CJS 1 - Faculty of Arts and Sciences - Harvard University

winter 2008 

VOL XIX, NUMBER 2 

in JERUSALEM 

IN THIS ISSUE: 

• CENTER NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . .1-3 

• 2008 LECTURES . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 

• VISITING SCHOLARS . . . . . . . 5-6 

• STUDENT FUNDING & PRIZES . .7-8 

• STUDENT PROFILES . . . . . . . .9-10 

• STAFF NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 

Center for 

JEWISH STUDIES 

H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y

Center NEWS 

JAY HARRIS NAMED DEAN OF 

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION 

1 

Jay M. Harris, a longtime member of the 

Harvard faculty who has also served in a 

variety of administrative roles at the university, 

has been named Harvard 

College’s new Dean of 

Undergraduate Education. His 

appointment, began on July 1. 

Professor Harris is a member of the 

Executive Committee of the Center 

for Jewish Studies, its Steering 

Committee, and was the Center’s 

prior Director. 

In this new position, Harris will 

work with Harvard College Dean 

Evelynn M. Hammonds and the College’s 

Office for Academic Programs on supervising 

all aspects of the undergraduate curriculum. He 

will oversee the new Program in General 

Education, the Freshmen Seminars Program, the 

Office of International Programs, the Derek Bok 

Center for Teaching and Learning, the Harvard 

Writing Program, and the Advising Programs 

Office. 

“I am delighted that Jay Harris will join us in 

reinforcing undergraduate education as the centerpiece 

of Harvard College,” Hammonds says. 

“Jay’s commitment to undergraduates is longstanding 

and well known. He also brings a 

wealth of experience and deep institutional 

knowledge to this new role, and our students 

will reap the benefits of his wisdom and administrative 

savvy. I’m pleased that we will add 

Jay’s considerable skills to an already strong 

team here in the College.” 

Harris has been a member of the Harvard 

faculty since 1989. He is currently the Harry 

Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies and 

chair of the Department of Near Eastern 

Languages and Civilizations. He has also 

served, since 2003, as co-master of Cabot 

House, one of Harvard’s 12 upperclassman residences. 

For the past year Harris was senior 

advisor to former College Dean David Pilbeam; 

he was director of Harvard’s Center for Jewish 

Studies from 2001 to 2006. 

Harris was a Harvard College Professor, a 

five-year appointment recognizing outstanding 

undergraduate teaching and mentoring, from 

2000 to 2005. 

A scholar of Jewish culture, history, 

and literature, Harris has authored or 

edited nine books. He was editor of 

the Association for Jewish Studies 

Review from 2000 to 2004. 

Harris holds a B.A. from Columbia 

University, awarded in 1978; master’s 

degrees from Columbia and 

the Jewish Theological Seminary, 

awarded in 1980 and 1983, 

respectively; and a Ph.D. from 

Columbia, awarded in 1985. After various 

teaching appointments at Columbia, 

the Jewish Theological Seminary, Princeton 

University, and the University of Pennsylvania, he 

joined Harvard as an assistant professor of 

Jewish studies in 1989. Harris was named the 

Harris K. Weston Associate Professor of the 

Humanities in 1991, and the Harry Austryn 

Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies in 1994. 

(Adapted with permission, Harvard News Service) 

Photo of Jay Harris above by Marcus Halevi 

CONGRATULATIONS! 

Congratulations to BRENNA WELLS, 

Staff Assistant at the Center for Jewish 

Studies, on her recent wedding. Brenna 

Wells and John Paulson were married in 

Seattle on June 7, 2008. Brenna and John 

are living in Cambridge. 

RACHEL ROCKENMACHER, the 

Center’s Administrator, graduated last spring 

with a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis 

University. Her dissertation was a qualitative 

study of the ways in which young adult 

children of intermarriages (with one Jewish 

parent) arrive at their identities. 

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WINTER 2008 

ABOVE Faculty and students of the Harvard Summer Program in Jerusalem, in the synagogue of Masada. 

HARVARD SUMMER PROGRAM 

IN JERUSALEM BY PROF. SHAYE J.D. COHEN 

Each summer the Harvard Office of 

International Programs and the Harvard 

Summer School jointly sponsor a variety of 

study abroad programs for undergraduates, 

and this year for the second time Jerusalem 

For almost all of the students this 

was their first ever visit to Israel, 

and their excitement was delightful. 

was one of the options. Twenty-three students 

participated, all of them Harvard College 

undergraduates. During the four and a half 

weeks of the program the students took two 

courses, did a lot of touring, and 

experienced Israel. The two courses, one 

ancient and one modern, were designed to 

take advantage of the setting. The ancient 

course, “From the Maccabees to the 

Mishnah,” was taught by Prof. Shaye J.D. 

Cohen, the modern course, “Zionism and the 

Emergence of Modern Israel,” by Prof. Jay 

Harris. As a group, the students toured the 

Old City of Jerusalem, Qumran, Masada, 

Sepphoris, Caesarea, Zikhron Yaakov, Safed, 

and elsewhere. Most students also toured 

extensively on their own; one large group of 

students spent a weekend en masse at Petra. 

The program was headquartered at the 

Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew 

University. For almost all of the students this 

was their first ever visit to Israel, and their 

excitement was delightful. The program was 

a great success, and plans are underway to 

run a similar program in summer 2009. 

Student participation in the program was 

facilitated by a generous grant from Roger 

Hertog, to whom we are extremely grateful. 

COVER PHOTO 

Burial monuments from the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem 

WWW.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/~CJS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 2

Center NEWS Center LECTURES 2008 

The Center for Jewish Studies congratulates 

Irit Aharony on her promotion to Senior 

Preceptor in Modern Hebrew in the 

Department of Near Eastern Languages and 

Civilizations. Dr. Aharony earned her Ph.D. in 

Hebrew literature from the Department of the 

Literature of the Jewish People at Bar-Ilan 

University in Israel while working and raising 

her family. She wrote a dissertation entitled, 

Wandering and Ways Searching: The Theme 

of Wandering in the Israeli Literature as 

Viewed in the Works of: S. Yizhar, Amos Oz, 

A.B. Yehoshua, Ya’akov Shabtai and Orly 

IRIT AHARONY 

Senior Preceptor in Modern Hebrew 

Castel Bloom. She has also published several 

papers about Israeli literature, and is 

particularly interested in the relationship 

between modern Israeli writing and the Bible, 

and the influence of historical events on 

modern Israeli life and literature. 

A gifted and experienced teacher, this is 

Dr. Aharony’s thirteenth year teaching Hebrew 

at Harvard. She taught previously in all the 

levels of the educational system from first 

grade until college. Dr. Aharony started her 

career as a teacher in the Israel army, and 

also ran a program for gifted high school 

students in Israel, worked in the Ministry of 

Education in the department for gifted children, 

taught literature, trained high school teachers, 

and taught in an elementary school. “She is 

the best teacher I have ever had,” remarked 

one of her students, herself trained in 

pedagogy. 

“Even though this is my 36th year in 

teaching,” says Dr. Aharony, “I love it and am 

still enthusiastic about teaching. Most of all, I 

like the special moment in class when teacher 

and students bond in the revelation of the 

new—the minute of comprehension. I love to 

find new ways of teaching and to improve my 

teaching. I love to learn from my students and I 

always learn from them. I love to see them at 

the beginning of the year and at the end of 

the year. … I love hearing from them in 

subsequent years, when they remember our 

classes. I love to bring them the feeling of 

“Israel” and “Israeli-ness” as I feel it. I love to 

teach Hebrew literature most of all because 

this is a true part of me. I love the students at 

Harvard. I don’t know if I am lucky because 

my students are so wonderful or if all the 

students at Harvard are wonderful.” 

In her new role, she will head the program 

in modern Hebrew in the Department of Near 

Eastern Languages and Civilizations. Irit 

Aharony and Anna Grinfeld, Preceptor in 

Modern Hebrew will continue to offer 

language instruction at four levels, as well as 

courses in modern Hebrew for academic 

reading, and courses on Hebrew literature 

and cultural history.” This year’s advanced 

courses, focused around topical themes, 

include “All About Boys and Girls,” “Bible 

Now!” and “Israeli Humor and Satire.” Dr. 

Aharony says, “A student can start the program 

with no knowledge of the aleph beit [the 

Hebrew alphabet] and graduate with the 

ability to read Hebrew literature.” All courses 

incorporate sources from Israeli literature and 

media, including “You Tube Israel,” which 

“helps our students develop aural comprehension 

skills and … feel the pulse of Israeli 

culture.” 

FEBRUARY 26 

5 pm,Harvard Center for the Humanities 

YAAKOV ELMAN 

Professor of Judaic Studies,Yeshiva University 

and Harvard University Center for Jewish 

Studies Associate 

“Intersecting Trajectories: Rabbinic and 

Persian Law in the Sasanian Period” 

Robert and Florence Dreben Lecture and Publication 

Fund 

MARCH 12 

5 pm,CGIS South Building (Tsai Auditorium) 

EHUD NETZER 

Professor Emeritus, Institute of Archaeology, 

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

“Was Herod Buried in the Mausoleum 

Recently Found at Herodium?” 

Harry Elson Lecture and Publication Fund 

MARCH 18 


HILLEL HALKIN 

Author, journalist, and translator. His most 

recent book is A Strange Death: 

A Story of Betrayal, Vengeance, and 

Memory within a Jewish Village in Old 

Palestine 

“Tikkun Olam ve-Tikkun Ha-Yehudim: Repairing 

the World and Repairing the Jews” 

Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies 

MARCH 31 


STEVEN KAPLAN 

Professor of African Studies and Comparative 

Religion, Hebrew University of Jerusalem 

and Radcliffe Institute Fellow, Harvard 

University 

“The Study of Ethiopian Jewry 1977- 

2007: What Have We Learned?” 

Yanoff-Taylor Lecture and Publication Fund 

APRIL 29 


DAVID ADAN-BAYEWITZ 

Associate Professor of Archaeology, 

Bar-Ilan University 

“Galilee and Jerusalem in the late Second 

Temple Period” 

William Landau Lecture and Publication Fund 

MAY 14 


MAGDA TETER 

Associate Professor of History, Wesleyan 

University and Radcliffe Institute Fellow, 

Harvard University 

“Sacrilege and Host Desecrations: Politics 

and Power in Early Modern Poland” 


MAY 15 


RONIT IRSHAI 

Visiting Lecturer on Women’s Studies and 

Judaism, Harvard Divinity School 

Lecturer of Jewish Philosophy and Feminism 

and faculty member of Gender Studies, Bar- 

Ilan University 

“‘Asking the Woman’s Question’ and the 

Halakhic Verdict: The Case of Hatam 

Sofer on Contraception” 


54 3 CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WINTER 2008 WWW.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/~CJS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 46 

5 

ABOVE 

CJS Associate 

Yaakov Elman, 

photo by 

Marcus Halevi 

PHOTO LEFT 

Annual reception 

for CJS visitors, 

by Marcus 

Halevi

Center VISITORS 

RIGHT 

Rabbi Ronald 

Androphy 

5 

DANIEL JEREMY 

SILVER FELLOW 

RONALD ANDROPHY, Rabbi at the 

East Meadow Jewish Center in East Meadow, 

NY, spent the spring 2008 semester at the 

Center for Jewish Studies as our thirteenth 

Daniel Jeremy Silver Fellow. This fellowship 

was established in memory of Rabbi Daniel 

Jeremy Silver (’48), to enable an “active 

congregational rabbi who has demonstrated 

exceptional intellectual and academic interest, 

originality, and energy” to engage in full-time 

academic research at Harvard. 

Rabbi Androphy is currently enrolled in a 

D.H.L. (Doctor of Hebrew Letters) program in 

Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Langauges at 

the Jewish Theological Seminary of America 

(JTS), in addition to his rabbinic duties, and 

has written scholarly articles. During his stay at 

Harvard, Rabbi Androphy worked on a study 

of paronomasia, particularly puns and plays 

on the trilateral roots of Hebrew words in the 

Tanakh. He gave a public presentation of 

some his research at the Starr Seminars, 

entitled “Proleptic, Polysemous, and 

Parasonantic Paronomasial Paradigms in 

Former Prophets: Prolegomenon and 

Preliminary Progress.” 

Thursday, February 14 

EMANUEL ETKES 

Title: “Son or Disciple: The War of Succession 

Over the Leadership Of Habad, 1812-1814” 


MORDECHAI ZALKIN 

Title: “Experience of Childhood and its 

Formation in East European Jewish Society” 


CHAERAN FREEZE 

Title: “Transforming Stigmatized Bodies into 

Valuable Commodities: Wetnursing and Illegal 

Services for Unwed Jewish Mothers in 

Nineteenth-Century Vil’na” 

Thursday, March 6 

CENGIZ SISMAN 

Title: “Transmission of Knowledge in the 

Shabbatean Families (17th-20th centuries)” 


EVYATAR MARIENBERG 

Title: “The History of Jewish Sex Guides” 

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WINTER 2008 

“THE FAMILY IN JEWISH HISTORY” 

THEME OF 2007-2008 HARRY STARR 

FELLOWSHIP IN JUDAICA 

Starr SEMINARS 2008 


JOSEPH DAVIS 

Title: “Reading the Mail: Ideas of Family in the 

Yiddish Letters of November 22, 1619” 

Thursday, April 3 

LOIS DUBIN 

Title: “One Woman, Two Husbands, Two 

States, Three Laws: Making Jewish Marriage 

Civil in the Late 18th Century” 

Thursday, May 8 

CHAERAN FREEZE & JAY 

HARRIS 

Title: “Everyday Jewish Life in Imperial Russia” 

Thursday, May 15 

OPEN DISCUSSION–ALL 

STARR FELLOWS 

Title: “The Family in Jewish History” 

Wednesday, May 28 

RABBI RONALD ANDROPHY 

Title: “Proleptic, Polysemous, and Parasonantic 

Paronomasial Paradigms in Former Prophets: 

Prolegomenon and Preliminary Progress.” 

PHOTO LEFT 

2007-2008 Harry Starr Fellows (from left to right): 

Cengiz Sisman, ChaeRan Freeze, Lois Dubin, 

Mordechai Zalkin, Joseph Davis, Emanuel Etkes, and 

Evyatar Marienberg. 

BELOW Emanuel Etkes, Starr Fellow 

The 2007-2008 academic year marked 

the fourteenth annual Harry Starr 

Fellowship in Judaica at Harvard. A generous 

bequest from the estate of Harry Starr, ’21, 

former President of the Lucius Littauer 

Foundation of New York established this fund 

to support a group of scholars from around the 

world to gather at Harvard to engage in fulltime 

research in Judaica. Our Starr Fellows 

come to Harvard from all over the world and 

a variety of universities and disciplines within 

the humanities and social sciences. Here they 

have an opportunity to share their research 

with each other as well as with members of 

the Harvard community. 

Each year, the Executive Committee of the 

Center for Jewish Studies normally designates 

a subject area within the field of Jewish studies 

around which the Starr Fellowship is 

organized. Last year’s theme, “The Family in 

Jewish History,” drew a vibrant and diverse 

group of Starr Fellows. Their weekly 

presentations throughout the spring semester 

spanned a wide range of topics (see list of 

Starr Seminars) and elicited lively discussions. 

Many of the Starr Fellows told us of the 

importance the undisturbed time the fellowship 

provided them to focus on academic research, 

surrounded by a cohort of scholars working on 

a similar topic and Harvard’s exceptional 

resources. 

WWW.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/~CJS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 

6

Student NEWS 

STUDENT FUNDING 

2008 

GRADUATE STUDENT 

FELLOWSHIPS ACADEMIC 

YEAR 2007-2008: 

Gabriela Berzin (NELC), Raphael and Deborah 

Melamed Fellowship 

Jessica Fechtor (NELC), Aaron Rabinowitz Fellowship 

Ari Finkelstein (NELC), Leo Flax Fellowship in Jewish 

Studies 

David Flatto (NELC), Alan M. Stroock Family 

Fellowship for Advanced Research in Judaica 

Shai Held (Religion), Raphael and Deborah 

Melamed Fellowship 

Jennifer Heilbronner (NELC), Sosland Family 

Fellowship 

Kelly Johnson (NELC), Mandell L. Berman Fellowship 

Hilary Kapfer (NELC), Leo Flax Fellowship in Jewish 

Studies 

Jonathan Kaplan (NELC), Isadore Twersky Fellowship 

Eitan Kensky (NELC), Lewis and Alice Schimberg 

Graduate Student Fellowship 

Shana Komittee (Ad-Hoc), Sidney L. Solomon 

Endowed Fellowship 

Jared (Yehuda) Kurtzer (NELC), Alan M. Stroock 

Family Fellowship for Advanced Research in 

Judaica 

Marcie Lenk (Religion), Lewis and Alice Schimberg 

Graduate Student Fellowship 

Meital Orr (NELC), Sidney L. Solomon Endowed 

Fellowship 

Elisha Russ-Fishbane (NELC), Center for Jewish Studies 

Fellowship 

Christine Thomas (NELC), Aaron Rabinowitz 

Fellowship 

Ester-Basya Vaisman (NELC), Aaron Rabinowitz 

Fellowship 

GRADUATE SUMMER 

FUNDING 2008: 

Elitzur Bar-Asher (NELC), Edward Kavinoky 

Fellowship 

Thomas Connolly (Comparative Literature), Barney and 

Anne B. Malloy Fellowship 

Jessica Fechtor (NELC), Edward Kavinoky Fellowship 

David Flatto (NELC), Barney and Anne B. Malloy 

Fellowship 

Thomas Gimbel (HDS), Edward Kavinoky Fellowship 

Rachel Gordan (Religion), Edward H. Kavinoky 

Fellowship 

Joshua Hantmann (Center for Middle Eastern Studies), 

Barney and Anne B. Malloy Fellowship 

Jennifer Heilbronner (NELC), Edward Kavinoky 

Fellowship 

Yaqub Hilal (NELC), Edward Kavinoky Fellowship 

Kelly Johnson (NELC), Anna Marnoy Feldberg 

Fellowship 

Jonathan Kaplan (NELC), Anna Marnoy Feldberg 

Fellowship 

Eitan Kensky (NELC), Barney and Anne B. Malloy 

Fellowship 

Sreemati Mitter (History), Barney and Anne B. Malloy 

Fellowship 

Chan Sok Park (HDS), Barney and Anne B. Malloy 

Fellowship 

Alexandr (Sasha) Senderovich (Slavic), Barney and 

Anne B. Malloy Fellowship 

Adam Strich (NELC), Barney and Anne B. Malloy 

Fellowship 

FOR THE HARVARD SUMMER 

SCHOOL PROGRAM IN 

JERUSALEM, 2008 

• Abel Acuna 

• Justin Aldritt 

• Daniel Benvento 

• Jamie Decoteau 

• Eeke de Milliano 

• Peter Fodroczy 

• Wyatt Gleihauf 

• Julia Heath 

• Benjamin Jaffe 

• Lisa Jing 

• Jennifer Jordan 

• Lianna Karp 

• Ari Kriegel 

• Carolina Kupferman 

• Charles LaCalle 

• Marissa Lopez 

• Monica Mleczko 

• Obinna Nwachukwa 

• Anna Polonyi 

• Max Selver 

• Noa Silver 

• Logan Ury 

• Jason Williams 

• Devon Williams 

HARVARD GRADUATE 

FELLOWSHIP FOR STUDY IN 

ISRAEL: 

A $16,000 fellowship jointly co-sponsored by the 

Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies and 

Harvard Divinity School to enable a Harvard graduate 

student or recent graduate to study in the field of Jewish 

studies for a year at a university of their choice in Israel. 

• Alexander Britell, Harvard Divinity School 

• Janling Fu, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, 

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations 

MISHY HARMAN HILLARY BERKOWITZ DANIELLE SASSOON 

The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University is 

pleased to announce the recipients of the 2008 Norman 

Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies and the 2008 Selma 

and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies. 

MISHY HARMAN ’08, a senior 

in Pforzheimer House and HILLARY 

BERKOWITZ ‘09, a junior in 

Kirkland House both won this year’s Selma 

and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies. 

Hillary Berkowitz’s entry was “The Problem of 

Assimilation in The Goldbergs: Creating a 

Jewish American Identity in the Postwar 

United States” and Mishy Harman’s entry 

was “Theodor Herzl: Aspiring Nobleman, 

Dreamer, Diplomat”. The Weinstein Prize, 

which is given to the Harvard University student 

who submits the best undergraduate 

essay in Jewish studies, was established by 

Lewis H. Weinstein, A.B. 1927, LL.B. 1930. 

DANIELLE SASSOON ’08, 

a senior in Dunster House, won this year’s 

Norman Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies for 

her essay, “From Consent to Descent: Ludwig 

Lewisohn’s Anti-Assimilationism as a Product 

of Historical Change.” This award “is given 

to the Harvard University student who submits 

the best essay, feature article, or short story 

on a Jewish theme. A tribute to Norman 

Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine 

from 1960 to 1995, the prize is sponsored 

by the Ernest H. Weiner Fund at the 

American Jewish Committee.” 

CONGRATULATIONSCJS GRADUATES 2007-08 

DOMINIC GREEN, A.M., Jewish Studies 

YAQUB HILAL, A.M., Jewish Studies 

EITAN KENSKY, A.M. (continuing),Jewish 

Studies 

NA’AMA PAT-EL, Ph.D., Semitic Philology 

ANJA QUILITZSCH, A.M., Jewish Studies 

2008 Harvard College Graduates with Secondary 

Field in NELC: 

SAMANTHA PARKER, History of Science 

with Jewish Studies 

JOSHUA SHARP, Government with Jewish 

Studies 

JOSHUA WERTHEIMER, Government with 

Jewish Studies 

7 CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WINTER 2008 WWW.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/~CJS CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 8

Student NEWS 

Profile: 

MARCIE LENK 

Marcie Lenk is working hard to complete her 

doctoral dissertation while beginning a twoyear 

appointment as a Visiting Professor in 

Religion at Boston University this fall. She is 

teaching courses on early Christianity and 

Rabbinic Judaism and particularly enjoys 

working in a large religion department, with 

colleagues in many areas of the field. She is 

grateful for her success in finding an 

academic job, especially before finishing her 

Ph.D., and for the opportunity to have an 

office where she can plan her classes and 

work on her dissertation. 

Lenk earned her B.A. at Stern College, 

Yeshiva University, and her M.A. in Bible at 

the Bernard Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva 

University. After that, she taught Bible and 

Midrash in Jewish and Christian seminaries in 

Israel for twelve years. While teaching in 

Christian contexts, Lenk explains, “I realized I 

only had the Jewish language and didn’t 

know the language of the Christians I was 

teaching.” She became interested in learning 

more about the interaction of Jewish and early 

[Lenk] became interested in 

learning more about the interaction 

of Jewish and early Christian 

communities in ancient times, as 

well as in contemporary dialog 

between Jews and Christians. 

Christian communities in ancient times, as 

well as in contemporary dialog between 

Jews and Christians. It was this interest that 

led to her Masters Degree in Theological 

Studies from Harvard Divinity School and to 

her current doctoral study of early Christianity. 

Her dissertation is a study of Apostolic 

Constitutions and “what they might tell us 

about the relationship between Jews and 

Christians in 4th Century Syria.” Lenk has 

found that, even as late as the 4th Century, 

there was serious contact between Jews and 

Christians that affected both the ways 

Christians prayed and the laws they kept. For 

example, according to the Apostolic 

Constitutions, Christians should observe both 

the Sabbath as well as the “Lord’s Day.” 

At Harvard, Marcie Lenk has been 

grateful for access to wonderful teachers who 

have been generous with their time, and to 

the vast library collections and on-line 

materials. With a job so close to Harvard, 

she is still close to the resources she needs to 

help her complete her dissertation. 

Lenk is also taking great pleasure in her 

teaching, and particularly enjoys working 

with undergraduates. “Students come to 

courses in religion because they want to think 

about religion [in their own lives] and it’s very 

exciting to be a part of that process.” 

Yehuda Kurtzer is currently Charles R. 

Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal 

Innovation at Brandeis University. Endowed 

by Charles Bronfman, this two-year fellowship 

supports a promising scholar to write a book 

that is expected “to change the ways Jews 

see themselves.” The Brandeis News office 

described Kurtzer as “widely recognized as 

a rising star among Jewish scholars.” He was 

selected unanimously from over 200 entrants 

from around the world. 

Profile: 

YEHUDA KURTZER 

The title of Kurtzer’s research project is 

“The Sacred Task of Rebuilding Jewish 

Memory,” which seeks to provide new 

language for Jewish particularism using the 

model of collective memory. Professor 

Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis described 

Kurtzer’s project as “seek[ing] to understand 

how and why we remember what we do, 

and how Jewish memory can be 

strengthened and renewed.”* 

As a college student at Columbia 

University, Yehuda Kurtzer completed a 

double major in Religion and History. There, 

he studied early and medieval Christianity as 

well as modern Jewish history, particularly 

hasidut and modern Hasidism, focusing his 

research on the life of Shlomo Carlebach. 

After completing his B.A., Kurtzer began an 

M.A. program at Brown University, studying 

early Christianity with Professor Shaye J.D. 

Cohen. After one year, Kurtzer left Brown, 

“unsatisfied with the field,” and took a year 

off to consider his options. He realized that 

he was more interested in the world of 

antiquity from a Jewish Studies perspective, 

and entered the Ph.D. program at Harvard in 

Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations 

seven years ago. This November, he is 

scheduled to defend his dissertation. 

Kurtzer’s doctoral work studied the Jews in the 

late Roman Empire during the Rabbinic 

period, who lived outside the centers of 

rabbinic Judaism at Babylonia or Jerusalem, 

and were “lost in the narratives of Jewish 

history.” Kurtzer used archaeological data as 

Kurtzer’s doctoral work studied the 

Jews in the late Roman Empire 

during the Rabbinic period, who 

lived outside the centers of rabbinic 

Judaism at Babylonia or Jerusalem, 

and were “lost in the narratives of 

Jewish history.” 

well as references to rabbis traveling from the 

rabbinic centers to visit Jews throughout the 

Roman Empire to illustrate that the boundaries 

separating Jewish communities in antiquity 

“were lower than we assume.” 

At Harvard, Kurtzer says he benefited 

from opportunities to present his work in 

progress at the student workshop on Judaism 

and Antiquity on several occasions. There, he 

learned a great deal from the feedback and 

challenges to his work from fellow students 

and faculty members. 

Kurtzer is grateful for his position at 

Brandeis. This position enables him to work 

on his research, and to remain involved in 

the minyan he and his wife helped to 

establish in the Boston area. But moving, 

even within the same town, was not easy 

with two young sons, Noah and Jesse. “We 

moved the week the baby was born, which I 

do not recommend,” Kurtzer said. 

*Radin, Charles. “Yehuda Kurtzer awarded 

Bronfman Visiting Chair in Jewish Communal 

Innovation.” Brandeis News Office, March 

3, 2008. 

9 CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES WINTER 2008 WWW.FAS.HARVARD.EDU/~CJS SPRING 2008 CENTER FOR FOR JEWISH STUDIES 10

ABOVE Prof. Shaye J.D. Cohen 

The Center for Jewish Studies wishes to 

welcome the following faculty members who 

have recently joined our Advisory Committee: 

Andrew Teeter 

Anna Grinfeld 

Charles Berlin 

Doris Sommer 

Eric Nelson 

Irit Aharony 

Jeffrey Hamburger 

Kay Shelemay 

Kevin Madigan 

Luis Giron Negron 

Marshall Goldman 

Noah Feldman 

Stephen Greenblatt 

Susan Suleiman 

Yuri Vedenyapin 

Center for 

JEWISH STUDIES 

H A R V A R D U N I V E R S I T Y 

6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 

www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs 

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 

DIRECTOR: Shaye J.D. Cohen 

ADMINISTRATOR: Rachel Rockenmacher 

STAFF ASSISTANT: Brenna Wells 

CHAIR, FRIENDS OF THE CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES: 

Peter J. Solomon 

MEMBERS OF THE CJS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

STEERING COMMITTEE: 

Shaye Cohen, Ruth Wisse, Bernard Septimus, Jay Harris, 

Rachel Greenblatt 

ADVISORY COMMITTEE: 

Jon Levenson, Peter Machinist, Avi Matalon, Jonathan 

Schofer, Andrew Teeter, Anna Grinfeld, Charles Berlin, 

Doris Sommer, Eric Nelson, Irit Aharony, Jeffrey 

Hamburger, Kay Shelemay, Kevin Madigan, Louis Giron 

Negron, Marshall Goldman, Noah Feldman, Stephen 

Greenblatt, Susan Suleiman, Yuri Vendenyapin 

CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES 

Harvard University 

6 Divinity Avenue 

Cambridge, MA 02138 

PHONE: 617-495-4326 

E-MAIL: cjs@fas.harvard.edu 

FAX: 617-496-8904 

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs 

DESIGN: erin.dowling@verizon.net 

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION 

U.S. POSTAGE 

PAID 

BOSTON, MA 

PERMIT NO. 1636

CJS 1 - Faculty of Arts and Sciences - Harvard University

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