Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

Faculty

The following faculty serve as the backbone of the Israel studies curriculum on campus, bolstered by the Hebrew language faculty, visiting professors, and post-doctoral fellows in the Schusterman Center.

Alexander Kaye

Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies;

Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair in Israel Studies; Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

781-736-5927 alexanderkaye@brandeis.edu Mandel Center for the Humanities, 317

Expertise: Jewish thought, intellectual history, political thought, legal history

Yuval Evri

Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies on the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies

781-736-6220 yuvalevri@brandeis.edu Mandel Center for the Humanities, 319

Expertise: Cultural and Intellectual history of Palestine/Israel; Mizrahi/Sephardi modern history; Israeli society and culture; Hebrew-Arabic literary history

Yehudah Mirsky

Professor, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

781-736-3977 mirsky@brandeis.edu Mandel Center for the Humanities, 318

Expertise: Jewish thought, Israel and Zionism, study of religion, political thought

Jonathan D. Sarna

University Professor

Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies

781-736-2977 sarna@brandeis.edu Mandel 307

Expertise: American Jewish history and life, Jews in the Americas, American religion

Ilana Szobel

Professor on the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in Hebrew Literature, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

781-736-5230 szobel@brandeis.edu Mandel Center for the Humanities, 313

Expertise: Modern Hebrew literature, Israel studies, feminist theory, psychoanalysis, trauma studies, disability studies, film studies

Shayna Weiss

Senior Associate Director, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

781-736-5923 shaynaw@brandeis.edu Mandel 316

Expertise: Israeli history, gender, Orthodox Jews, politics of popular culture, television and film, nationalism, politics

Affiliated Faculty

Ziva R. Hassenfeld

Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Assistant Professor in Jewish Education

Assistant Director of Research for the Mandel Center

781-736-5018 zivahassenfeld@brandeis.edu Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex

Expertise: Biblical Studies, Literacy, Literary Theory

Liora Norwich

Leon A Jick Chair, The Hornstein Program

781-736-2997 lioranorwich@gmail.com Lown Center for Judaic Studies, 213

Expertise: Nonprofit management, facilitating challenging conversations

Eugene Sheppard

Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History and Thought

Director of The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry

781-736-2965 sheppard@brandeis.edu Lown 307

Expertise: Modern Jewish history and thought

Faculty Emiriti

David Ellenson z"l

Professor Emeritus, Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies

Expertise: Development of Orthodox Judaism in Germany during the 19th century, Orthodox legal writings on conversion in Israel, North America and Europe; history of modern Jewish religious movements, relationship between religion and state in Israel, American Jewish life