The institute was meant to be formed according to the tradition of the academies of the Wissenschaft des Judentums in Berlin and to entrench Jewish scholarship again in the scholarly landscape of Germany.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany acted on the proposal with the resolve to utilize the denominational orientation to establish a scholarly institution at which all interested academic parties could seek higher education.
The HfJS has acquired academic partnerships with international universities in Israel, Austria and Sweden and regularly organizes conferences and issues a periodical publication, entitled Trumah.
The focus areas concern political, social and cultural transformation, as well as various mystical and religious movements, as are characteristic of the ever-changing course of Jewish history in Europe.
Students of all faculties of the HfJS and the University of Heidelberg take part in the curriculum composed of contemporary research topics spanning from socio-cultural to political aspects of Israel and the Middle East.