In 2012, when we launched our integrated course on Jewish Thought, Philosophy, and Literature (formerly Tikvah, now JPhiL), a student asked, “Is there a Final?” to which Dr. Watts responded, “How you live your life is the Final.” From the beginning, we have sought to open students’ minds to the fact that through Judaism, individuals can contribute meaningfully, not only to conversations on philosophy and literature, but that by the very nature of their Jewish identities they can make a significant impact on society. While we have always known of the course’s short-term effects, we now know of its longer-term impacts on students’ approaches to critical thinking, their relationship to Judaism, and their relationship to God. And those impacts are profound. Students consistently report that in the years since, the course has moved them to liv

If cultivating spirituality means creating the drive to unify the self with God, to see God’s hand in one’s life, and to transcend the self to connect with others, then literature presents myriad opportunities to experience that transcendent sense of unity. In fact, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (1952) may be a child’s first literary encounter with the foundations of this experience—friendship, which is woven of loyalty, kindness, compassion, and sacrifice. Interestingly, the spiritual nature of these four elements, i.e., transcending the self to empathize with another individual, is embodied by the web itself.