Rigorous Academic Study
The Schusterman Center is dedicated to supporting and growing the academic field of Israel studies.
Featured Content Slideshow
Research Guide to Israel Studies
We created a guide for scholars, educators, students, and anyone wanting to learn more about Israel. With expert-recommended resources and tips for effective research, this is a one-stop shop for Israel Studies queries, needs, and information.
Publications
We sponsor publications that seek to enlighten both a scholarly and non-scholarly audience with the latest research on the modern State of Israel.
The Summer Institute for Israel Studies
Our Summer Institute for Israel Studies equips higher-education faculty with the resources they need in order to take a rigorously academic approach to teaching about modern Israel on college campuses.
Promoting exemplary teaching and scholarship on the modern state of Israel
The Schusterman Center is unparalleled in the depth and breadth of its ambition and in the intellectual resources available to realize its goals.Like the best Israel studies centers, the Schusterman Center is dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of Israeli history, politics, culture and society. But its mission goes far beyond scholarship itself. The center is committed to creating and disseminating knowledge about the modern state of Israel, not just at Brandeis, but to a global audience.
The center is shaping and safeguarding the future of Israel studies by training the next generation of scholars in the field. Through innovative research and teaching programs, lectures, conferences, grants, publications, films and art exhibitions, complemented by a unique online resource site, the center is nurturing a worldwide community of people who are knowledgeable about Israel.
April concert and conference highlights Ethiopian Israelis
Our spring conference, Ethiopian Israelis and the Creation of Knowledge: Encounters of Homeland and Diaspora, took place April 23-24, and was cosponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. It began Sunday, April 23 with a concert by Ethiopian Israeli rockstar Gili Yalo and his band (see photos), followed on Monday, April 24 with panel discussions and a pedagogy workshop designed for educators (see photos). Image: Rina Ingidau, from "Ethio Afrofuturism" series, 2020. Digital collage and drawing.
Meet Our New Director
Introducing our new director! On January 1, 2023, the Schusterman Center welcomed a new director. Alexander Kaye, the Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair in Israel Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, is the Center's fourth director. Prof. Kaye succeeds University Professor Jonathan D. Sarna, whose firm direction during the Covid crisis led to an expansion in the Center’s national and international reach. Please join us in congratulating Prof. Kaye, and in thanking Prof. Sarna for his exemplary leadership over recent years. We are excited to continue to grow and evolve under Prof. Kaye's stewardship, as his vision for the Center shapes the next chapter in our legacy. Read more.
Your Research Guide to Israel Studies
Looking to learn, research, or teach about Israel? Explore our Research Guide to Israel Studies, a one-stop shop for Israel Studies queries, needs, and information. This free guide contains resources for researchers of every kind. From the high schooler writing a class report, to a journalist looking for reliable information, to a senior academic with thirty years' experience, everyone - especially those now working from home - will find it invaluable. Produced with the Israel Studies faculty at Brandeis University, in conjunction with other leading scholars, and edited by our associate director, Dr. Shayna Weiss, this is the most comprehensive guide of its kind available. Explore the Research Guide to Israel Studies.
View Our Online Video Installation
Experience "The Orientalist," a multichannel video art installation by Israeli artist Eitan Buganim, curated by Dr. Rotem Rozental. "The Orientalist" conflates desires, miracles, magic and impending catastrophes. Watch the videos, read the curator's essay, and if you want more, watch the recording of our conversation with the artist, which marked the exhibition's opening. In addition to our own exhibition, we are also excited to cosponsor the Rose Art Museum's "Displaced: Raida Adon's Strangeness," and the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute's "Tamar Nissim: Contagious Truths."