Raising the Bar
The Taube Center for Jewish Studies
Catalyst
The Hebrew program at Stanford has created innovative online learning tools by integrating state-of-the-art technologies and compelling authentic multimedia content. The work has raised the bar for the rest of the field..."
-- Joseph Kautz, Director,
Digital Language Learning Lab
Taube Center for Jewish Studies Co-directors Prof. Vered Shemtov and Prof. Charlotte Fonrobert (Photo by Michael Winokur)
On April 27, 2008, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies hosted acclaimed author and former Koret Jewish Book Award winner A.B. Yehoshua in a public conversation with Center Co-director Vered Shemtov. Sponsored by the Israel Project, an initiative that brings the Middle East to the West Coast, Yehoshua is serving as Writer in Residence for 2007-2008. His novels, plays, and essays focus on the identities of contemporary Israelis, the everyday lives of modern people living in an ancient land and how the past can be both a burden and an inspiration.
This intermingling of the past and the future carries through many of the center’s projects. Through the Hebrew@Stanford program, students make extensive use of cutting-edge technologies to study the ancient language. This commitment to innovative technology has garnered praise and visibility for the program at Stanford and beyond.
Digital Language Learning Lab director Joseph Kautz said, “The Hebrew program at Stanford has created innovative online learning tools by integrating state-of-the-art technologies and compelling authentic multimedia content. The work has raised the bar for the rest of the field in the design and execution of visually lush and pedagogically rigorous online resources for foreign language instruction.”
The center has not, however, neglected the high value of the low-tech written word. Center Co-director Charlotte Fonrobert coordinates the Text and Culture speaker series, which encourages lecturers to examine the tradition of textual studies in Jewish scholarship and how those texts fit in with — or stand apart from — their cultural contexts.
In addition to these special programs, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies stands as the center for academic Jewish life at Stanford, with 18 affiliated faculty members (three with endowed chairs) who teach hundreds of undergraduates each year in courses ranging from “Biblical Hebrew” to the apocalyptic “Millennium, Messiahs, and Mayhem.” The Taube Center also supports graduate-level study, offers four annual endowed lectures, and creates numerous opportunities for faculty, students, and the community to engage with Judaism through symposia, colloquia, conferences, and other events.