James Striar School of General Jewish Studies

The James Striar School of General Jewish Studies, informally known as the Mechinah Program, is a comprehensive program in Jewish studies for male students seeking to improve and further their basic skills and knowledge of Jewish studies. JSS is the only school in the country designed for male college-age students who wish to pursue Jewish studies on either beginning or intermediate level while taking a regular college program simultaneously on the same campus. The program teaches the fundamentals of Jewish scholarship and heritage through a unique curriculum which consists of courses in Hebrew language, Bible, Jewish History, Talmud, and Jewish Philosophy, Laws and Customs.

The aim in all text-based courses is to train the student in progressive mastery of the text and to prepare him for independent study of original sources. The pervasive emphasis in the JSS approach to the study of Judaism has always been focused on learning it rather than learning about it. Graduates of the James Striar School are awarded an Associate Arts (AA) degree with a major in Hebrew Language, Literature, and Culture.