Jewish Learning in American Universities examines the evolution of Jewish studies as an academic discipline within the history and sociology of higher education in America from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century. Whereas in Europe Jewish learning had traditionally been the province of religious schools, American Jews, seeking acceptance and recognition, came to view American universities as vehicles for educational, cultural, and social advancement.

Reciprocating Jewish communal interest in introducing Jewish studies as an academic field into American higher education, six leading American universities - California, Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Pennsylvania - took the lead in instituting Judaica appointments in the late nineteenth century.

Drawing from university and private archives, Paul Ritterband and Harold S. Wechsler offer a fascinating account of the circumstances behind the early appointments in Judaic studies, the tensions between university administrations and community sources of support, the strong and conflicting personalities often involved, and the changing rationales for Jewish learning as Jewish studies programs burgeoned on American campuses in the second half of the twentieth century.