The Distinguished Scholar Series

September 15, 2009
Dr. Walter Laqueur

Dr. Laqueur was the Director of the Institute of Contemporary History and the Wiener Library in London from 1965-1994. He was founder and editor with George Mosse, of the Journal of Contemporary History and of Survey 1956-1964. He was founding editor of the The Washington Papers. He was Chairman of the International Research Council CSIS Washington. He was Professor of History of Ideas at Brandeis University 1968-1972, University. Professor at Georgetown University 1976-1988. Dr. Laqueur’s main works deal with European history in the 19th and 20th century, especially Russian, German, and Middle East history. Dr. Laqueur is the author of numerous books, including Out of the Ruins of Europe, New York: Library Press. Germany Today: A Personal Report, Boston: Little, Brown, 1985. A World of Secrets: the Uses and Limits of Intelligence, New York: Basic Books. The Age of Terrorism, Boston; Toronto: Little, Brown, 1987. Europe In Our Time: A History, 1945-1992, New York: Viking, 1992. Fascism: Past, Present, Future, New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1998. The New Terrorism: Fanaticism and the Arms of Mass Destruction, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-first Century, New York: Continuum. Voices of Terror: Manifestos, Writings and Manuals of Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Other Terrorists from Around the World and Throughout the Ages, Sourcebooks, Inc, 2004. The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, Oxford University Press, 2006.

October 7, 2009
Dr. Menachem Kellner

Professor of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa
Dr. Kellner taught philosophy at Washington University, religious studies at the College of William and Mary and at the University of Virginia, and medieval and modern Jewish philosophy at the University of Haifa.

In 1980, Dr. Kellner moved to Israel with his wife and two children where he teaches at the University of Haifa. In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities in Haifa University's Department of Jewish History and Thought, Dr. Kellner has served as Chair of the University's Department of Maritime Civilizations, a unique inter-disciplinary graduate program in maritime archeology and history (1988-91), and as Dean of Students (1994-97). He was also editor of English-language publications of the University of Haifa Press and has authored several books, including Dogma in Medieval Jewish Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986, Maimonides on Human Perfection. Atlanta: Scholars Press (Brown Judaic Studies), 1990, Maimonides on Judaism and the Jewish People. Albany: SUNY Press, 1991, Maimonides on the Decline of the Generations and the Nature of Rabbinic Authority. Albany: SUNY Press, 1996, Must a Jew Believe Anything? London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1999, and Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism. London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2006.

October 13, 2009
Rabbi Barbara Aiello

Rabbi Aiello was the first Rabbi of Synagogue Lev Chadash, the first Reform Synagogue in Italy. Rabbi Aiello currently serves the Synagogue Ner Tamid del Sud, the first operational synagogue in Calabria in 500 years, since inquisition times. Rabbi Aiello is also the Director of the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria. She is also the creator of “The Kids on the Block” puppet program used to teach children and adults to accept and appreciate difference and diversity.

In addition she is director of the IJCCC (The Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria) where she teaches classes on Italian Jewish culture, the Hebrew language, and helps Calabrians with Jewish roots to learn more about their past. Dedicated to the growth of progressive liberal Judaism in Italy, Rabbi Aiello regularly serves Congregation Or Chadash in Turin. There she works with members of the Steering Committee to bring modern liberal Judaism to Jewish and interfaith families. In 2006 Rabbi Aiello led the first ever Rosh HaShanah Progressive Jewish service in an Italian synagogue. The event took place in the Ivrea synagogue outside of Turin. Rabbi Aiello is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award. She holds a MS from The George Washington University in Washington DC and received Smicha (rabbinic ordination) from The Rabbinical Seminary International and the Rabbinical Academy in New York City. In addition, Rabbi Aiello is a founding member and board member of the International Federation of Rabbis, and rabbinic advisor to Congregation Ner Tamid in Bradenton Florida where she visits regularly to perform B’nai Mitzvah ceremonies, Shabbat services and educational forums.

November 3, 2009
Dr. Marsha Rozenblit

Professor of Jewish History at the University of Maryland
Dr. Rozenblit is the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professor of Jewish History at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she has been on the faculty since 1978. A social historian of the Jews of Central Europe, she is the author of two books, Reconstructing a National Identity: The Jews of Habsburg Austria during World War I. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, and The Jews of Vienna, 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983 (1984).Dr. Rozenblit has also edited and written over twenty-five scholarly articles on the Jews of Habsburg Central Europe on such topics as religious reform in nineteenth century Vienna and Jews and other Germans in Moravia. She currently serves as the Vice President for Program of the Association for Jewish Studies and the professional organization of Jewish Studies scholars in North America.

November 19, 2009
Dr. Vanessa Ochs

Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia
Dr. Ochs is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia where she teaches courses in Judaism, anthropology of religion, and spiritual writing. Dr. Ochs is the author of numerous publications including, Inventing Jewish Ritual (Jewish Publication Society: 2007) Winner of 2007 National Jewish Book Award. Sarah Laughed (McGraw Hill: 2004), The Jewish Dream Book (with Elizabeth Ochs) (Jewish Lights Publications: 2003), The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices (co-edited with Irwin Kula) (Jewish Lights Publications: 2001), Miriam’s Object Lesson: A Study of Objects Emerging in the New Rituals of Jewish Women. Safe and Sound: Protecting Children in an Unpredictable World (Penguin: 1995), Words on Fire: One Woman's Journey into the Sacred, (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich: 1990.

Dr.Ochs is also the author of several works of fiction including, People Suspect She Is Either On Drugs Or A Member of A Cult, Sun Dog: The Southeast Review, Fall 1987.Chanuka Clock, Woman's Day, December 3, 1985. Panama Hat, Woman's Day, September 1985. The Mothers' Goose, Woman's Day, May 1985. Talking Book Magazine of the Month (Library of Congress). Naming, Wooster Review, Fall 1984.Birds: Life After College, Classes (Sarah Lawrence Alumni Publication) Spring 1983. Epistle from Sister Deirdre, Croton Review, Spring 1982. Get me to a Nunnery, Moment, December 1981. Brothers Musser, Face of the Sage, Fall 1980.

March 11, 2010
Dr. David Kraemer

Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary
Dr. Kraemer is the Joseph J. and Dora Abbell Librarian and professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at The Jewish Theological Seminary. In his scholarship, Dr. Kraemer is particularly interested in literary analysis of rabbinic literature, rabbinic ritual, and the social and religious history of Jews in late antiquity.

His articles have appeared in a wide variety of journals, ranging from the popular to the academic. He is the author of several books, including The Mind of the Talmud: An Intellectual History of the Babylonian Talmud (Oxford, 1990), Responses to Suffering in Classical Rabbinic Literature (Oxford, 1995), Reading the Rabbis: The Talmud as Literature (Oxford, 1996), The Meanings of Death in Rabbinic Judaism (Rutledge, 2000), and Exploring Judaism: The Collected Essays of David Kraemer (Scholars Press, 2000). He is also the editor of a volume on the history of the Jewish family titled The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory (Oxford, 1989). Dr. Kraemer's most recent work, Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages, a book on the evolution of Jewish eating practices through the centuries, was published by Rutledge in June 2007.