BUJS Forums

2023 Boston University Jewish Studies Research Forum (BUJS)

The Boston University Jewish Studies Research Forum (BUJS Forum) aims to facilitate advanced research in Jewish studies or Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies. On March 1, 2023, the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies was honored to host Professor Myriam Bienenstock, a renowned scholar from France, who delivered a lecture titled “A Controversy on […]

“Serves No Purpose: Spinoza’s Denaturalization of Sovereignty,” with Dr. Gilah Kletenik

For our third BUJS Forum of the year, Dr. Gilah Kletenik, a Postdoctoral Associate at the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, spoke about Spinoza and the “denaturalization of sovereignty,” the subject of her current book project Sovereignty Disrupted: Spinoza and the Disparity of Reality. In her talk, titled “Serves No Purpose: Spinoza’s Denaturalization of […]

“Middle Eastern Post-Conflict, Cross-Border Environmental Cooperation: The Work of the Arava Institute,” Featuring Dr. David Lehrer

The 2021/22 Boston University Jewish Studies Research Forum (BUJS Forum), opened on Thursday, October 21, 2021, with a lecture by Dr. David Lehrer.  In his presentation titled “Middle Eastern Post-Conflict, Cross-Border Environmental Cooperation: The Work of the Arava Institute,” David Lehrer spoke about the work of the Arava Institute. In his talk, Lehrer specifically focused […]

BU Jewish Studies Research Forum

The Boston University Jewish Studies Research Forum (BUJS Forum) facilitates conversations on advanced research in Jewish Studies and related fields. The Forum is multi-disciplinary and provides opportunities for resident and visiting faculty, postgraduate associates, and graduate students to present their work in progress while simultaneously learning from visiting scholars. December 8 – BUJS Forum with […]

2018-19 BUJS

Biblical Exegesis as Political Critique October 3, 2018 Post-doctoral research fellow Dr. Alexandra Zirkle (PhD University of Chicago, 2016) presented about her current work examining nineteenth-century German-Jewish biblical exegesis as an expression of political self-assertion in the age of romantic nationalism. The talk was held from 2:30 to 4pm at the Elie Wiesel Center library. […]

2017-18 BUJS Forum

Judaism Was a Civilization December 17, 2017 Boston University Department of Religion Professor of Religion Jonathan Klawans presented on “Judaism as a civilization.,” taking the cue from Mordecai Kaplan who proposed that Judaism should be studied as “peoplehood,” which looks at Judaism beyond solely a religious or ethnic group. This frame allows for scholars to […]

Anti-Semitism and Zionism: Ideologies or Emotions?

January 29, 2018 Professor Derek Penslar (University of Toronto and Harvard) presented on a work in progress dealing with different Zionist responses to anti-Semitism from the perspective of affect theory. Primary cases for this examination were Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weizmann who attached different affective qualities to anti-Semitism while using the fact of anti-Semitism differently […]