Hebrew & Yiddish

Example of Hebrew religious text

To learn Hebrew at KU is to become a part of the Jewish continuum, amplifying the voices of the Jewish people.

Hebrew

The Hebrew language offers a unique gateway between the past and the present. It is the voice of the Jewish people, surviving for centuries through religious texts but it is also a living language, connecting Jews worldwide.

After thousands of years of silence, Hebrew was revived. Modern Hebrew is spoken by over 9 million people worldwide and is one of the last remaining spoken languages with deep roots in ancient history. The Hebrew language has been and continues to be the language of the Jewish people. Hebrew fluency offers opportunities to thrive in a multilingual world.

Hebrew Placement and Retroactive Credit

 

Placement and Proficiency

In general, placement depends on the overall proficiency of the student and on what was accomplished in previous Hebrew courses. A student entering KU with no previous Hebrew should enroll in Hebrew 110.

Students with past coursework/experience in Hebrew should take a placement test before enrolling. This test focuses on your abilities and knowledge of the language rather than the amount of prior coursework that you have had. For information on the placement exam for Hebrew, please contact Ms. Tyra Kalman at tkalman@ku.edu. Based on the placement test results, the Hebrew Language Coordinator, Ms. Shelley Rissien, will determine which Hebrew course is appropriate for the student’s level.

Also, a proficiency exam in Hebrew allows undergraduate students to gain exemption from the Non-English Language Proficiency requirement in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences by establishing that their ability in a second language is equivalent to someone who has studied Hebrew for four semesters at the college level.

Students needing proficiency examinations for study abroad programs, the Dean's Certificate in International Business, or graduate school requirements should also contact us to arrange the necessary testing.

Retroactive Credit

Students with no prior college or university Hebrew course credit are eligible for retroactive credit according to this formula:

  • 3 hours of retroactive credit are awarded to a student who enrolls initially at KU in a third-semester Hebrew course (HEBR 210) and receives a grade of C or higher.
  • 6 hours of retroactive credit are awarded to a student who enrolls initially at KU in a fourth-semester Hebrew course (HEBR 220) and receives a grade of C or higher.
  • 9 hours of retroactive credit are awarded to a student who enrolls initially at KU in a fifth-semester Hebrew course (HEBR 300, 340, HEBR 350, or HEBR 490), and receives a grade of C or higher.

These credit hours do not affect your GPA but do count toward the overall number of credits you need for graduation.

Retroactive credit is not automatically posted on your KU transcript. Students can apply for it after they complete their initial Hebrew class at KU and receive a satisfactory grade.

To start the process, students should email the following two items to Ms. Tyra Kalman:

  • PDF of your Advising Report (available from MyKU).
  • Indicate their intention for Hebrew retroactive credit.

The University charges a fee of $50 for retroactive credit, regardless of how many credit hours you receive. This will be charged through your student account on Enroll & Pay.

Hebrew Courses:

Courses

Yiddish

Yiddish is the erstwhile lingua franca of East-European (Ashkenazi) Jews and now spoken by Hasidic Jews and some traditional communities in Israel and elsewhere. Prior to the Holocaust and among 17 million Jews worldwide, 11 million were speakers of Yiddish. The language of the Eastern European or Ashkenazic Jews, Yiddish uses the Hebrew alphabet and was the shared language among Eastern European Jews prior to World War II. Today there are less than 600,000 speakers of Yiddish. Despite the dwindling numbers, many young scholars are inspired to be a part of its revival, keeping the language alive as part of the Jewish tradition. 

Linguists find Yiddish a particularly interesting language to study because of its blended nature: its lexicon is made up primarily of German, Hebrew, and Aramaic components, but it also has structural characteristics that reveal commonalities with Romance and Slavic languages. 

Learning Yiddish is fun because it is the language of an ethnic group whose humor and musical sensibilities are inseparable from the language itself. Any course in Yiddish inevitably includes songs, jokes, riddles, and insults that reflect the essential elements of everyday discourse and life in Yiddishkeit. 

Yiddish courses are generally not offered as part of the standard semester curriculum, but instead are offered on an individual basis. Please contact  the Jewish Studies Program (jewishstudies@ku.edu) to make arrangements.  

Yiddish Courses:

Courses