Resume

Departmental Seminar, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University,
2001.
Departmental Seminar, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar Ilan University,
2000.
Lectures for Bundeszentral/Landeszentral fur politische Bildung (German National
Institute/ State Institutes for Political Education), Tel Aviv, Jerusalem. Periodically
between 1998-2004.
Research Grants:
2009-2012: Research Grant, German Israel Fund – 3 years @ 59,000 Euros per year -
177,000 euros - "After the Survivors: Performing the Holocaust and the Jewish Past in
the New Yad Vashem Museum and in the Jewish Museum, Berlin" (with Burkhard
Schnepel/Anja Peleikis).
2007-2010: Research Grant, Israel Academy of Sciences – 3 years @ $7,300 per year
- $22,000, " Narrating Traumatic Pasts: The Guided Presentations of the
Holocaust/Jewish Past for the Younger Generation at the New Yad Vashem Museum
and at the Jewish Museum, Berlin".
2003-6: Research Grant, Israel Academy of Sciences – $45,000, "Jewish Guide,
Christian Pilgrim, Holy Land: Negotiations of Identity".
2005, 2006: Research grant - $1,500 - Rabb Center for Holocaust Studies, Ben Gurion
University.
2002: Goldhirsch Prize for thesis on Holocaust and Rebirth, Ben Gurion Research
Institute, Sde Boker, 2,500 shekels.
2001: Asher Cohen Prize for outstanding dissertations, Strochlitz Institute for
Holocaust Studies, Haifa University. 5,000 shekels.
1999: Sternberg Prize, Department of Religious Studies- Hebrew University - 3,000
shekels,
1995-96, 1994-95: Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture grant - $3,500 each year.
Synopsis of Research:
After the completion of my doctoral studies in 2000, I sought to broaden my
background in anthropology through reading in various fields of classical and
contemporary anthropology, to a great extent in preparation for classes in Introduction
to Anthropology, which I taught at Ben Gurion University in 2002-2006. I have also
read widely on the anthropology of pilgrimage and tourism (courses taught at Bar-Ilan
and BGU in 2001-2007). A major interest of mine has been how ritual, in particular
pilgrimage and pilgrimage-like rituals, create and transmit meaning. To what extent
are those meanings laid down in sacred texts or paradigmatic traditions and to what
extent does meaning emerge from the dynamic and often contested performances of
rituals?
During my first years at Ben Gurion University, I sought to explore further several
issues dealt with in my doctorate on youth voyages to Poland (2000) and apply other
theoretical perspectives to the materials gathered in previous research. Among the
publications that resulted were an article in Israel Studies ("Borders of the Enclave",
2002) – applying Mary Douglas' understanding of the enclave and its border-
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