www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs
CJS NEWS
SPRING 2012
NEWS from the CENTER for JEWISH STUDIES
at HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Contents
–– Student News3
–– Faculty News10
–– Friends of the Center
12
–– Visitors14
–– Lectures & Events 2010 –2011
17
DIRECTOR
Shaye J.D. Cohen
ADMINISTRATION
Rachel Rockenmacher, Administrator
Nancy Iappini, Staff Assistant
Dena Davis, Office Assistant
CHAIR, FRIENDS OF THE
CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES
Peter J. Solomon
MEMBERS OF THE CJS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
Shaye J.D. Cohen, Luis Giron Negron, Peter Gordon,
Rachel Greenblatt, Jay M. Harris, Jon Levenson,
Peter Machinist, Eric Nelson, Bernard Septimus,
Ruth R. Wisse
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Irit Aharony, Charles Berlin, Noah Feldman,
Marshall Goldman, Stephen Greenblatt, Jeffrey
Hamburger, Kevin Madigan, Jonathan W. Schofer,
Kay Shelemay, Doris Sommer, Susan Suleiman,
D. Andrew Teeter
CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES
Harvard University
6 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
PHONE: 617-495-4326
E-MAIL: cjs@fas.harvard.edu
FAX: 617-496-8904
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/cjs
PHOTOGRAPHY Marcus Halevi
DESIGN Erin Dowling Design
Cover Photo
Professor Bernard Septimus with Gabriella
Berzin and Elisha Russ-Fishbane at Harvard
Commencement ceremonies, 2010.
Thank You
Brenna Wells!
Brenna Wells, our Staff Assistant of almost six
years, left the Center for Jewish Studies in early
June. Brenna’s special skills contributed tremendously to our office, particularly her Web expertise and graphic design skills.
We are grateful for Brenna’s continuing help on a
consulting basis with special projects at the Center. We wish her all the best in this new chapter of
her life as she focuses more time on her son, now
a 1½ year old, and her music career.
STUDENT News 2010–2011
CENTER FOR
JEWISH STUDIES
Congratulations
Recent Grads!
The Center for Jewish Studies extends
our congratulations to these recent
PhDs in Jewish Studies
Elisha Russ-Fishbane
Asya Vaisman Gabriella Berzin
Jonathan Kaplan
Eve Feinstein
David Flatto
Aryay Finkelstein
Nov. 2009
Nov. 2009
May 2010
May 2010
Nov. 2010
Mar. 2011
May 2011
Ariel Mayse
Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Greetings From Jerusalem
––Ariel Mayse, Ph.D. Candidate
MY WIFE AND I were very much hoping to be in Israel as of
this year, and it’s come to pass more or less as planned. The move was quite a long
and difficult process, but now we’re living right in the heart of Jerusalem, an incredibly beautiful and intense place to call home. We live just a few minutes from Gan
Saker and Shuk Maheneh Yehudah. Here in Nachlaot there’s a wonderful community of young people who are spiritually intense, musically and artistically gifted,
ecologically minded and quite friendly, and we’ve been able to reconnect with a lot
of our old friends who are living in the city as well.
My wife is working in graphic design part time and still finishing up the final
project for her graduate certificate in that field. She’s also studying Talmud and
teaching part time as well, since the educational opportunities for women interested
in such things in Israel are amazing! I’ve got a few projects going that are keeping
me out of trouble. I spend long mornings
writing my dissertation in the Scholem
“Here in Nachlaot there’s a
wonderful community of young Collection of the National Library, where
if I have a question about a book, I can
people who are spiritually intense, often times just walk across the room and
musically and artistically gifted, ask the author himself (although sometimes they seem like they might get anecologically minded and
noyed if I do). There is a group of young
quite friendly…”
graduate students who work here six days a
week alongside yours truly, and I’ve found
a nice feeling of camaraderie, a factor so important for ensuring academic progress!
In the late afternoons I walk across town to the Old City, where I’m studying
Continued on next page
CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEWS — SPRING 2012
STUDENT NEWS
STUDENT PROFILE
Mihaly Kalman
–Christine Thomas Freedberg
From Ukrainian KGB documents to Widener
microfilms, Mihaly Kalman is uncovering the
history of 19th and early 20th century Jewish
self-defense military organizations in Russia, the
Ukraine, and Yishuv (pre-state Palestine).
GREETINGS FROM JERUSALEM
Continued from previous page
in a program for future educators. We learn for three hours,
then get some hands-on teaching experience for an hour
each day. Our students are post-high school, pre-college “gap
year” youth who have come to Israel to study full-time for a
year before leaving to the university. I love working with the
students (of course), and the learning is fun too. It’s very different than the academic world, and to be honest, I’m enjoying the chance to teach in a different environment; it’s nice to
be learning with a community of people who are looking for
spiritual meaning as well as intellectual depth.
I’m starting to write my dissertation in earnest now that
my prospectus has been approved. Of course, I still hope to
find my own way in the academic world, since there’s nothing
like its precision and discipline, and I’d very much like to be
able to train graduate students of my own some day, but I’m
remaining open to whatever the future may bring. I’ve always
felt a calling to the rabbanut in some sense or another, so it
seems likely that whatever path we forge will include both the
academic and the spiritual.
Aside from that, we spend our time reading, drawing,
cooking, hiking, going to concerts, and spending time with
the family. It’s a good life! Things in Israel are tough and aren’t
easy financially, but so far we’re managing to navigate just fine,
and the overall quality of life here is, in many ways, much
higher than in the USA. Everyone has to make do with A
LOT less, and therefore it seems like they do much more with
what they have and are much more interested in cultural and
spiritual issues. It’s an interesting place, to be sure. The current
political situation is quite complicated, but as do all Israelis,
we hope for the best and simply go on with our lives!
Warmest wishes from Jerusalem—
—Ariel and Adina Mayse ■
Masada 2011 Professor Jay Harris (standing, left) and Professor Shaye Cohen (kneeling, second from right) with students of the
a New Perspective
on Israel
–Zach Sherwood
The small slice of desert and Mediterranean
coastline that comprises Israel has had many names over thousands of years: the Holy Land, the Promised Land, the cradle
of religion, the land of milk and honey. The land of Israel has
known immense social, political and cultural complexity in
ancient and modern times. Yet in recent years, it seems as if Israel has routinely served as a pawn in the conflicts between Judaism (or, more generally, the Judeo-Christian tradition) and
Islam, democracy and autocracy, and East and West. These
conflicts grip the attention of American leaders, policymakers,
media, and ordinary citizens who recognize the geopolitical
importance of this often unpredictable region.
It only took a few days in Israel to completely change my
previously skewed perception of this intriguing country. As a
participant in the Harvard Summer School Program in Jerusalem, I enjoyed five and a half unforgettable weeks in Israel
with a remarkably diverse group of students. We balanced academic studies with a little bit of adventure and fun. The program offered two General Education courses covering Judaism
during the Second Temple period and the rise of the modern
SPRING 2012 — CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEWS
4
Harvard Summer Program in Jerusalem. Leaning on crutches is Zach
Sherwood (don’t ask!).
Zionist movement, taught by Professors Shaye Cohen and Jay
Harris respectively. Our classes were held at the Mount Scopus campus of The Hebrew University. We complemented
our classroom studies with visits to multiple sites in Jerusalem
and excursions to Masada, the Dead Sea, Qumran,
Caesarea, and the Galilee. The opportunity to study ancient
and modern Israeli history was both challenging and fascinating, and Professors Cohen and Harris regularly attempted
to tie Israel’s elaborate past with its equally complex present.
More importantly, the opportunity to live and study in a city
like Jerusalem allowed my fellow classmates and me to recognize the exceptional beauty and vibrancy of Israel beneath the
sensational news headlines.
The Harvard Summer School study abroad program in
Jerusalem provided us with a unique perspective on the people
and cultures that define this in-credible country. The program
also enabled us to acquire a much greater understanding of
the course of history and of the many flaws that characterize
some Americans’ misperceptions of Israel. Israel has witnessed countless conflicts and upheavals over the course of its
long history, yet the country’s social and cultural vibrancy has
always managed to endure. Let us hope that Israel’s resilience
endures through its current challenges. ■
5
Kalman, a fourth-year doctoral student
in Jewish studies, has assiduously pursued the groundwork
for his dissertation since his first year in the program. With
the support of the Center for Jewish Studies, he has plumbed
archives on three continents, often petitioning for access to
restricted materials. Although the groups he is tracking were
usually illegal and seldom left an official paper trail, by combing through myriad sources in Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish,
and Hebrew, Kalman has put together a picture of this largely
unknown facet of Jewish history.
Kalman has traced the development of Jewish self-defense
groups from local militias that arose to defend professional
guilds in Czarist Russia during the three major waves of
pogroms between 1881 and 1921. These militias grew into
Continued on next page
BELOW: Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Mihaly
Kalman
STUDENT NEWS
“… the opportunity to live and
study in a city like Jerusalem
allowed me to recognize
the exceptional beauty and
vibrancy of Israel beneath the
sensational news headlines …”
FRIENDS OF the Center
New
Endowment
Funds
We are thrilled to announce the
establishment of two new endowment
funds at the Center for Jewish Studies,
both donated by generous alumni.
Associate:$50
BEcOME A FRIEND!
Joseph Morton Miller ’42
Endowed Fund for
Yiddish Studies
The gift of Joseph Morton Miller
AB ’42, MD ’45, MPH ’60, this new
endowment fund supports Yiddish
studies.
Suzanne R. and Dr. Lawrence M. Fishman Endowed
Fund for Jewish Studies
Suzanne R. and Lawrence M. Fishman
donated this fund to support the Center
for Jewish Studies on the occasion of
Dr. Fishman’s 55th College and 50th
Medical School reunions.
Pillar:$500
Friends of the Center for
Jewish Studies
Benefactor:$1,000
In December 1984, Peter Solomon (AB ’60, MBA ’63), then a member of the Harvard Board
of Overseers, announced the establishment of the Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies. This
organization seeks to provide an ongoing base of support for the Center and to enable it to
expand its present areas of activity. Annual support from the Friends helps shape the future of
Jewish Studies and sustains the Center as an influential, multifaceted enterprise at Harvard.
Some of the projects sponsored
by the Friends of the CJS include:
Dr. Joseph M. Miller, who
established the Joseph Morton Miller
’42 Endowed Fund for Yiddish Studies
Patron:$100
■■ Student research projects (both undergraduate and
graduate, school-year and summer)
■■ Graduate student fellowships
■■ Research-related expenses for visiting scholars
■■ Public lectures and class presentations by
distinguished scholars
■■ Doctoral dissertation advising by specialized scholars
from outside Harvard
■■ Group discussions of research in progress for
Harvard faculty and students in Jewish studies at the
Center for Jewish Studies Lunchtime Colloquium.
You are Invited!
You are invited to show your interest in Jewish Studies at
Harvard by joining the Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies in one of four categories listed in the top right sidebar.
Friends receive invitations to lectures, symposia and
colloquia, copies of the newsletter, and selected publications
published by the Center.
This year we hope to substantially increase the number
of Friends of the Center, thereby creating a broader base of
support for the Center’s projects and activities. If you know
anyone who might be interested in joining the Friends, would
you please notify the Center (617-495-4326) so that we may
contact them to acquaint them with the Center’s mission. ■
Donations to Endowment and Current Use Funds Academic Year 2010–2011
Morris and Beverly Baker
Yiddish Language Instruction Fund
Lewis and Alice Schimberg
Graduate Student Fellowship Fund
Donor: Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation
Donor: Alice F. Schimberg
Trust Estate of Lewis Schimberg
Suzanne R. and Dr. Lawrence M.
Fishman Endowed Fund for
Jewish Studies
Donor: Dr. Lawrence M. Fishman
Joseph Morton Miller ’42 Endowed
Fund for Yiddish Studies
Donor: Dr. Joseph M. Miller
Center for Jewish Studies Norman
Podhoretz Prize Fund
Donor: Ernest H. Weiner
American Jewish Committee San Francisco
Give Online
The Center for Jewish Studies is pleased to
announce the option of online giving.
To make a gift by credit card to the Friends of the
Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University
please go to the link on our Website and follow
the instructions:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs
Alternately, you may go directly to the
online giving form at:
https://secure.www.alumniconnections.com/
olc/pub/HAA/onlinegiving/showGivingForm.
jsp?form_id=60847
When selecting a school/affiliate to donate to,
please choose “Other” from the dropdown menu
and enter a note in the “Comments/Other Designation” box with instructions that this gift should
go to “Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies,
Center for Jewish Studies.” (If you choose to give
to a specific other fund, please note the name of
the fund, Center for Jewish Studies.)
Give By Mail
Gifts by check may be mailed to:
Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University,
6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
Please make checks payable to “The President and
Fellows of Harvard College” and include a note
in the memo line of the check that this is for the
“Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies” (or the
name of the other fund of your choice).
LECTURES & EVENTS
REMEMBRANCES
LECTURES AND EVENTS continued from previous page
March 29, 2011
SYMPOSIUM:
“The Rabbinic Revolution and the
Invention of Jewish Law”
The second century C.E. witnessed an amazing development
in the history of Judaism: the compilation of the Mishnah
and the emergence of rabbinic Judaism. The rabbinic sages
believed that the sum and substance of the Mishnah’s legal
rulings could be traced back to the Torah (Pentateuch), if not
directly, then indirectly, via the medium of “the Oral Torah.”
The rabbinic sages have thus left a great puzzle for modern
historians of religion and law: do the Mishnah and related
writings attest to something old, as the sages would have us
believe, or something new? Were the sages conservators, the
preservers of an ancient heritage, or were they innovators, the
shapers of a new culture? Perhaps both. Presenting a multipronged discussion of the subject.
Meir Shalev
Presentations by:
February 27, 2011 Field Trip
to the National Yiddish Book Center with Professor Ruth
Wisse and Yuri Vedenyapin for students in Yiddish language
and literature classes
Joseph Engel Fund
March 2, 2011
Meir Shalev
Bestselling Israeli novelist and columnist for Yediot Ahronot
talks about the Bible’s intriguing firsts.
“Love and Order in the Bible: The Story of Jacob
and Rachel”
Harry Elson Lecture and Publication Fund with the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies
March 1 – April 22, 2011
Lisa Peschel
Alan Stroock Fellow in Judaica, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University
Plays from the Terezin/Theresienstadt Ghetto:
An Ongoing Series
Regular readings of previously unknown scripts written by the
Terezin prisoners during World War II
March 8, 2011
Screening of A Film Unfinished
and discussion with the film’s Director, Yael
Hersonski
Howard Rubin Lecture and Publication Fund with the
Harvard Divinity School
PHOTO: Rafa - www.micamara.es
Responses by:
Prof. Moshe Halbertal, Gruss Visiting Professor in Talmudic Civil Law, Harvard University and Shaye J.D. Cohen,
Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy,
Harvard University
Chaired by:
Aaron Rubin
Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean
Jewish Studies and Linguistics, Pennsylvania State University
Alan and Katherine Stroock Fund for Innovative Research
April 8, 2011
Avraham Norvershtern
Professor of Yiddish Literature, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, Israel
“The Criminal Underworld in Yiddish Literature”
Dominic “Dom”
Varisco
Leon I. Mirell Lecture and Publication Fund with the
Modern Jewish Worlds Workshop
April 12, 2011
Benjamin Brinner
Professor and Department Chair, Ethnomusicology, University
of California, Berkeley
“Ties that Bridge and Bind: Playing Across Musical
and Social Divides in Israel and Beyond”
Josephine and Martin Gang Memorial Fund with the Center for
Middle Eastern Studies and Music Department, Harvard
University
May 1, 2011
A play by Elie Wiesel, directed by
Guila Clara Kessous
Special lecture for Modern Hebrew Classes
Official Selection for the 2011 Arts First: A Celebration of the
Arts at Harvard
Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies Fund
With Pforzheimer House and The Laboratory at Harvard
SPRING 2012 — CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEWS
Irving Rabb
The Center for Jewish Studies is sad to note the passing of our
long-time Friend, Irving Rabb z”l in August 2011. The Center
is very grateful for the loyal and generous support of Mr. Rabb
and his late wife, Charlotte, as long-time Friends of the Center.
We extend our deepest sympathy to Mr. Rabb’s children, grandchildren, and nieces and nephews, including Mr. Peter Solomon,
the Chair of the Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies.
Noah Feldman, Bemis Professor of International Law,
Harvard University
Zalmen or “The Madness of God”
March 9, 2011
Vered Noam, Goldsmith Visiting Professor of Jewish
Studies, Yale University and Aharon Shemesh, Weinstock
Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, Harvard University
20
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Dominic “Dom”
Varisco, of blessed memory, who worked in higher education and
nonprofit development for more than 40 years. During his years
as a Development Officer at Harvard, Mr. Varisco provided essential guidance to Mr. Peter Solomon, Chair of the Friends of the
Center for Jewish Studies, and to Professor Isadore Twersky, the
Founding Director of the Center. This guidance was essential in
the establishment of the Center. Without his advice and vision,
we would not have the vibrant program we have today: endowed
professorships, lecture and research funds, and student fellowships.
Mr. Varisco and his wife, Susanne, have been loyal supporters of
the Friends of the Center for Jewish Studies. We offer our heartfelt
condolences to Susanne Varisco and her family.
21
William “Frosty”
Frost
The Center for Jewish Studies sadly notes the passing of Mr.
William Frost z”l. We are extremely grateful for Mr. Frost’s
generosity to the Center as President of the Littauer Foundation.
Without his assistance, kindness, and foresight, we would not
have the Harry Starr Fellowship in Judaica, one of the primary
activities of the Center. This research fellowship supports about
seven scholars from around the world to visit Harvard each year
to conduct research in a designated subject area. It has provided
both essential assistance to scholars pursuing important research
in the field, and also has provided our faculty and students with
opportunities to learn about their research in progress and benefit from their expertise. In addition to the Starr Fellowship, the
Center has benefited from the Harry Starr Professorship, which
funds an important faculty position in Jewish literature; the
Harry Starr Teaching and Research Fund; and the Harry and
Cecile Prizes in Jewish Studies, which reward outstanding dissertations and published works in Jewish studies. We have been
grateful for the loyal support that William Frost showed to the
Center over the years and for the very central ways he helped to
shape our organization. ■
CENTER FOR JEWISH STUDIES NEWS — SPRING 2012
CENTER for JEWISH STUDIES
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
non-profit organization
u.s. postage
paid
boston, MA
Permit No. 1636
6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138
www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs
cjs@fas.harvard.edu
CJS NEWS
SPRING 2012
www.fas.harvard.edu/~cjs
In This Issue
–– Student News3
–– Faculty News10
–– Friends of the Center
12
–– Visitors14
–– Lectures & Events 2010 –2011
17