Research
Our areas of research include, but are not limited to:
- the Ancient Near East
- early rabbinic literature
- eastern European Jewish history
- Yiddish culture
- the Arab-Israeli conflict
- Jewish-Muslim relations
Recent research projects include:
- Jewish time and calendars
- code switching in the Talmud
- Maskilic Hebrew
- the Jews and photography
- intercession (‘shtadlanut’) in Jewish political tradition
- gender in modern Hebrew literature.
We explore new areas of research; our contributions to understanding and knowledge are significant, pioneering, and world-leading.
We have run several international research collaborations with colleagues in Israel, Germany, Poland, and the USA. In the last ten years, the Department has won major research grants from the ERC (European Research Council), AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council), Leverhulme, and the British Academy, and has hosted a number of postdoctoral fellowships. Research students have undertaken doctorates in a very wide range of subjects.
Our location in the heart of Bloomsbury gives us close access to a wide range of libraries and unique research facilities, and to its vibrant, interdisciplinary research community.
Journals
Three leading academic journals are edited by members of the department
- The Journal of Jewish Studies (Prof Sacha Stern)
- Aramaic Studies (Prof Willem Smelik)
- Jewish Historical Studies: Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society England (Prof Michael Berkowitz)
Book series
The following book series are edited or co-edited by a member of the Department:
- Grammars of World and Minority Languages, UCL Press. Prof Lily Kahn, with Dr Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, SSEES
- Textbooks of World and Minority Languages, UCL Press. Prof Lily Kahn with Dr Riitta-Liisa Valijärvi, SSEES
- Time, Astronomy, and Calendars: Texts and Studies, Leiden: Brill. Prof Sacha Stern and Prof Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute)
- IJS Studies in Judaica, Leiden: Brill. Prof Mark Geller, Prof François Guesnet, Prof Lily Kahn, Prof Ada Rapoport-Albert z"l
- Polin. Studies in Polish Jewry, Liverpool University Press. Prof François Guesnet, Prof Antony Polonsky (Brandeis University)