2024 Harry and Cecile Starr Prize Winning Theses

This year, the Center for Jewish Studies awarded three students with the Harry and Cecile Starr Prize in Jewish Studies. The Prize is by faculty member nomination only, for an outstanding senior thesis or Ph.D. dissertation in Jewish and Hebrew studies by a Harvard student. Best dissertation in the field of Jewish and Hebrew Studies…

2024 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize Essay Abstracts

The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University is pleased to share the abstracts for the winning essays of the 2024 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies: Julia Maria Tellides ’24 First Place “The Failure of Minority Rights in Thessaloniki: Sunday Closing Law of 1924” Abstract:For centuries, all trade seemed to halt on…

Announcing our 2024-2025 Starr and Silver Fellows

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Please join us in welcoming our 2024-2025 Fellows. The Starr Fellowship this academic year is centered around the theme of “Ancient Jews in and against Empires.” The Faculty co-hosts for this cohort are: Starr Fellows: Honorary Starr Visiting Scholar: The Silver Fellowship is awarded to an active congregational rabbi who has demonstrated exceptional intellectual and…

Media Coverage of Jews and Black Theory Conference

Symposium attendees at talk

In mid-May, the conference Jews and Black Theory: Conceptualizing Otherness in the Twenty-First Century was held at Harvard. Two days, seven sessions, and more than 20 speakers engaged the crowd of scholars and students with invigorating and insightful talks.We thank everyone who took part in this wonderful event. The Conference, convened by Terrence L. Johnson…

Recording Available: Orit Bashkin | “Sultan Suleiman as King Solomon and Zahir al-Umar as Ahasuerus: The Ottoman Arab Culture of Palestinian Jews, 1517-1799”

Mural Painting in Tiberias / Dr. Avishai Teicher / Wikimedia Commons

The CJS is happy to present a recording of the inaugural lecture in the Series on Jewish-Muslim Interrelations:Orit Bashkin | “Sultan Suleiman as King Solomon and Zahir al-Umar as Ahasuerus: The Ottoman Arab Culture of Palestinian Jews, 1517-1799” This event was held in-person at Harvard University on May 2, 2024. Image: Mural Painting in Tiberias…

Jews and Black Theory Conference concluded the 2023-2024 Events at the CJS

Symposium attendees at talk

In mid-May, the conference Jews and Black Theory: Conceptualizing Otherness in the Twenty-First Century was held at Harvard. Two days, seven sessions, and more than 20 speakers engaged the crowd of scholars and students with invigorating and insightful talks.We thank everyone who took part in this wonderful event. The Conference, convened by Terrence L. Johnson…

CJS announces recipients of 2024 Harry and Cecile Starr Prizes in Jewish Studies

The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Harry and Cecile Starr Prizes in Jewish Studies. Starr Prizes are awarded in each of the following categories: the best doctoral dissertation in Jewish and Hebrew Studies and the best dissertation in the field of Jewish and Hebrew…

CJS announces recipients of 2024 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies

The Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies.  Honorable mention The Weinstein Prize, which is given to the Harvard University student(s) who submits the best undergraduate essay in Jewish studies, was established by Lewis H. Weinstein ’27, LL.B….

An Evening in Honor of Peter J. Solomon

Photo of Solomon Gate

An Evening in Honor of Peter J. Solomon Last month, the Center for Jewish Studies held an evening to honor Mr. Peter J. Solomon. The Harvard Faculty Club was filled with friends, family, faculty and students, all of whom joined us in marking the stepping down of Mr. Solomon from his role as the first…