Master's Students
Zoe Bronstein (she/her) is pursuing a joint MA in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on the experiences and artistic contributions of women in the Yiddish theater. She is intrigued by media representations of Jewish women, Romani women, witches, and sex workers, and how those representations affect cultural narratives. Zoe was raised in the Pacific Northwest, and obtained her BA in English with a minor in Theater at the University of San Francisco.
Seth Eislund is a master’s student in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies program. His
research broadly focuses on historical and contemporary religious persecution and genocide
against ethnoreligious minorities, as well as the characteristics of violent religious and
nationalistic ideologies. More specifically, his research is concerned with the history of
antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the 2014 Yazidi Genocide in northern Iraq. Seth graduated
from Carleton College in 2022 with a BA in History and is also the founder of the Yazidi
Genocide Archive, a digital project that aims to educate the public about the genocide through
interviews with survivors and scholars, as well as by preserving primary sources.
Gonen Rimer is a dual master’s student in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership. He seeks relevant, contemporary answers to timeless questions by engaging deeply with classical and modern texts—a journey he began at Shalem College in Jerusalem, where he earned a dual B.A. in Philosophy and Jewish Thought as well as General Humanities. If he does not uncover the answers he’s looking for at Brandeis, a dual Ph.D. may be his next chapter—only time will tell.
Ezekiel Silverstein is a dual Master's student in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and the Hornstein Program in Jewish Professional Leadership. His focus is on early Zionist history, the importance of Jewish community, and the necessity of its defense and continuity. Prior to Brandeis, Ezekiel pursued a ten-year career in software engineering, studied physics and astronomy at the University of Michigan, and is published in the Astrophysical Journal. Outside of Brandeis, Ezekiel lives with his wife in Medford and is an avid court tennis player.