of Social Work; a double master's degree in policy studies with Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; a dual master's in pastoral counseling with Loyola College; and a dual master's in education with Goucher College. BHU also offers a dual certificate program in early childhood leadership with Villa Julie College.
BHU is a constituent of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, which seeks to enhance and preserve Jewish life through charitable, educational, religious, humanitarian, health, cultural and social service agencies of the Jewish community. As a constituent of The Associated, which allocates more than $1 million annually to BHU, the university offers internships with Associated agencies. Students also may practice teaching at local Jewish schools.
BHU is primarily a graduate institution and tends to draw students from the area who are older. But in recent years, the university has attracted a younger population from around the country. "It makes for a wonderful cross-section in the classroom," said Essie Keyser, BHU's director of admissions.
Students can join the nearby Jewish Community Center to work out or sign up for an art class. While there is no synagogue at BHU, more than a dozen synagogues and temples -- from Reform and Conservative to modern and right-wing Orthodox, Lubavitch, Sephardic and Iranian facilities --- are located along Park Heights Avenue. Baltimore's renowned Jewish outreach organization, the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Studies, is within walking distance, as well.
BHU's library is fully automated and online. The Joseph Meyerhoff Library specializes in Judaic books on the Bible, rabbinics, archaeology, political science in the Middle East, Jewish culture, Jewish social conditions, and Jewish, Hebrew and Yiddish literature. Texts are in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French and Russian.
The library also boasts a collection of 150 videotapes of testimony by local Holocaust survivors produced in conjunction with Yale University. In addition, there are 100 videotapes of popular Jewish films, the Holocaust and Israel; an audio collection of Jewish music; and CD-ROMs of the Encyclopedia Judaica, Dead Sea Scrolls and rabbinic "responsa" to questions on Jewish law.
BHU also features several adult education programs. In the fall of 2002, the university launched "Meah," which means 100 in Hebrew. Students commit to a 100-hour graduate course over two years, but do not take exams.
BHU's elderhostel -- one of only a handful of Jewish scholarly retreats for seniors nationwide -- allows seniors to study three subjects in one-week seminars. In a community program, BHU also sponsors two weekend academic retreats every fall and spring at the Pearlstone Conference and Retreat Center in Owings Mills.
BHU's community-wide Distinguished Lecture Series at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts in Owings Mills presents special guests such as Middle East expert Daniel Pipes and Alfred Uhry, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of "Driving Miss Daisy."
"That is our other mission, to raise the level of Jewish literacy in Baltimore," Geffen said. "Everything we do is lifelong learning."