Jewish People's University of the Air

The Jewish People's University was a program initiated in the Spring of 1979 as an innovative response to public need. While many American Jews are seriously interested in learning more about the Jewish world, it was found that many are unable to get away from their busy schedules to attend courses. Others, especially those outside of New York, are unable to find classes which speak to their interest, or which are on the appropriate academic level.

An outgrowth of Touro College's merger with Herzliah-Jewish Teacher's Seminary and People's University and under the direction of Jacob Katzman, the Jewish People's University sought to reach these Jews through three channels.

First, the University offered a rich variety of 27 college-level courses on Jewish Studies through radio broadcast throughout the New York metropolitan area, comprised of 341 half-hour lectures.
Second, these courses were made available on cassette to individuals as well as community centers, synagogues, senior citizens clubs, and members of the United States Armed Forces. The library-style albums included the reading lists, outlines, and instructions which are reproduced on this Web site.
Third, the University also offered classroom-based courses in Jewish Studies to students of all ages who want to enhance their Jewish knowledge, but may not have had the necessary qualifications for regular college courses, or may not have wished to involve themselves in credit-earning programs.

The Jewish People's University of the Air (JPUA) as presented in this digital collection embodied the first two of these initiatives. The cassette packages were used in home study, as well as on the campuses of such institutions as Stony Brook University-SUNY. Today, the Touro College Libraries have chosen JPUA as the first of our digital collections as representative of Touro's mission to perpetuate and enrich the Jewish heritage, to support Jewish continuity, and to serve the general community in keeping with the Judaic commitment to intellectual inquiry and social justice.

Top of page