CAN ACADEMICS CHANGE THE WORLD? AN ISRAELI ANTHROPOLOGIST'S TESTIMONY ON THE RISE AND FALL OF A PROTEST MOVEMENT ON CAMPUS

By: Moshe Shokeid

(Berghahn 2020, ISBN 978-1-78920-698, 206 pages)

Moshe Shokeid narrates his experiences as a member of AD KAN (NO MORE), a protest movement of Israeli academics at Tel Aviv University, who fought against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, founded during the first Palestinian Intifada (1987-1993). However, since the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin and the later obliteration of the Oslo accord, public manifestations of dissent on Israeli campuses have been remarkably mute. This chronicle of AD KAN is explored in view of the ongoing theoretical discourse on the role of the intellectual in society and is compared with other account of academic involvement in different countries during periods of acute political conflict.

RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN NON-SECULAR MIDDLE EASTERN AND NORTH AFRICAN STATES

By: Mark Tessler

(Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19842-8, Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19843-5, 469 pages)

This book describes and compares the circumstances and lived experiences of religious minorities in Tunisia, Morocco, and Israel in the 1970s, countries where the identity and mission of the state are strongly and explicitly tied to the religion of the majority. The politics and identity of Jews in Tunisia and Morocco and Arabs in Israel are, therefore, shaped to a substantial degree by their status as religious minorities in non-secular states. This collection, based on in-depth fieldwork carried out during an important moment in the history of each community, and of the region, considers the nature and implications of each group’s response to its circumstances.  It focuses on both the community and individual levels of analysis and draws, in part, on original public opinion surveys. It also compares the three communities in order to offer generalizable insights about ways the identity, political culture, and institutional character of a minority group are shaped by the broader political environment in which it resides. The project will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of Middle Eastern and North African studies, Judaic studies, Islamic Studies, minority group politics, and international relations and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

THE ROAD TO PARTITION: UNSCOP AND THE BEGINNING OF UNITED NATIONS INVOLVEMENT IN THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT

By: Elad Ben-Dror

(Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 2019, ISBN 978-965-217-433-8, 364 pages, in Hebrew)

This first-ever systematic study of UNSCOP, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, traces how a majority of the committee’s members came to adopt, almost in full, the demands of the Zionist movement. It thus played a decisive role in establishing the state of Israel and in the evolution of Israel-Arab conflict. UNSCOP, appointed in 1947 when the British asked the United Nations to help it formulate a policy on Palestine’s future, performed an intensive inquiry into the country that summer. In the end, its eleven members, from eleven different countries, recommended the end of the British Mandate and the partition of Palestine into two independent sovereign states, one Jewish, on a majority of the territory, and one Arab. These two states, along with Jerusalem, which was designated to come under UN rule, would be linked by mechanisms that would ensure their economic unity. These recommendations formed the basis for the debate at the second session of the UN General Assembly. After making minor changes, the General Assembly adopted the plan on November 29, 1947. In large measure, the decision set in motion the establishment of Israel.

The book offers a comprehensive account of UNSCOP and its work. It is based on extensive archival material, some newly declassified and explains how the members of the committee reached their conclusions. Most of the source material comes from the UN Archives in New York. But, as it also seeks to account for the personal viewpoint of each of the committee’s members, it also makes use of documents they produced and archives of their papers. This wide-ranging approach has produced some findings of great historical importance.

MOVING THROUGH CONFLICT:  DANCE AND POLITCS IN ISRAEL, 1ST EDITION

Edited by: Dina Roginsky, Henia Rottenberg

(Routledge, 2019, ISBN Hardback: 9780367406875, ISBN eBook: 9780367808518, 176 pages)

Moving through Conflict: Dance and Politics in Israel is a pioneering project in examining the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through dance. It proposes a research framework for study of the social, cultural, aesthetic and political dynamics between Jews and Arabs as reflected in dance from late 19th-century Palestine to present-day Israel.

Drawing on multiple disciplines, this book examines a variety of social and theatrical venues (communities, dance groups, evening classes and staged performances), dance genres (folk dancing, social dancing and theatrical dancing) and different cultural identities (Israeli, Palestinian and American). Underlying this work is a fundamental question: can the body and dance operate as nonverbal autonomous agents to mediate change in conflicting settings, transforming the "foreign" into the "familiar"? Or are they bound to their culturally dependent significance – and thus nothing more than additional sites of an embodied politics?

This anthology expounds on various studies on dance, historical periods, points of view and points of contact that help promote thinking about this fundamental issue. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of dance studies, sociology, anthropology, art history, education and cultural studies, as well as conflict and resolution studies.

BEN GURION, A BIOGRAPHY
Two Volumes

Book One: The Conquest of Leadership; Book Two: The Leader - His Rise and Fall

By: Yossi Goldstein

(Bar-Ilan University Press, 2019, ISBN: 978-965-226-510-4, 1440 pages, in Hebrew)

The book covers the life of David Ben-Gurion from his early years in Plonsk, Poland, until his death in 1973. This picture of his life, presented in two volumes, differs from previous biographies and studies of Ben-Gurion with regard to the facts recounted, the insights drawn, the nature of the historical analyses, and its conclusions.

The biography is based on primary sources, some of which have never been drawn on previously—Ben-Gurion’s diary, an irreplaceable historical source for his life, actions, and thought (even though it is tendentious and of limited reliability); his letters; the minutes of meetings he attended; selections from the press—as well as secondary sources. Its composition required me to grapple with many questions associated with the historical importance of its subject—the greatest Jewish statesman of all time—and his complex personality. Who was he? The wisest of men? Gifted with superb intuition? A fierce and cantankerous fighter? A master propagandist? A political manipulator? Stubborn as a mule? An odd sort of fellow?

I found links between historical developments and his personality traits. Ben-Gurion was not afraid to make difficult decisions, even when he knew that their outcome could be disastrous, even when he recognized that his political, military, economic, and diplomatic analyses might be mistaken. He knew how to decide and impose his authority. After he did so he insisted on his way, even if the opposition to him was dramatic. There is no doubt that sometimes his analyses of the situation were erroneous, and one could see those mistakes as the essence. Nevertheless, there has been no leader of his stature who exerted such a strong influence on Jewish society in the modern age and whose dramatic decisions determined the long-term character and development of Israel.

Volume 1 of the biography begins in his birthplace, Plonsk, and continues with his immigration to Palestine and integration into the Second Aliya. It continues with his period in the United States, return to Palestine, and emergence as the leader of the Histadrut. The book describes, explains, and analyzes his success in turning the Histadrut into the most important political, economic, and social player in the Yishuv during the Mandate and the first years of statehood. It also traces how Ben-Gurion, after his elevation to the chairmanship of the Jewish Agency in 1935, became the man who led the Yishuv to political independence. Volume 2 begins with the proclamation of the state and the War of Independence, continues with a description and analysis of his years as prime minister, and concludes with his death.

BREAKING THE BINARIES IN SECURITY STUDIES: A GENDERED ANALYSIS OF WOMEN IN COMBAT

By: Ayelet Harel-Shalev and Shir Daphna-Tekoah

(Oxford University Press, 2020; ISBN: 9780190072582; 168 Pages)

The book focuses on the study of Israeli women combat soldiers and veterans. It addresses this issue by bringing the soldiers' voices and silences to the forefront of research and by presenting the women soldiers as narrators. Our book introduces a theoretical framework in Critical Security Studies for understanding – by binary deconstructions of the terms used in these fields – the integration of women soldiers into combat and combat-support roles and the challenges they face. The book explores the voices and silences of women who served in combat roles in the Israeli Defense Forces. The analysis, however, extends beyond the Israeli case insofar as the book offers important general insights into the larger issues of the links between war and gender, trauma and gender, and politics and gender. The book draws on Feminist theories in International Relations and security studies and introduces an interdisciplinary theoretical perspective that aims to lead scholars to consider why and how women’s experiences should be incorporated into the analysis of violence, state violence, combat trauma, security and in-security. If further sheds light on under-studied aspects of the Israeli society.

IYUNIM: MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN ISRAELI AND MODERN JEWISH SOCIETY (HEBREW)

Issue 32 has just been published!!!

Editor: Avi Bareli/Assistant Editor:Orna Miller/Editorial Board:Avi Bareli, Avner Ben-Amos, Kimmy Caplan, Danny Gutwein, Menachem Hofnung, Paula Kabalo, Nissim Leon, Kobi Peled, Shalom Ratzabi, Ilana Rosen, Ofer Shiff

Iyunim is a semi-annual journal, published by the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Sede-Boker.

The journal holds two series:

I) The semi-annual series: Each volume contains research articles in various fields that specializes in modern Jewish society and Israeli society and state.

The articles address these issues from a variety of disciplines, such as history, sociology, philosophy, political science, economics, culture, geography, art, gender.

II) The thematic series: Each of its issues is dedicated to a significant current topic within the journal's fields of interest. This two-series format – the semi-annul and the thematic one – provides an invigorating and on-going platform for discussing the most prominent questions of state, society and culture in Israel.

Contents of 32

Ronen Traube, Moshe Dayan and the Palestinian Issue:The Local Elections in the West Bank, 1972 / Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman, The Religious Women Party in the First Knesset Election: Failure or Achievement? / Meir Chazan, Ben-Gurion and Britain, 1930-1939 / Yair Berlin, ‘Talmud Industry’: Daf Yomi and Modern Consumer Culture / Adia Mendelson Maoz, Palestine, My Love: Place and Home in the Literary Works of Sayed Kashua / Elazar Ben Lulu, Ethnography of Ethiopian Sigd in an Israeli Reform Congregation / Udi Carmi, The Americanization of Muscular Judaism / Itamar Radai, Jews from Islamic Countries – Images and Perceptions in the Yishuv Society: The Case of Hannah Helena Thon / Orly C. Meron, Haifa and Beirut in a Comparative Perspective:Jewish Entrepreneurship between the British and the French Mandates/

Kobi Cohen-Hattab, Establishing the Israel State Archives 1948-1950

The issue is available in the academic libraries, the bookstores, and at the distributor "Sifrut Ahshav", 972-3-9229175

Office: 08-6596940 ; omiller@bgu.ac.il ; http://www.bgu.ac.il/iyunim

ANNOUNCING THE PUBLICATION OF A SPECIAL ISSUE

"Israel at 70: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Society, Culture and Politics" in Contemporary Review of the Middle East volume 6, issue 3-4. The guest editors are Csaba Nikolenyi, Director of the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies and Paula Kabalo, Director of The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.

Table of contents:

Csaba Nikolenyi and Paula Kabalo
Introduction: Israel Studies “Here” and “There”

Judith Weisz Woodsworth
A Language for Israel: The Role of Translation in Building the Resources of Hebrew

Sigal Barkai
Neurotic Fantasy: The Third Temple as Metaphor in the Contemporary Israeli Art of Nira Pereg and Yael Bartana

Tal-Or Ben-Choreen
The Emergence of Fine Art Photography in Israel in the 1970s to the 1990s through Pedagogical and Social Links with the United States 

Ofer Shiff and David Barak-Gorodetsky
Pan-Jewish Solidarity and the Jewish Significance of Modern Israel: The 1958 ‘Who is a Jew?’ Affair Revisited

Ira Robinson
A Life to Remember: Yehuda Even Shmuel’s Memorialization of His Son, Shmuel Asher Kaufman and the Crisis of his Zionist Vision

Andrea Gondos
Isaiah Tishby, Új Kelet (New East), and the Cultural Mediation of Zionism in Transylvania (1920-1930)

Adi Sherzer-Druckman
Mamlakhtiyut from Across the Ocean: Ben-Gurion and the American-Jewish Community

Paula Kabalo
Israeli Jews from Muslim Countries: Immigrant Associations and Civic Leverage

Yolande Cohen
Zionism, Colonialism and Post-colonial migrations: Moroccan Jews’ Memories of Displacement

Havatzelet Yahel
The Conflict over Land Ownership and Unauthorized Construction in the Negev 

Emir Galilee
A Nomadic State of Mind: Mental Maps of Bedouins in the Negev and Sinai During the Time of the Ottomans, the British Mandate and the State of Israel

Ben Herzog
Presenting Ethnicity: Israeli Citizenship Discourse

Natan Aridan
Setting up Shop for Israel Advocacy – Diaspora ‘Retailers’ and the Israeli ‘Wholesalers’ in the Early Years of Israeli Diplomacy

Csaba Nikolenyi
Party Switching in Israel: Understanding the Split of the Labor Party in 2011

THE DECLINE OF THE LEFT WING IN ISRAEL: YOSSI BEILIN AND THE POLITICS OF THE PEACE PROCESS

By: Avi Shilon

(I.B.Tauris, 2019, ISBN-9781838601126, 352 pages)

Yossi Beilin was a seminal figure during the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. As deputy foreign minister in the second Rabin government, he was responsible for leading the Oslo process, which was the most important attempt to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. This book is the first to tell the story of the left wing and the peace process based on the private archive of Beilin himself. The thousands of documents – shared exclusively with the author - reveal a far more complete picture of Israel's political-diplomatic history in the late 20th century, and provide new information on key events. Avi Shilon offers a critiques of the 'liberal peace-building' project and analyses the connections between the Labour party's economic policy and foreign policy since the 1970s. This book is both a political biography of Beilin and a new history which recounts the diplomatic processes and social-political changes that occurred in Israel in the past four decades.

ISRAEL UNDER NETANYAHU: DOMESTIC POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY

Contributing Editor: Robert O. Freedman

(London and New York: Routledge 2020, Paperback ISBN 978-0-367-35876-1, 310 pages)

The scholars participating in this book are leading experts from both the United States and Israel and represent a broad spectrum of viewpoints  on Israeli domestic politics and foreign policy. The case studies in the book cover  Israel’s main political parties;  highlight the special position in Israel of Israel’s  Arab, Russian and religious communities,  evaluate  Netanyahu’s stewardship of the Israeli economy and analyze his response to terrorism.. The foreign policy   case studies cover Israel’s relations with the United States, the American Jewish Community, Russia, the Palestinians, the Arab World, China, India, Europe , Iran and Turkey.   Another  highlight of the book is an assessment of Netanyahu’s leadership of the Likud Party, which answers the question as to whether Netanyahu is a pragmatist interested in a peace deal with the Palestinians or an ideologue  who wants to hold on to the West Bank as well as all of Jerusalem.

ARAFAT AND ABBAS: PORTRAITS OF LEADERSHIP IN A STATE POSTPONED 

By: Menachem Klein

(Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN-10, 0190087587, ISBN-13: 978-0190087586; 256 pages)

This landmark volume presents vivid and intimate portraits of Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, revealing the impact these different personalities have had on the struggle for national self-determination. Arafat and Abbas lived in Palestine as young children. Uprooted by the 1948 war, they returned in 1994 to serve as the first and second presidents of the Palestinian Authority, the establishment of which has been the Palestine Liberation Organization's greatest step towards self-determination for the Palestinian nation. Both Arafat and Abbas were shaped by earlier careers in the PLO, and each adopted their own controversial leadership methods and decision-making styles.

Drawing on primary sources in Arabic, Hebrew and English, Klein gives special attention to the lesser known Abbas: his beliefs and his disagreements with Israeli and American counterparts. The book uncovers new details about Abbas' peace talks and US foreign policy towards Palestine, and analyses the political evolution of Hamas and Abbas' succession struggle. Klein also highlights the tension between the ageing leader and his society.

Arafat and Abbas offers a comprehensive and balanced account of the Palestinian Authority's achievements and failures over its twenty- five years of existence. What emerges is a Palestinian nationalism that refuses to disappear.

PALESTINE TO ISRAEL: MANDATE TO STATE, 1945-1948

Two volumes

Volume I:  Rebellion Launched

Volume II: Into the International Arena 

By: Monty Noam Penkower

(Touro University Press, 2019; Vol 1. IBSN: 9781618118745, Vol. 2 ISBN: 9781618118776, Vol. 1 357 pages, Vol. 2 469 pages)

Seventy years after the creation of the State of Israel, Palestine to Israel: Mandate to State, 1945-1948 offers the definitive narrative of the achievement of Jewish sovereignty in the beleaguered Promised Land. Professor Monty Noam Penkower explores developments in Palestine and in the Arab states, including how the Palestine quagmire became a pawn in inter-Arab feuds; British and American responses both official and public; the role of Holocaust survivors; the context of the Cold War; and the saga as it unfolded in the corridors of the United Nations. Joining extensive archival research to a lucid prose, the two volumes offer a riveting conclusion to his Palestine in Turmoil and Decision on Palestine Deferred.

YIDDISH IN ISRAEL - A HISTORY

By: Rachel Rojanski

(Indiana University Press, 2020, Hardback ISBN: 978-0-253-04514-0, Paperback ISBN: 978-0-253-04515-7, eBook ISBN: 978-0-253-04518-8, 338 pages)

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew.

Following Yiddish in Israel from the proclamation of the State until today, Rojanski reveals that although Israeli leadership made promoting Hebrew a high priority, it did not have a definite policy on Yiddish. The language's varying fortune through the years was shaped by social and political developments, and the cultural atmosphere in Israel. Public perception of the language and its culture, the rise of identity politics, and political and financial interests all played a part. Using a wide range of archival sources, newspapers, and Yiddish literature, Rojanski follows the Israeli Yiddish scene through the history of the Yiddish press, Yiddish theater, early Israeli Yiddish literature, and high Yiddish culture. With compassion, she explores the tensions during Israel's early years between Yiddish writers and activists and Israel's leaders, most of whom were themselves Eastern European Jews balancing their love of Yiddish with their desire to promote Hebrew. Finally Rojanski follows Yiddish into the 21st century, telling the story of the revived interest in Yiddish among Israeli-born children of Holocaust survivors as they return to the language of their parents.

READING ISRAEL, READING AMERICA: THE POLITICS OF TRANSLATION BETWEEN JEWS

By: Omri Asscher

(Stanford University Press, 2019, Cloth ISBN: 9781503610057, Paper ISBN: 9781503610934, Digital ISBN: 9781503610941, 256 pages)

American and Israeli Jews have historically clashed over the contours of Jewish identity, and their experience of modern Jewish life has been radically different. But what happens when the encounter between American and Israeli Jewishness takes place in literary form—when Jewish American novels make aliyah, or when Israeli novels are imported for consumption by the diaspora? Reading Israel, Reading America explores the politics of translation as it shapes the understandings and misunderstandings of Israeli literature in the United States and American Jewish literature in Israel. Engaging in close readings of translations of iconic novels by the likes of Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, Bernard Malamud, Amos Oz, A. B. Yehoshua, and Yoram Kaniuk, Asscher decodes the ideological encounter between Israeli and American Jews.   

SECULARIZING THE SACRED: ASPECTS OF ISRAELI VISUAL CULTURE

By: Alec Mishory

(Brill, 2019, E-Book ISBN: 978-90-04-40527-1, Hardback ISBN: 978-90-04-40526-4, 407 pages)

As historical analyses of Diaspora Jewish visual culture blossom in quantity and sophistication, this book analyzes 19th-20th-century developments in Jewish Palestine and later the State of Israel. In the course of these approximately one hundred years, Zionist Israelis developed a visual corpus and artistic lexicon of Jewish-Israeli icons as an anchor for the emerging “civil religion.” Bridging internal tensions and even paradoxes, artists dynamically adopted, responded to, and adapted significant Diaspora influences for Jewish-Israeli purposes, as well as Jewish religious themes for secular goals, all in the name of creating a new state with its own paradoxes, simultaneously styled on the Enlightenment nation-state and Jewish peoplehood.

SEARCH FOR EDITOR(S): ISRAEL STUDIES REVIEW

The AIS’s interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal

Published (in English) by the Association for Israel Studies, the Israel Studies Review is seeking a new editor/editorial team as the current editors, Yoram Peri and Paul Scham, will be stepping down in the summer of 2021.  The selection committee—Ilan Peleg (Chair), Ayelet Harel-Shalev and Paul Scham—invites applications from qualified  persons, effective immediately.   It hopes to complete the process by the end of 2020. Following examination of applications, the search committee will make a recommendation to the AIS Board of Directors for its decision.  Instructions for applying are below. 

OVERVIEW

The ISR is published 3 times yearly by Berghahn Books and is committed to publishing rigorous, peer reviewed, academic research. The editorial staff is responsible for soliciting articles, reviewing them, identifying qualified peer reviewers, overview of the review process, and either rejecting or approving the articles. Approximately once a year there may be a guest-edited special issue of interest to ISR readers; the guest editor should generally handle all elements of the editor’s job, but the ISR editor is responsible for overview of the process and conducting a final edit.

Each issue consists of 6-7 articles (optimally 7-8000 words each), a Table of Contents, an Editors’ Note (generally 800-1300 words) and 6-7 book reviews.  We recommend a separate Book Review Editor. The book review editor will identify notable new books in Israel Studies, choose qualified reviewers, and edit the reviews for publication.

In recent years the ISR has been recognized as within the top category of academic journals in the Humanities. 

Editors are ex officio members of the AIS Board and will present a yearly report to it.

CRITERIA FOR EDITORS

• A scholar engaged in studying and teaching Israel Studies, broadly defined; preferably ranked as associate professor or full professor or equivalent, with a substantial record of peer-reviewed academic publications.

• Editing/editorial experience.

• Proficiency in English, defined as the ability to write and edit fluently and correctly.  The editorial team may be composed of one person with high proficiency in English and others with proficiency in other criteria; up to 3 people total. 

• Wide knowledge of the field of Israel Studies, including both the subject matter and scholars in the field.  This knowledge may be divided among the editor and an associate editor.

• Openness to a diversity of opinions and topics, including choice of articles and authors, peer reviewers, books for review and their reviewers, and so forth.

• A vision for where the ISR should go in the coming years should be included with the application.

• Organizational flexibility:  Since editing the ISR requires an appreciable investment of time and energy, as well as several skill sets, we encourage various configurations of potential editors with different expertise to apply.  This could include an Editor and an Associate Editor, two Co-Editors, and so forth.

• 3-5 years commitment from the editors and the host institution, which should be an established academic institution.

• It is desirable to include assurances that the editor(s) will have sufficient release time from other professional duties to edit the journal, as well as secretarial/administrative support.  The AIS will provide some financial assistance to cover expenses involved in the editorial process.

TO APPLY

Please send a C.V. (including professional experience and affiliations and a full list of publications), as well as a cover letter to the 3 addresses below.  The cover letter should address how the applicant qualifies for the job based on the criteria above.  We will begin reviewing applications as of September 1, 2020, but later applications will be accepted as well until the position(s) are filled.  Applicants being seriously considered will have one or more Zoom sessions with the Search Committee to enable wide-ranging discussions of the work and skills required.  Interested applicants are invited to contact any member of the search committee if more information is needed. 

The search committee for the ISR editorial team encourages diversity and will ensure equal opportunity, treatment, and access for all candidates regardless of their sex, race, color, ethnic, or social origin.

PLEASE SEND APPLICATIONS TO THE ISR Search Committee

Prof. Ilan Peleg, Chair,  pelegi@lafayette.edu

Prof. Ayelet Harel-Shalev, ayeleths@bgu.ac.il

Prof. Paul Scham, israelstudiesreview@gmail.com

The Dvora and Michael Goldhirsh Foundation at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism

is offering NIS 5,000 research prize for a doctoral dissertation proposal in the field of Holocaust Studies approved by a recognized research institution from October 2018 onward.

Dissertation proposals focusing on one of the following research fields will be given preference:

• Key issues, processes, and events during the Holocaust
• The Holocaust as reflected in social, cultural, and intellectual life in Israel and the Jewish world
• Holocaust remembrance and commemoration in Israel and abroad

Applicants should submit the following documents as attachments to an email message addressed to bgi@bgu.ac.il

• The approved doctoral dissertation proposal
• An official approval of the dissertation proposal as authorized by the academic or research institution where the research is conducted
• Two letters of recommendation should be sent separately and directly to the committee's administrator, to the email address below, by the applicant's mentors or by faculty members whose expertise corresponds to that of the applicant

The applicant is responsible for verifying receipt of all required documents.

The Goldhirsh Research Prize will be awarded at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony to be held at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sde Boker Campus, in the presence of the Goldhirsh family.

Applications must be submitted by Friday, January 15, 2021 to the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism Director’s office, bgi@bgu.ac.il

For further inquiries please contact: Tel. 9728-6596936; bgi@bgu.ac.il

Call for Applications: 2021 JDC Archives Fellowship Program

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Archives is pleased to announce that it is accepting applications for its 2021 fellowship program. In 2021, seven fellowships will be awarded to senior scholars, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and independent researchers to conduct research in the JDC Archives, either in New York or in Jerusalem. Topics in the fields of twentieth century Jewish history, modern history, social welfare, migration, and humanitarian assistance will be considered, as well as other areas of academic research covered in the JDC archival collections.  Our finding aids can be consulted to identify relevant areas. The fellowship awards are $2,000-$5,000 and the deadline for submission is January 26, 2021.

Fellows are expected to make a public presentation on their research upon conclusion of their fellowships.

Past fellows have worked on diverse topics ranging from the eradication of malaria in Mandatory Palestine to Soviet Jewish emigration to the West in the 1970s and 1980s. The areas of research and lectures of previously awarded recipients can be viewed here.

DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN ISRAEL STUDIES AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY

Full and partial fellowships supporting doctoral students whose research focuses on Israel. Candidates must be accepted into Brandeis University graduate school programs of Anthropology, History, Literature, Middle East Studies, Near Eastern & Judaic Studies, Politics or Sociology. Competitive living stipend with generous health care benefits. Renewable for up to five years. Deadlines vary by department. Learn more at www.brandeis.edu/israel-center/resources/grants-fellowships/graduate-students.html.

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies at Concordia University is a multi-disciplinary research centre that brings together students, faculty and researchers who are dedicated to the study of Israel in all its facets.

In an effort to promote faculty-based projects, stimulate research and teaching, and contribute to the study of the state of Israel, locally, nationally and internationally, the Institute is offering financial support in the form of grants and scholarships in the following categories:

Visiting Researcher:

The Institute welcomes applications for short-term or sabbatical Visiting Researcher positions. Research stipends are available.

Post-doctoral fellowships:

Applicants with a completed PhD can apply for a post-doctoral fellowship.

The deadline to apply for these grants vary.  For details please visit: http://www.concordia.ca/azrieli

Extended Deadline

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ISRAEL AND JUDAISM STUDIES, 7-10 DECEMBER 2020

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the fourth annual scholarly International Conference on Israel and Judaism Studies (vICIJS’20) organized by Israiliyat: Journal of Israeli and Judaic Studies (e-ISSN 2645-890X) will be held as a virtual conference in December 07-10, 2020.

The aim of this year’s conference is to present new methods of assessing Jewish identity and to identify patterns of Jewish engagement. Recent academic and public discourse on Judaism includes new approaches and understandings of the term "Judaism". The question which is frequently raised, "Who is a Jew?" has been receiving several and different dimensional replies.

The concepts which the new scholarship has been creating are based on the researcher's worldview thus inevitably influencing their research choices and research challenges. The discussion on what is Judaism and who defines himself as a Jew portrays new identities as well as self-definition of various groups/ individuals.

The Conference seeks to address the following questions: Can we define one Jewish identity? If so, from what does it derive? What are the expressions of this identity according to different regions today? How has the Jewish identity been assessed in the past vs. the present by different scholars? How is “the new Jew” described in the Zionist literature? What are the relations between Judaism and Zionism in the current discourse? How do relations between the Jewish communities outside Israel define their "Jewishness" and what is their affinity to Israel? Do non-Jews have any influence on Jewish identity? and if so, in what way?

The conference scope includes all subareas of Israel and Judaism Studies. These include (but are not only limited to) not only the traditional areas in Judaic Studies but also various disciplines such as current political issues, international relations, history and sociology in in Israel Studies. The point of views presented in the conference will be multidimensional: Zionism, Israeli culture and politics, the conflict between Palestine and Israel, Hebrew Literature, Education in Israel, various interpretations of Judaism as a belief system and historical backgrounds etc.

vICIJS’20 also is pleased to announce the annual rewards delivered for the fourth time for the distinguished dissertations/ theses written in Turkey in the field of Israel and Judaism Studies in the categories of history, politics and religion in both the M.A. and PhD. decrees. Moreover, articles and original/translated books having scientific research methods will also be awarded.

The publishing and application/ registration procedures in conference consist of four phases:

(i) application by submitting an abstract,

(ii) registration by submitting the full text and/or research articles (optional),

(iii) participation by submitting the pre-recorded video (optional), and

(iv) live streaming the presentation or replaying the pre-recorded talks (with/ without Q&A)

The file should be sent through Gmail (israiliyat.com@gmail.com) using Google Drive.

Please, remember the following important dates:

(i) Deadline for Abstract: 20 December 03, 2020

(ii) Notification of Acceptance: after review process without any loss of time

(iii) Deadline for Full Text and/or Research Article Submission and/or pre-Recorded Video Submission: December 07, 2020

(iv) Conference Dates: December 07-10, 2020

This year, due to Covid-19, the conference will be held virtually, through video conferencing. All virtual participants who do not attend the live online sessions must submit their recorded presentations by conference dates. The video presentations can be prepared in any language if subtitled in English or Turkish. The papers will be published in the Proceeding and Abstract Book (with e-ISBN); the revised, full version of the articles will be published in the Israiliyat journal or in a book upon referees’ decision.

The organizers welcome all proposals, including suggestions for session proposals with different themes "related to Israel and Judaic Studies.

There is no registration fee. All presenters who make live (synchronous) or pre-recorded (asynchronous) presentations will receive a certificate of participation following the virtual conference.

Please circulate the Call, among your colleagues and networks.

Please feel free to reach out to us with questions and requests related to the vICIJS’20 at israiliyat.com@gmail.com.

See the conference web page for the Call for paper in different languages. For more Conference details and for up-to-date information which have not translated to different languages, click conference booklets in English or Turkish.

We look forward to welcoming you to the ICIJS’20 Virtual Conference in December.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Efrat AVIV

Kevser KARATAŞ

Organizing Committee co-Chairs, Fourth International Conference on Israel and Judaism Studies

E-mail: israiliyat.com@gmail.com

Website: http://israiliyat.com

Call for Papers for an edited volume focusing on  the Canaanite Movement (the 'Young Hebrews')

Editors: Dr. Shai Feraro (Tel Hai College) and Ofri Krischer (George Washington University)

The 'Young Hebrews', also known as the Canaanites, were a group of young artists, poets and Palmach members who – during the 1940s and 1950s – wished to create a new Hebrew nation in what was then British Mandate Palestine, that will cut itself off from 2,000 years of Jewish Diaspora and be based instead on the shared cultural heritage of the Semitic peoples. This Hebrew vision began to sprout during the 1930s in the writings of historian and ideologue Adya Gur Horon (aka Adolphe Gourevitch, 1907-1972), but it was the poet Yonatan Ratosh (aka Uriel Shelach, 1908-1981) – who met Horon in Paris in 1938 – who developed it into a more concrete political concept, which he then tried to advance via groups such as the 'Council for the Coalition of Hebrew Youth' and the 'Young Hebrews Center'. While the Canaanite Movement suffered political failure and disintegrated following the early 1950s, its long-term effects on Israeli society – especially in art and literature – far outgrew its minute size, and its propagators and members included noted individuals such as Ahraon Amir (1923-2008),  Benjamin Tammuz (1919-1989), Amos Kenan (1927-2009), Boaz Evron (1927-2018), and Uzzi Ornan (b. 1923).

This edited volume seeks to examine Canaanism and its effect on Israeli society, as well as on thinkers in adjacent countries, in historical, ideological-political, and artistic contexts. Among the issues already set to be examined: contact between the 'Young Hebrews' and proponents of Phoenician nationality from among Lebanese Maronites; individuals such as Lehi leader and Israeli politician Nahtan Yellin-Mor (1913-1980) and their dialogue with Canaanite ideas; echoes of Canaanite thought in later organizations such as Uzzi Ornan's 'I am Israeli' Movement; References to the ancient Canaanites in the history of pre-Zionist Western thought; Canaanite influences on Israeli art;  and even the surveillance placed upon the group by various State and pre-State bodies.

We would be happy to receive additional proposals for chapters that focus on the study of the Canaanite Movement and/or a variety of closely corresponding subjects, such as (but not limited to): the effects of Canaanite ideology on Israeli society; contact between the 'Young Hebrews' and proponents of similar nationalistic ideas in the region, such as the Pharaonist movement in Egypt, and Assyrian nationalism in and around northern Iraq; gender and the Canaanite Movement; Palestinian Canaanism; Canaanism and Israeli literature, and more.

Potential contributors should send an abstract (up to 150 words), a tentative title and a short bio to Dr. Shai Feraro (shaiferaro@gmail.com) and/or Ofri Krischer (ofrikrisher@gmail.com) by 15 November 2020. Those invited to participate will be required to deliver the full chapters (ranging between 7,000-8,000 words incl. bibliography) until 31 August 2021.   

We are happy to answer any additional queries.

Dr. Shai Feraro (Tel Hai College)

Ofri Krischer (George Washington University)

Kinneret Academic College presents

Software for the Past (SfP): Digital Technologies to Study the Past and Present

Advances in archiving technologies, image processing, deep learning, and augmented reality have transformed the experience and understanding of the past.  Such technologies enable researchers to better understand historical cultures, events, and peoples.  They also enable immersive historical, anthropological, and archaeological experiences for tourism and education.

We welcome abstracts and extended abstracts on the design and implementation of new technology tools to study the past and present and results gained from use of such tools  The conference will address multiple topics and periods.  The focus will be on application of new digital technologies to the fields of history and archaeology. We are looking for diverse case studies from all over the world. Preference will be given to those technical approaches that have wider applications and that show promise for general use.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

·        Historical GIS (geographic information systems)

·        3D modelling of archaeology and heritage

·        Augmented reality and virtual reality for history and archaeology

·        New technologies for rural and environmental history and archaeology

·        Web-based virtual museums

·        Application of databases for historical analysis

·        Tools for open source historical data analysis

·        Novel historical and archaeological results from use of new technologies

·        Using new technologies for community outreach about historical and archaeological sites and events

·        Application of deep learning and artificial intelligence for historical and archaeological analysis

·        Software architectures and tools for immersive historical and archaeological experiences

·        New technology tools for virtual reality tourism and education

Abstracts should be 250-300 words in English.  Extended abstracts should be 700-1100 words in English.  Submissions must include the name(s) of the authors and their affiliations.  

The conference will take place virtually.

Important dates:

Abstract/Extended abstract submission: October 23, 2020
Author notification: November 13, 2020
Conference: December 8, 2020

Organizing committee:

Dr. Michael J. May, Software Engineering, Kinneret Academic College, ISRAEL
Dr. Efrat Kantor, Land of Israel Studies, Kinneret Academic College, ISRAEL
Dr. Mechael Osband, Land of Israel Studies, Kinneret Academic College, ISRAEL

Submissions address: sfp@mx.kinneret.ac.il

CALL FOR REVIEWS: JEWISH FILM AND NEW MEDIA 

Jewish Film & New Media invites authors to submit reviews of multimedia outlets and content (such as films, video games, art, festivals, exhibitions, digital platforms, digital archives, etc.) related to Jewish themes in a broad sense.

Jewish Film & New Media is an international, peer-reviewed journal that engages in critical discussion of the representation of Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism in cinema, television, and new media, as well as the Jewish contribution to these media outlets, in a widely defined fashion. Bringing together scholars in a variety of disciplines, the journal provides a key resource for academic study and research, and aims to widen the parameters of Jewish film and new media studies. The journal encompasses historical and cultural dimensions of Jewish film and new media alongside its identities, languages, styles, forms, and audiences.

Jewish Film & New Media is unique in its interdisciplinary nature, exploring the rich and diverse cultural heritage across the globe. The journal is distinctive in bringing together a range of cinemas, televisions, films, programs, and other digital material in one volume and in its positioning of the discussions within a range of contexts—the cultural, historical, textual, and many others.

Submissions should be 1,000-1,500 words in length following Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition.

For further submission and editorial information, please contact Dr. Aya Yadlin-Segal (multimedia reviews editor) at ayayad@hac.ac.il

For further information on the journal and back issues visit https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/jewishfilm/  

Register here: https://msu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ga13rHs8Sq6XsLRcUQvbVA

Annual Docu.Text Documentary Film Festival Going Online

The National Library of Israel's annual Docu.Text Documentary Film Festival is going online this year with award-winning films and a range of special events and exhibits.

For more information: https://docutext.nli.org.il/english

A book launch by Ayelet Harel-Shalev: "Breaking the Binaries in Security Studies - A Gendered Analysis of Women in Combat"

A book launch will be held in UC Berkeley, Nov 23rd, 2020, via Zoom. 

12:30 PM in Pacific Time (US and Canada).

Breaking the Binaries in Security Studies:  A Gendered Analysis of Women in Combat

By: Ayelet Harel-Shalev and Shir Daphna-Tekoah

Link for the event registration https://berkeley.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMlcO6ppz0qHdclCRg6PkzrjvoRlViSnSCi

Link for the book info - https://global.oup.com/academic/product/breaking-the-binaries-in-security-studies-9780190072582?cc=il&lang=en&