Association for Jewish Studies

American scholarly organization

Association for Jewish Studies

Formation	December 1968; 55 years ago (1968-12)
Founder	Leon Jick
President	Robin Judd
Website	associationforjewishstudies.org

The Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) is a scholarly organization in the United States that promotes academic Jewish Studies.

History

The Association for Jewish Studies (AJS) was founded in December 1968 by a small group of scholars at Brandeis University seeking a forum for exploring methodological and pedagogical issues in the merging field of Jewish studies. AJS held where it held its first annual conference that year at Brandeis.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

In 1976, the AJS began to publish a scholarly journal, the AJS Review. In 1986, the new Women's Caucus of AJS spearheaded the introduction of women's studies into Jewish studies.^[3]

AJS celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018, by when it had grown to over 2,000 members from 26 countries, the largest academic Jewish studies organization in the world. The group's membership was nearly equal between men and women.^[1]

In 2023, the AJS's executive committee signed a statement authored by the American Council of Learned Societies against HB 999 in Florida.^[5]

In 2023, Professor Steven Fine of Yeshiva University, the founding editor of AJS Perspectives: The Magazine of the Association for Jewish Studies, criticized the AJS for becoming politicized and "taken over by the progressive left" and renounced his membership in AJS.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b Bolton-Fasman, Judy. "Association for Jewish Studies Returns to Boston for 50th Anniversary". JewishBoston. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
^ "Jonathan Sarna Elected President of Association for Jewish Studies". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. January 6, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
^ ^a ^b Shapiro, Edward S. (1995). A Time for Healing: American Jewry Since World War II. JHU Press. p. 80. ISBN 9780801851247.
^ Loveland, Kristen (2008). "THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES: A BRIEF HISTORY" (PDF).
^ Lapin, Andrew (March 22, 2023). "A Florida bill attacking 'critical theory' in higher education has the state's Jewish academics worried". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved November 17, 2023.
^ Fine, Steven (February 21, 2023). "What has become of the Association for Jewish Studies?". Times of Israel. Retrieved May 7, 2024.

Authority control databases
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People	Trove
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v t e Presidents of the Association for Jewish Studies
Leon Jick 1969–71 Baruch Levine 1972 Arnold Band 1973–76 Marvin Fox 1976–78 Michael A. Meyer 1979–80 Jane Gerber 1981–83 Nahum M. Sarna 1984–85 Ruth Wisse 1986–88 Robert Chazan 1989–91 Herbert Paper 1992–94 Robert Seltzer 1995–97 David Berger 1998–2000 Lawrence Schiffman 2000–03 Judith R. Baskin 2003–06 Sara Horowitz 2006–09 Marsha L. Rozenblit 2009–11 Jeffrey Shandler 2011–13 Jonathan Sarna 2013–15 Pamela Nadell 2015–17 Christine Hayes 2017–19 Noam Pianko 2019–2021 Jeffrey Shoulson 2021 Robin Judd 2021-present

Presidents of the Association for Jewish Studies