About

Jonathan Dekel-Chen is the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet & East European Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His current research and publications deal with transnational philanthropy and advocacy, non-state diplomacy, agrarian history and migration. In 2014, Dekel-Cohen co-founded the Bikurim Youth Village for the Arts, which provides world-class artistic training for under-served high school students from throughout Israel.

Selected Publications

Farming the Red Land: Jewish Agricultural Colonization and Local Soviet Power, 1923-1941. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.

Editor (with David Gaunt, Natan Meir, Israel Bartal), Anti-Jewish Violence: Rethinking the Pogrom in East European History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.

Editor (with Eugene Avrutin and Robert Weinberg), Ritual Murder in Russia, Eastern Europe and Beyond: New Histories of an Old Accusation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017.

“Between Myths, Memories, History and Politics: Creating Content for Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.” The Public Historian 40, no. 4 (2018): 91-106.

 “Putting Agricultural History to Work: Global Action Today from a Communal Past.” Featured article in: Agricultural History 94, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 512-544.

Selected Awards

2005-2008  Israel Science Foundation Award, “A World of Good: Jewish Philanthropy and Politics

in Russia and the USSR, 1890s-1990s”.

Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines, Hebrew University, 2007.

Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 2008-2009.

Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2008-2009.

Israel Institute Visiting Professor at Columbia University, N.Y., 2015-2016

Bildner Visiting Scholar at the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, Rutgers University.

Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for the best article in Agricultural History from the Agricultural History Society for “Putting Agricultural History to Work: Global Action Today from a Communal Past” (Issue 94, no. 4 [2020]: 512-544).

Teaching

“From Revolution to Crisis: Russia, 1789-1855.”

 “From Crisis to Revolution: Russia, 1856-1917.”

 “Russian Foreign Policy in the Middle East and Israel”

“From Bukhara to Brooklyn: Modern East European Jewry”

“The Jewish Farmer in Modern Times.” (M.A.)

"Jewish Politics and Philanthropy in the 20^th Century" (M.A.)

"The Global Campaign for Soviet Jewry: Moscow, Washington, London, Jerusalem” (M.A.)

"Diplomacy and Philanthropy in the Modern Jewish World" (M.A.)

"Jewish and Non-Jewish Migration in the Modern World: Theory and Practice" (M.A.)

“Kibbutz: Beginnings, Glory, the End?” (M.A.)

About

Prof. Fassberg teaches and researches Biblical Hebrew, the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Aramaic dialectology, Northwest Semitics, and Comparative Semitic philology. He has served in several administrative positions at the university and is a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language.

Selected Publications

Studies in the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (סוגיות בתחביר המקרא). Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1994. 202 pp. (in Hebrew)

The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Challa. Semitic Languages and Linguistics 54. Leiden: Brill, 2010. 314 pp. + XVIII.

An Introduction to the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (מבוא לתחביר לשון המקרא). Biblical Encyclopaedia Library 36. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 2019. 286 pp. +  XXI.

Teaching

Aramaic of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Biblical Hebrew

Comparative Semitic Linguistics: Phonology and Morphology

Hebrew and the Semitic Languages

Hebrew Morphology

Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls

History of the Hebrew Language (from Its Origins to the End of the Amoraic Period)

Introduction to Aramaic (Parts I and II)

Language of Biblical Poetry

Language of the Book of Job

Late Western Aramaic

Old Aramaic Inscriptions

Phoenician and Punic Inscriptions

Ugaritic

Western Neo-Aramaic

About

Dr. Yair Furstenberg is a scholar of early rabbinic literature. His research focuses on the emergence of the early rabbinic literature in the first centuries of the CE and the history of rabbinic law within its Greco-Roman context. In his publications, Furstenberg examines the development of Jewish legal discourse during the Second Temple and the early rabbinic period, as well as its relationship to  Jesus traditions. His current project aims to examine rabbinic legal activity into its Roman provincial context.

Selected Publications

Y. Furstenberg, ‘Jesus against the Laws of the Pharisees: The Legal Woe Sayings and Second Temple Inter-Sectarian Discourse,’ Journal of Biblical Literature 139 (2020): 767-786

Y. Furstenberg, “Provincial Rabbis: Shaping Rabbinic Divorce Procedure in a Roman Legal Environment”, Jewish Quarterly Review 109 (2019): 471-499

Y. Furstenberg, “From Tradition to Controversy: New Modes of Transmission in the Teachings of Early Rabbis”, Tarbiz 85 (2018): 587-641 [Hebrew]

Y. Furstenberg, ‘Imperialism and the Creation of Local Law: The Case of Rabbinic Law’, K. Berthelot, N. B. Dohrmann and C. Nemo-Pekelman (eds.), Legal Engagement: The Reception of Roman Law and Tribunals by Jews and Other Inhabitants of the Empire, Ecole française de Rome 2021, pp. 271-300.

Y. Furstenberg, Purity and Identity in Ancient Judaism, Indiana University Press (forthcoming). [Hebrew version:  Purity and Community in Antiquity: Traditions of the Law from Second Temple Judaism to the Mishnah, Magnes Press, 2016]

Selected Awards

The Mordechai Ish-Shalom Award for Best First Book in the History of the Land of Israel, for Purity and Community in Antiquity. Awarded by Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi

Teaching

Bachelor's degree courses

Rabbinic Literature and the New Testament 

Introduction to the Mishnah 

The World of the Talmud: Study Culture 

The World of the Talmud: Cultural and Religious Contexts

The Temple in the Mishnah: Tractate Yoma

Introduction to Halakhic Midrashim

Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael: Halakhah and Aggadah

Introduction to the Tosefta

Master's degree courses

Tractate Neziqin: Between the Bible and the Greco-Roman World 

The Temple between Mishnah and Tosefta

Early Halakhic Literature: The Damascus Document.

 Marriage and Family in Early Rabbinic Law

About

David Guedj is a member of the department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry. He is a historian of the Jews in Muslim lands, specializing in the culture and society of North African Jewish communities in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. His current research investigates the development and modernization of polyglot book culture in 20^th century Morocco.

Selected Publications

1. David Guedj, The Hebrew Culture in Morocco, 1912-1956, The Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem 2022. (Hebrew)

2. “Jeune Israël: Multiple Modernities of Jewish Childhood and Youth in Morocco in the First Half of the Twentieth Century”, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 112:2 (2022): 316-343.

3. “Double tendance: The Photographic Message in the Egyptian Jewish Youth Magazine L’Illustration Juive, 1929-1931”, Images: a Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture, 12 (2019): 56-69.

4. “Post-Second World War praise poetry, lament and a Utopian treatise in Morocco: historical literature on the theme of the Second World War”, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 17,4 (2018): 455-471.

5. “The Distribution of Heirless Books by the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction to Morocco”, Zutot: Perspectives on Jewish Culture, 15(2018): 63-72.

Teaching

B.A.

North African Jews from the late 19th century to the middle of the 20th century

North Africa's Jews during WW2

Education in Jewish society in MENA

M.A.

Issues in the history of the jews in MENA

Study tour through Jewish Morocco

About

Alexander Kulik is a philologist and historian whose research concentrates on the cross-cultural transmission of texts and ideas. He studied at the Moscow State University, received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard University. Kulik has authored five books and edited seven volumes. Together with Moshe Taube he initiated and headed the international research group at the Israel Institute of Advanced Studies. He founded and headed the Brill book series Studia Judaeoslavica. Alexander Kulik has held visiting positions at Harvard University, Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, University College London, Stanford University, University of Oxford, Université de Lausanne, Freie Universität Berlin, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, and National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Presently, he serves as Professor and Chair of the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies and Chair of the Academic Committee of the International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization. He holds the Tamara and Savely Grinberg Chair of Russian Studies at the Hebrew University. Prof. Kulik is a member of the International Committee of Slavists.


Selected Publications

Retroverting Slavonic Pseudepigrapha (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004 / Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2005)

3 Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2009)

Biblical Pseudepigrapha in Slavonic Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016; with S. Minov)

Jews in Old Rus’: A Documentary History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press for HURI, forthcoming)

Guide to Early Jewish Texts and Traditions in Christian Transmission (Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press; editor-in-chief, with G. Boccaccini, L. DiTommaso, D. Hamidovic, M. Stone, 2019).

Selected Awards

2007—2011       Israel Science Foundation (ISF), “Slavonic Pseudepigrapha in Intercultural Transmission,” ILS 550,000.

2010—2016       European Research Council (ERC), “Jews and Slavs in the Middle Ages: Interaction and Cross-Fertilization,” EUR 1.044 million

2014—2018      German-Israeli Foundation (GIF), “Visitors from Heaven, Visitors to Heaven: Judaeo-Christian Encounters and the Last Lingua Sacra of Europe” (with Moshe Taube [HU], Rainer Kampling [FU Berlin], Florentina Badalanova Geller [FU Berlin]), EUR 180,000

2016—2021      Israel Science Foundation (ISF), “The Bible in Russian Modernism” (with Roman Timenchik), ILS 600,000

2020—present   Israel Science Foundation (ISF), “Jews in Eastern Europe: 10th-14th centuries,” ILS 560,000

Teaching

BA

Russian and Slavic Linguistics

Old Church Slavonic

Introduction to Russian Culture

Introduction to Russian and East European Film and Film Theory

Russian Literature and Film

Jews of Medieval Rus'

Apocalyptic Literature

MA

The Bible in Slavic Traditions

Slavic Pseudepigrapha

The Bible in Russian Modernism

Russian Modernism in the Intercultural Context

Studies in Thematic Criticism

Literature and Art

About

Yael Reshef is an expert on Modern Hebrew, and in particular, on its emergence processes during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Selected Publications

Historical Continuity in the Emergence of Modern Hebrew. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020

Linguistic Contact, Continuity and Change in the Genesis of Modern Hebrew [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today Series], Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2019 (ed., with E. Doron, M. Rapaport Hovav, M. Taube)

Hebrew in the Mandate Period. Jerusalem: The Academy of the Hebrew Language, 2015 [in Hebrew]

The Early Hebrew Folksong: A Chapter in the History of Modern Hebrew. Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute, 2004 [in Hebrew]

Selected Awards

Recipient of the Ze’ev Ben-Hayyim Prize for Excellence in the Study of Hebrew Language and Literature, awarded by The Academy of the Hebrew Language

Teaching

History of the Hebrew Language: From Early Medieval Period until the Revival of Hebrew Speech

Modern Hebrew

Sociolinguistics

Speech and Speech Representation

Selected Topics in Pragmatics

Topics in the History of Modern Hebrew

Structural Features of contemporary Hebrew

Selected Topics in Modern Hebrew Gramma

Language and Interaction

Modern Hebrew as a Language of Culture

Modern Hebrew: The First Decades

About

Diego Rotman is a Senior Lecturer, researcher, multidisciplinary artist and curator. His research focuses on performative practices related to local historiography, Yiddish theater, contemporary art and folklore and research creation projects.

Selected Publications

Diego Rotman. 2021. The Yiddish Stage as a Temporary Home - Dzigan and Shumacher's Satirical Theater (1927-1980), Pp. 321. Berlin: De Gruyter.

Diego Rotman. 2020. “Language Politics, Memory, and Discourse: Yiddish Theatre in Israel (1948-2003).” Skenè. Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies, 6, 2.

Diego Rotman. 2019. “Building and Developing HaMesila Park: From Resistance to Collaboration.” In Understanding Campus-Community Partnerships in Conflict Zones Engaging Students for Transformative Change, edited by Dalya Yafa Markovich, Daphna Golan, and Nadera Shalhoub Kervokian. Palgrave.

 Diego Rotman. 2019. “The Fragile Boundaries of Paradise: The Paradise Inn Resort at the Former Jerusalem Leprosarium.” In Borderlines: Essays on Mapping and The Logic of Place, edited by Edwin Seroussi and Ruthie Abeliovich. Jerusalem: Sciendo / I-Core.

Diego Rotman. 2017. “On the architecture of the ephemeral: The Eternal Sukkah of the Jahalin tribe.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies.

Selected Awards

2019,  Shapiro Award for the Best Book in Israel Studies

2017, Prize of the Israeli Minister of Culture for Visual Artists (together with Lea Mauas)

2018, Nominated for the Keshet Award in Visual Arts.

2014, Prize for an outstanding PhD Thesis, by the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry.

2006, Prize for an outstanding M.A. Thesis by Beit Shalom Aleichem.

Teaching

Art as Research (Lab)

Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies

The City as a Performative Arena: Performance, Intervention and Actions in the Public Space 

Dybbuk: Between Theatre and Ethnography

Cabaret Satire and Theater: Jewish Theatre in Europe

From Avant-garde to Political Satire: Dzigan and Shumacher's Theater

History of Theater in the Modern Period: Modernism and Avant-Garde