The Tulane program uses methods of history to gain accurate insights into the Jews' past; sociological analysis to find the larger patterns of Jewish behavior and social interaction; and the study of philosophy to examine the comprehensive understandings of humanity and nature proposed by Jewish thinkers.

In addition, language, literature and musicology are studied in order to explore the diverse cultural creations of the Jews and the method of social anthropology allows students to characterize Jewish religion and to define its impact upon the lives of its past and present adherents. Through these several approaches, Jewish Studies attempts to comprehend the Jewish experience in antiquity, the middle ages, and the present, and to examine the identities and ways of life that Jews have developed in order to make sense of the worlds in which they have lived.