From our Director, Derek Penslar

Derek Penslar

Message from our Director,
Derek Penslar

William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History
Department of History

November 2024


Over the past year, the world has changed, and it continues to change swiftly and unpredictably. In the Middle East, the ripple effects of the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023 continue to grow, and here in the United States, they have generated a whirlwind of protest and disruption. Like other universities, last year Harvard was caught in the storm. Students of different faiths, ethnicities, and political beliefs squared off against each other, and at times our faculty and staff entered the fray as well. It has been particularly hard for many of our Israeli and other Jewish students who have been attacked for their belonging or attachment to a country that, in one way or another, they call home.

In this difficult time, the Center for Jewish Studies has hewed to its mission to engage in the rigorous and nonpartisan study of Jewish civilization in all its aspects. The CJS attracts students from different religious and national backgrounds. It provides not only academic instruction but also a social and supportive space for students who want to study and explore the many meanings of Jewishness over thousands of years and across the globe. At a time when the university is sundered by division, the CJS aspires to build bridges.

Jewish studies courses are offered in a broad array of academic departments and schools at Harvard, many with the support of the CJS. This includes instruction in the essential components of Jewish civilization from antiquity to the present: biblical and modern Hebrew, Yiddish language and literature, the Jewish textual canon, and modern Jewish history and culture, including that of the state of Israel. Our modern Hebrew preceptor, Ran Bechor, brings innovative pedagogic techniques that inspire his students, while Romy Neumark, an eminent Israeli television news anchor and journalist, brings the Israeli media and Israeli cinema into the classroom. Our Yiddish preceptor, Sara Feldman, introduces her students to dance, film, and fiction as well as the building blocks of the Yiddish language. This year our professors are teaching courses such as “Jews, Judaism, Jewishness,” “Time in Ancient Judaism and Christianity,” “The Invention of Jewish Law,” and “Jewish Mysticism and Heresy.”

Israel has an important place in our CJS courses and programs. I regularly teach a course on Israeli history, and over the past year we have done several programs, ranging from informal conversation sessions to academic seminars and workshops, on Israeli society, politics, and culture. It is vital that Israel be taught as a product of many influences — Jewish, Middle Eastern, and global — and not be reduced to slogans or stereotypes.

Regardless of topic, thanks to the generosity of our benefactors our students have the resources to carry out research for their theses, dissertations, and other independent projects. The skills, knowledge, and pride in accomplishment that students derive from their work stay with them long after they leave Harvard. Some will become scholars and will teach coming generations. Others will become leaders in any number of fields. Their understanding of and appreciation for Jewish civilization will guide them through the polarization and the ideological minefields of our time.

Over the past year I have had the honor of not only directing CJS but also serving as co-chair of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. The task force’s remit is, like that of the CJS, to forge both intellectual and social communities. In its scholarship, teaching, and programming, CJS strives to enhance the curiosity, open-mindedness, and respect for difference that are essential to the flourishing of Harvard as a whole.