Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies

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.