About

Dr. Noam Gal (PhD, Yale 2012), scholar and curator of the arts in the camera-age, is a senior lecturer at the Art History Department, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Between 2013-2021 he served as Chief Curator of Photography at the Israel Museum Jerusalem. Gal's main exhibition projects featured the art of Richard Avedon, Berenice Abbott, Ron Amir, Ilit Azoulay, Tomoko Sawada, Roi Kuper, Micha Bar-Am, and Chen Cohen. Gal is the curator and author of A Modern Love, the first survey in Hebrew of modernism in photography. Gal's essays appeared internationally in Critical Arts, African Identities, The Art Journal, Photographies along with numerous local venues. His book project Compressions: Israeli Art in the Third Millennium is forthcoming in 2023.

Selected Publications

1. Noam Gal, “Joint Spectatorship: Experiments with Photography,” Photographies Vol. 15 (3), 2022 (forthcoming).

2. Noam Gal, “When Seeing Expires: Art History and the Work of Alison Rossiter,” Art Journal Vol. 81 (1), 2022, pp. 27-43.

3. Noam Gal, "Theodor Herzl Is Yael Bartana, Rereading Jewish History Through Photography, Thomas Pegelow-Kaplan and Ofer Ashkenazi eds. (Albany: SUNY Press, forthcoming 2022).

Teaching

B.A. courses

History of Light: Introduction to the Art of Photography

Cutting Contemporary Art

Great View: Introduction to the Philosophies of Art

Israeli Art in the Third Millenium

         M.A. courses

Regarding Now: Philosophies of Contemporary Art

Hang The Curator: Critiques of the Museum

Performance: Art Against Life

Reel Time: from Photography to Video-Art and Back

About

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel was born in Israel. He studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Archaeology and Geography, his Master of Arts degree in Prehistory and Biblical Archaeology  and completed his PhD on the Pottery Neolithic and Early Chalcolithic periods. Since 1993, Garfinkel has been teaching archaeology of the Bronze and Iron Periods at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s  Institute of Archaeology. Garfinkel has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University, Yale University, Oxford University, Cambridge University and Kings College in London. Over the years, he has conducted excavations at various Proto-historic sites in Israel, including  Yiftahel, Gesher, Tel Ali, Sha'ar Hagolan, Neolithic Ashkelon and Tel Tsaf.

In 2007 Garfinkel began the excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, where, for the first time in the archaeology of Israel, a fortified city from the time of King David had been uncovered. Between 2013 and 2017 Garfinkel  excavaed at the biblical city of Lachish, the second most important city in Judah (second only to Jerusalem). Since 2015 he has been excavating at Khirbet al-Ra'i, another site in Judah from the time of King David.

Selected Publications

Y. Garfinkel, 2003. Dance at the Dawn of Agriculture. Austin: Texas University Press.

Y. Garfinkel and M. Mumcuoglu, 2016. Solomon’s Temple and Palace: New Archaeological Discoveries. Jerusalem: Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem & Biblical Archaeology Society.

Y. Garfinkel, I. Kreimerman and P. Zilberg, 2016. Debating Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

Y. Garfinkel, S. Ganor and M. Hasel, 2018. Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 4. Excavation Report 2009–2013: Art, Cult and Epigraphy. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society.

Y. Garfinkel, S. Ganor and M. Hasel, 2018. Footsteps of King David in the Valley of Elah. London: Thames & Hudson.

Selected Awards

Recipient of the Polonsky Book Prize 2006 for creativity and originality in the Humanities for the

book Dance at the Dawn of Agriculture

About

Leore Grosman is Professor for Prehistoric Archaeology and the head of the Computational Archaeology Laboratory that apply tools from mathematics and computer sciences to modern archaeological research. As a prehistoric archaeologist she is engaged in research exploring the transformation from the hunting and gathering subsistence mode to that of farming, a transition that irrevocably changed the human world. The focus of her research is the Levantine Corridor, and she is the director of the Terminal Palaeolithic excavations projects at Hilazon Tachtit Cave, Nahal Ein-Gev II in Northern Israel.

Selected Publications

Grosman, L. 2016. Reaching the Point of No Return: The Computational Revolution in Archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 45 (1):129-145.

Grosman, L., A. Muller, I. Dag, H. Goldgeier, O. Harush, G. Herzlinger, K. Nebenhaus, F. Valetta, T. Yashuv, and N. Dick. In Press. Artifact3-D: New software for accurate, objective and efficient 3D analysis and documentation of archaeological artifacts. PLoS ONE.

Grosman, L., and N. D. Munro. 2016. A Natufian Ritual Event. Current Anthropology 57 (3):311-331.

Grosman, L., N. D. Munro, I. Abadi, E. Boaretto, D. Shaham, A. Belfer-Cohen, and O. Bar-Yosef. 2016. Nahal Ein Gev II, a Late Natufian Community at the Sea of Galilee. PLoS ONE 11 (1):e0146647.

Grosman, L., N. D. Munro, and A. Belfer-Cohen. 2008. A 12,000-year-old Shaman burial from the southern Levant (Israel). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (46):17665-17669.

Teaching

Bachelor's degree courses

Computational Archaeology

The Origins of Agriculture: Levant, America and China

Transitional periods in Prehistory

Human Prehistory

Levantine Upper Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic Entities

Scientific Topics in Archaeology

Research of Human Prehistory in the 21st Century

Modern Human expansion to Europe

Introduction to Prehistoric Archaeology

Topics in Levantine prehistory (seminar)

Master's degree courses

Field Archaeology

Developments of prehistoric closed spaces – to the Neolithic house

Computation Archaeology in 3-D

Topics in Prehistoric Archaeology (seminar)

Geo-Archaeology (seminar)

About

Born in Israel in 1976, Prof. Harari received his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2002. In 2019, following the international success of his books, Yuval Noah Harari and Itzik Yahav co-founded Sapienship, a social impact company with projects in the fields of entertainment and education. Sapienship’s main goal is to make the public conversation focus on the most important global challenges facing the world today

Selected Publications

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

21 Lessons for the 21st Century

Sapiens: A Graphic History (Series)

Selected Awards

Honorary doctorate from VUB (the Free University of Brussels (2019)

 Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality (2012 and 2009)

The Society for Military History’s Moncado Award for outstanding articles on military history (2011)

Teaching

Technology and the Future of Humanity

The Laws of History

A Guide for Data Revolutionists

The Crusades and the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Humans and Other Animals

The History of the Future        

History for the Masses

The Medieval World    

Identities: Looking for Meaning

The World of Medieval People 

The Future of Humankind     
 

About

Dr. Helman is a social historian whose books focus on Mandate Era Palestine and 1950s Israel.

Selected Publications

Young Tel Aviv: A Tale of Two Cities (Lebanon NH: Brandeis UP and UPNE, 2010).

A Coat of Many Colors: Dress Culture in the Young State of Israel (Brighton MA: Academic Studies Press, 2011).

Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s (Lebanon NH: Brandeis University Press and University Press of New England, 2014).

Consumer Culture and Leisure in the Young State of Israel (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2020). [in Hebrew]

Selected Awards

2004 – The Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines.

2008 – The Mordechai Ish-Shalom Prize (Yad Ben-Zvi) for "first-fruit" book on Israel History. 

2008 – The Shapiro Prize for best book in Israel Studies (Association of Israel Studies).

2021 – The Erika and Dr. Netanel Lorch Prize for best book on Israeli History.

Teaching

Consolidating a Hebrew National Culture in the Land of Israel

Visual Culture in Eretz Yisrael

Israel: The First Decade

Jews and Sport, 1780-1939

About

Erella Hovers is a professor of prehistoric archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a trained  lithic analyst and works on the earlier periods of human prehistory in eastern Africa and the Levant. Along with Dr.Tegenu Gossa, Prof. Hovers is currently co-directinga project at Melka Wakena (dated 1.6- 0.8 million years) on the Ethiopian highlands and at Hayonim Cave (western Galilee, Israel) focusing on the time period 350-200 thousand years ago. On-going off site activities include publications stemming from previous projects in collaboration with specialists and doctoral and post-doctoral students. 
 

Selected Publications

Hovers, E., Ilani, S., Bar-Yosef, O., Vandermeersch, B., 2003. “An early case of color symbolism: Ochre use by early modern humans in Qafzeh Cave.” Current Anthropology 44, 491-522.

Hovers, E., Belfer-Cohen, A., 2006. "Now you see it, now you don’t" – modern human behavior in the Middle Paleolithic, in: Hovers, E., Kuhn, S.L. (Eds.), Transitions Before The Transition: Evolution and Stability in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age. Springer New York, pp. 295-304.

Hovers, E., 2009. The Lithic Assemblages of Qafzeh Cave. Oxford University Press, New York.

 Hovers, E., 2012. “Invention, re-invention, innovations: makings of the Oldowan” in: Elias, S. (Ed.), Origins of Human Creativity and Innovation. Elsevier, pp. 51-68.

 Belfer-Cohen, A., Hovers, E., 2020. “Prehistoric perspectives on ‘Others’ and ‘Strangers.’ Frontiers in Psychology 10, 3063.

Hovers, E., Gossa, T., Asrat, A., et al., 2021. “The expansion of the Acheulian to the Southeastern Ethiopian Highlands: Insights from the new early Pleistocene site-complex of Melka Wakena.” Quaternary Science Reviews 253, 106763.

Selected Awards

Research grants from the Israel Science Foundation, Thyssen foundation, National Geographic Society, Leakey Foundation, internal grants.

Teaching

Introduction to prehistoric archaeology;

The Lower and Middle Paleolithic in the Levant;

 On chimpanzees and humans;

The human settlement of Australia;

Processes of inventions and innovations in the prehistoric record;

Prehistoric perspectives on hunter-gatherers;

The emergence of modern humans; scientific writing

About

Hilla Jacobson’s research focuses on the philosophy of mind and cognitive science and the philosophy of practical reasoning. Much of her work stands at the point where philosophical concerns overlap with and feed into empirical research in psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Jacobson is interested especially in the manner in which we consciously perceive and experience the world (including our own bodies); in the evaluative, valenced (pleasant/unpleasant), motivational (action-guiding) aspects of our perceptual experiences; and in the nature of – as well as the interplay between – mental elements that purport to represent how the world actually is (e.g., beliefs or judgments) and those that concern how it should be from the subject's perspective (e.g., desires and preferences).

Selected Publications

Jacobson, H. (2019). “Not only a messenger: towards an attitudinal-representational theory of pain”. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 99 (2), 382-408.

Jacobson, H. forthcoming. The Role of Valence in Perception: An ARTistic Treatment, Philosophical Review

Jacobson H, Putnam H. 2016. “Against Perceptual Conceptualism”. International Journal of Philosophical Studies

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

Uzi Leibner is an associate professor in Classical Archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He specializes in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine archaeology of the Land of Israel and its surroundings. His interests lie in various aspects of landscape archaeology; rural settlements; ancient synagogues; ancient Jewish Art; and the integration of archaeological material and historical sources.

Selected Publications

 Khirbet Wadi Ḥamam: A Roman-period Village and Synagogue in the Lower Galilee, Jerusalem: Qedem ‎Reports 13, the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2018.

 Settlement and History in Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Galilee: An Archaeological Survey of the Eastern ‎Galilee, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2009. ‎

 (with B. Arubas) "The Invisible Synagogues of the Second Temple Period," Cathedra (forthcoming) ‎‎(Hebrew).

 (with D. Adan-Bayewitz, F. Asaro and M. D. Glascock, "A Pottery Production-Site for late Second Temple-period ‎Jerusalem," Eretz Israel 34, forthcoming (Hebrew).

(with Ch. Ben David, "Imported Fine Ware in Palaestina Secunda: Geographic, Economic, and Ethnic Aspects," BASOR 371 (2014), pp. 185-201. ‎

Selected Awards

Eliezer Shimshon Rosenthal Prize in Talmudic Research (2017).

Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines (2014).‎ 

Teaching

 Introduction to the Archaeology of the Land of Israel in the Hellenistic, Roman ‎and Byzantine Periods

‎Introduction to Byzantine Archaeology

‎Jewish Art and Architecture in the Second Temple Period and in the Days of the ‎Mishnah and Talmud

 Rural Settlements in the Land of Israel in the Roman and Byzantine Periods ‎

 Hellenistic and early Roman Pottery Roman and Byzantine Pottery

 Water Installations in israel and in the Classical World (B.A Seminar)

Galilee and its inhabitants during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods (M.A Seminar)

The Ancient Synagogue - History and Archaeology (MA, with N. Hacham)

Talmudic Archaeology (MA, with D. Rosenthal)