By offering courses that explore the diversity of the Bay Area's Jewish community, SFSU's Jewish Studies Department hopes to reflect not only the exciting historical, cultural, and religious traditions of the Jews, but also to build bridges between Jews and non-Jews across the curriculum so that Jewish Studies can really be the "people's Jewish Studies."
Jewish Studies in the Community Announcements
2009 Lectures
- Lisa Peschel, Charles Revson Visiting Fellow, United States Holocaust Museum. Dr. Peschel will be speaking on "Theater and Theriesenstadt" at 9:35am, HUM 587.
- Barry Rubin, Professor, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel, Director of Global Research in International Affairs, and Editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs, will speak on "Themes, Challenges, and Concepts of U.S. Middle East Policy and the Obama Administration." Tuesday, November 3, 3:30pm, HUM 415. All are welcome.
- Student Luncheon, October 29, 2009, 11:30-1:30, Jewish Studies Office, HUM 415.
The job description for the current open position in Israel Studies is available here as a pdf file. For further details, please contact Professor Fred Astren.
SF State to receive $3.75 million from Goldman Fund for endowed chair in Israel Studies
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund will transform Jewish Studies at SF State with the largest endowed chair gift ever received in the California State University system.
SAN FRANCISCO, February 26, 2008 -- San Francisco State University today announced the establishment of an endowed chair in Israel Studies made possible by a $3.75 million gift from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. A portion of the endowment will be used to elevate Jewish Studies from program to department status.
The endowment will fund a new faculty position in Jewish Studies focusing on the scholarly study of Israel. The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Israel Studies will develop and deliver a curriculum that addresses the history, politics, culture and religions of Israel.
"Establishing a Chair in Israel Studies will add both depth and breadth to the Jewish Studies Program," said Fred Astren, professor and director of the Jewish Studies Program. "We have been working hard toward this goal for several years and are grateful to the Goldman Fund and our supporters who have made this possible."
Israel studies is an emerging academic field focusing on a multidisciplinary approach to Israel as a society and culture. The endowed chair will expand on the current faculty's expertise in Jewish literature, pre-modern Jewish history and American Jewish history, while also contributing to scholarly conversations across the University in such departments as political science, history, international relations and the emerging Middle East and Islamic Studies Program.
"As conflicts in the Middle East continue, it is vitally important to provide students with a deeper and more fully developed understanding of Israel. The purpose of this professorship is to accomplish that goal," said Richard N. Goldman, founder and president of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
“I want to thank the Goldman Foundation for so generously expanding its visionary partnership with SF State," University President Robert A. Corrigan said. "The chair in Israel Studies will put us on the cutting edge of a new and exciting area of scholarship. It also will strengthen our longstanding commitment to keeping SF State a place where all ideas and points of view can be frankly and openly explored and where discourse remains civil.”
Part of the endowment will also provide support for the transformation of the Jewish Studies Program into an academic department – the first Jewish Studies Department in the CSU system. It will also make SF State the only Bay Area university to have a free standing Department of Jewish Studies offering undergraduate study.
"Becoming a department reflects the maturity of the curriculum and programs that we have offered since 1993 and we are honored to be granted this solid institutional standing within the University," Astren said. "Planning is already underway to implement these new developments." Recruitment of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Professor in Israel Studies will begin in fall 2008, with the appointee expected to join the faculty in August 2009.
The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund has contributed more than a half-billion dollars to a variety of charitable causes in the Bay Area, nationally and internationally. In 1997, SF State received a $1 million gift from the Fund to establish the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, a position held by Professor Marc Dollinger. This academic year, a grant from the Goldman Fund is supporting the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Visiting Professor in Israel Studies, an initiative which was the prototype for establishing the permanent endowed chair in Israel studies.
SF State to host Goldman Visiting Professor in Israel Studies
Haifa scholar Uri Bar-Joseph, expert in security studies and intelligence
SAN FRANCISCO, June 25, 2007 -- Uri Bar-Joseph, Ph.D. has been appointed the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Visiting Professor in Israel Studies at San Francisco State University for the 2007-2008 academic year. The position, made possible by $90,000 in support from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, is intended to advance Israel studies on the campus and to encourage relationship-building between the campus and community.
Bar-Joseph, whose expertise is in security studies and intelligence, is currently senior lecturer of international relations, department of political science, at the University of Haifa in Haifa, Israel. He will teach SF State's long-standing class, "Israeli Democracy: Politics, Institutions and Society," two classes in international relations, and a new class on "The Arab-Israeli Conflict," cross-listed with the department of International Relations.
"This is a major step toward developing Israel studies as one of the emphases in the Jewish Studies Program's curriculum," said Fred Astren, professor and director of Jewish Studies at SF State. In addition to the Israeli democracy class introduced in spring 1998, the program added an Israeli Cinema class last year. "Israel studies is a natural component of the Jewish studies major and offers both a complement and counterweight to our strong offerings in Holocaust studies," Astren said.
Bar-Joseph earned his doctorate in political science from Stanford University, a master's in international relations from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a B.A. in political science and sociology from Haifa University. In addition to numerous articles in professional journals, he is the author of three books: "The Watchman Fell Asleep: The Surprise of Yom Kippur and Its Sources," "Intelligence Intervention in the Politics of Democratic States: The USA, Britain and Israel," and "The Best of Enemies: Israel and Transjordan in the War of 1948." With Amos Perlmutter and Michael I. Handel he wrote "Two Minutes Over Baghdad."
A $1 million gift to SF State from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund in 1997, at the time the largest donation in the University's history, established the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, held by Mark Dollinger since 2002.
Scholarships in Jewish Studies
B'nai B'rith Scholarship -- 2000.00 awarded annually to a Jewish Studies major or minor who demonstrate a high degree of community involvement and activity in the Bay Area Jewish community and who are currently declared a major or minor in Jewish Studies at SF State.
Alumni and Student Accomplishments
Matt Dillon ('08) receives a graduate fellowship to pursue a doctorate in Religious Studies at Rice University. Matt will continue his studies on Kabbalah and Adam Kadmon from a comparative perspective.
Barton Creeth ('09) receives a graduate fellowship to pursue the M.A. in Sacred Music and Literature at Yale University. Barton will specialize in Holocaust Ethics.
Joshua Bishop ('05) has received a graduate fellowship to Fordham University's School of Divinity. He intends to pursue an M.A. in Theology, comparing Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
David Stanton ('09) receives a graduate fellowship to pursue studies at UC Berkeley in Education.
Shawna Vesco ('07) receives a graduate fellowship to pursue a doctorate in Literature at UC Santa Cruz. Shawna intends to specialize in Comparative Jewish Literatures.
Anton Sousa ('07) and Adam King ('08) enter the DaLet Jewish Education Program.
Recipients of the Sara Ruth Award for Best Essay in Jewish Studies:
Daigon Gaither, 2008-2009
Rose Kleiner and Luis Cardona, 2007-2008.
Matt Dillon, 2006-2007.
Donations to the Department of Jewish Studies
To donate to the Department of Jewish Studies, please contact either Professor Fred Astren or follow the above link, "Donations."
