Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization mission

Jewish law is the Jewish people's most creative intellectual expression. Yet historical and cultural reasons have prevented the Jewish legal tradition from interacting intensively with academic studies or with broad universal issues in politics, ethics, or public policy. The mission of the Yeshiva University Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at Cardozo Law School (CJL) is to stimulate this constructive interaction and make a significant contribution to legal, political, and civic culture on a global level.

The Center devotes its resources to three areas:

The academic study of the Jewish legal tradition (e.g., jurisprudence, legal theory, comparative law) to foster a greater appreciation of Jewish law in the scholarly community and to stimulate continuing development of the Jewish legal tradition.
The interdisciplinary research of Jewish law, political theory, ethics, and multi-cultural studies to extend Jewish law to contemporary issues in these disciplines.
Public programming for writers, religious leaders, lay intellectuals, professionals, and public officials to explore Jewish law values for public policy, culture, and society.

As an integral component of Yeshiva University, Cardozo Law School is the ideal venue for the Center. The University's world renowned excellence in Jewish scholarship and culture is a magnet for students who wish to participate in the scholarly analysis of the Jewish legal tradition and explore its influence on the wider civilization. Yeshiva's rabbinic and graduate students constitute a natural pool of candidates for students and activities at the Center.

CJL, formerly the Program in Jewish Law & Interdisciplinary Studies, was established at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2004, and already has become a major locus for the study of Jewish and comparative legal theory in the United States. In four short years, we have created a vibrant community of established scholars and graduate students from diverse institutions and disciplines, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who have come together at conferences, colloquia, public lectures, workshops, and reading groups for an open and ongoing dialogue centered on Jewish legal texts. CJL is developing a distinctively American contribution to the study of Jewish law, complementing and enhancing older, more established centers for the study of Jewish law in Israel. We are now in the process of forging close relationships with scholars and institutions in Israel, and are poised to create a dynamic and productive partnership between the American and Israeli legal communities.

In an impressive display of support for the importance of CJL's mission, some of the world’s leading judges, academics, and intellectuals have agreed to serve as members of the Center’s first academic advisory board. The board, composed of individuals who appreciate the contribution that Jewish law can make to the understanding of law and who also recognize the critical importance of reshaping the study of Jewish law in light of modern legal thought, serves as an important piece of CJL's institutional infrastructure.