Jewish Studies

Jewish Studies is one of the primary aspects of CMES's academic and research purview. CMES supports the study of Judaism and Jewish communities throughout the Middle East and North Africa and globally from ancient times to the present in a range of scholarly fields, promoting a broad, interdisciplinary approach to research, teaching and academic programming. CMES encourages and advances Jewish Studies in close collaboration with the Center for Jewish Studies and the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies through conferences, workshops, seminars, book talks, film screenings and poetry readings, as well as fellowships and grants and K-14 and public outreach. The collaboration between CMES, CJS and the Diller Institute serves to promote Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley in ways that are geographically, culturally and thematically rich.

Events in Jewish Studies for 2022-23:

"Working with Shattered Vessels: Ecology and Environmental Ethics in Jewish Law and Theology" Ariel Evan Mayse (Stanford University)

"Religious Pluralism and Practice in Israel" Muhammad al-Atawneh (Ben Gurion University of the Negev) and Jackie Feldman (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)

"Rooted to Rise: Root Letters in the Qur'an and Torah" Leyla Ozgur Alhassen (UCLA) and Arielle Tonkin (UCLA)

"Contested Meanings of Zionism in Israel/Palestine" Ussama Makdisi (UCB) and Ethan Katz (UCB)

"The Libitzky Lecture on Israel and the Great Powers: The Case of Israel and Turkey" Soner Cagaptay (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

"Jewish-Arab Encounters in Ottoman Palestine: Forgotten Perspectives, New Insights" Roy Marom (UCB)