Association for Jewish Studies

Association for Jewish Studies
Name	Association for Jewish Studies
Formation	1969
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	New York City
Region served	United States
Leader title	President

Association for Jewish Studies The Association for Jewish Studies is a scholarly organization founded in 1969 that promotes research on Jewish history, literature, religion, and culture. It connects scholars from universities, museums, libraries, and research institutes, organizing conferences, publications, and grants to advance Jewish studies research and pedagogy.

History

The organization's origins trace to postwar academic developments linking scholars associated with Hebrew Union College, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Yeshiva University, Columbia University, Princeton University and Harvard University who sought a national forum similar to Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Philosophical Society and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Early meetings featured participants from Brandeis University, Brown University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago and Rutgers University. Founding figures included faculty with ties to Leo Baeck College, Jewish Theological Seminary of America faculty, scholars influenced by émigré intellectuals like Hannah Arendt and historians shaped by work on the Spanish Inquisition, Pale of Settlement, Haskalah and Zionism. The organization expanded during the 1970s and 1980s alongside curricular growth at City University of New York, University of Michigan, University of Toronto, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and research centers such as Yad Vashem and The National Library of Israel.

Mission and Activities

The association advances research across subfields reflected in programs linked to studies of Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Kabbalah, Maimonides, Rashi, Philo of Alexandria, medieval figures like Ramban and modern authors such as Franz Kafka, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Isaac Bashevis Singer and S.Y. Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher-Sforim). It fosters collaboration among curators at Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jewish Museum (New York), archivists at YIVO, librarians at New York Public Library, and historians studying events like the Holocaust, Soviet Jewry movement, Dreyfus Affair, Spanish Civil War and Six-Day War. The association partners with journals and presses including Jewish Social Studies, AJS Review, Jewish Quarterly Review, Brill, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press to disseminate scholarship on topics from Sefer Yetzirah to modern Israeli politics and diasporic communities in Argentina, South Africa, Australia and France.

Governance and Membership

Governance comprises an elected board with officers drawn from faculty at institutions such as Yale University, New York University, Cornell University, Brown University, Duke University and University of California, Los Angeles. Membership categories include faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, librarians, museum professionals, and international affiliates associated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar-Ilan University, McGill University, University College London and Heidelberg University. Committees coordinate conferences, publications, grants, ethics, and diversity initiatives connecting networks like American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Archives, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and regional associations such as Canadian Association for Jewish Studies.

Annual Conference and Publications

The association convenes an annual meeting that attracts presenters from programs at Princeton Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary, Emory University, Indiana University Bloomington and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Panels cover topics tied to primary sources housed in repositories like National Archives (United States), Library of Congress, National Library of Israel and manuscript collections at Bodleian Library. Key publication venues include the peer-reviewed AJS Review and conference proceedings that engage with monographs published by Stanford University Press, University of California Press and Brandeis University Press. The conference features roundtables, plenaries, workshops for digital humanities projects using tools developed at Digital Humanities Summer Institute and collaborative sessions with societies such as American Oriental Society and Hebrew Bible Section at SBL.

Awards and Grants

The association administers prizes and fellowships recognizing scholarship on subjects like Jewish liturgy, Jewish law, Sephardic studies, Ashkenazi culture and studies of migration to United States and Argentina. Awards honor books, articles, dissertations, translations, and teaching excellence with grants supporting research residencies at institutes including American Academy in Rome, Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard Divinity School, Yad Vashem and the Center for Jewish History. Named prizes commemorate scholars and benefactors linked to figures and institutions such as Solomon Schechter, Salo Baron, Gershom Scholem, Abraham Joshua Heschel and philanthropic organizations like Pew Charitable Trusts.

Education and Outreach

Educational initiatives include workshops for K–12 teachers, curriculum projects cooperating with NMAJH and textbooks adopted at schools like Ramaz School and programs in community settings coordinated with Jewish Community Centers of North America, Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, Hillel International and Taglit-Birthright Israel. Public outreach involves lecture series with collaborators at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, museums including Skirball Cultural Center, and media partnerships that engage outlets such as The New Republic, Haaretz, The Forward and Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Category:Learned societies of the United States Category:Jewish studies