Founded in 1969, the Association for Jewish Studies is a learned society and professional organization that seeks to promote, maintain, and improve teaching, research, and related endeavors in Jewish Studies in colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher learning. The Association for Jewish Studies is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies.

The Association holds an Annual Conference in December with sessions devoted to a wide variety of scholarly and professional matters. During each conference, special interest groups, representing various disciplines within Jewish Studies, meet to discuss subjects of particular concern to the participants. From time to time, the Association has sponsored other scholarly or professional meetings. From 1973 to 1978, the Association sponsored a series of regional conferences made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1979, the Association convened the first meeting of representatives from major graduate programs in Jewish Studies.