Welcome to Fall Semester 2014!
Read on to see what's new at the Schusterman Center this fall. In this newsletter:

New faces at the Center
Schusterman Center alumni
$2,500 Undergraduate Israel Travel Grants
Israel Studies courses at Brandeis
New publications
Upcoming events

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New Members of the Schusterman Center Community

We're excited to welcome the following individuals to the Israel Studies community at Brandeis.

Doctoral Fellows

We're pleased to introduce two new Schusterman Scholars:

Robert DeBoard, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS), comes to us with an MA in History from Baylor University. Robert's research interests include military history and foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly Mandatory Palestine and Israel during the Cold War. His research at Brandeis will focus on Israeli defense strategy in the 1950s. Read more...

Iddo Haklai, also in NEJS, has an MA in Political Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Iddo is interested in the theological underpinnings of the internal fragmentation of the "Dati-Leumi" (non-Haredi Orthodox) public in Israel in recent decades and in the creation of different conceptual patterns in relation to inclusion and exclusion of women and LGBT people in non-Haredi Orthodox synagogue practices and communities. Read more...

Post-doctoral Fellow

Dr. Liora Norwich is teaching in the Politics Department at Brandeis during her fellowship at the Center. She completed her PhD in Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her post-doctoral research examines ethnic mobilization in a comparative perspective: juxtaposing the case of Arab minority mobilization in Israel with the Francophone Quebecois and the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. This semester she is teaching a course entitled "Israeli Politics in Comparative Perspective." Then this spring, she will

teach "Israel: A Movement Society." Read more..

Visiting Scholars

Guangmeng Chen, is an associate professor at the School of International Relations in Sichuan International Studies University (SISU). He is director of the Center for Israel Studies at SISU. His main teaching and research fields include International Relations History, Israeli Think Tanks, Sino-Israel Relations and related topics. Read more...

Hetian Duan is a doctoral student at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She has published articles on

Alexander II's Policies for Jews, on William C. White's life in Kaifeng China and about the transformation of the Kibbutz in the 1980s. Her research interests extend to Judaism in modern Israel and America,

the history of Chinese Jews and related topics. Read more...

New Assistant Director

We're pleased to announce that Rise Singer, formerly Program Manager of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis, is now assistant director of the Schusterman Center. At the same time, we bid a fond farewell to JoAnn Leavitt, the outgoing assistant director, who has relocated to Gloucester. Read more...

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Schusterman Center Alumni

Where are they now? Establishing successful careers and advancing Israel Studies

Dr. Eric Fleisch '14, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies (NEJS), is the most recent Schusterman Scholar doctoral student to graduate from Brandeis University. Dr. Fleisch is now a post-doctoral research fellow at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis, where he conducts research on American Jewry. He is working on turning his dissertation, "Israeli NGOs and American Jewish Donors: The Structures and Dynamics of Power Sharing in a New Philanthropic Age," into a book manuscript.

Jason Olson, NEJS, is a 5th-year doctoral candidate whose research focuses on Christian support for and opposition to the state of Israel. He has just been called up to active duty as a Navy officer and chaplain, and will be educating midshipmen about the modern State of Israel, while writing his dissertation on the shifts in Christian solidarity with Israel and how the rise of the Likud party in Israel and the Christian Right in America has transformed the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Dr. Ofir Abu '13, Politics, is a post-doctoral fellow at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the Department of Public Policy and Administration. He is collaborating with Prof. Buy Ben-Porat and Dr. Fany Yuval in researching attitudes toward police and policing among minority groups in Israel. He teaches in the Department of Politics and Government.

Joseph Ringel '11, NEJS, has received a two-year Fulbright fellowship, sponsored by the U.S. and Israeli governments, to do research on national religious schools in Jewish settlements across the Green Line. His academic home in Israel is the University of Haifa.

Randy Geller '11, NEJS, has held post-doctoral positions at American University and the University of Texas, Austin. In 2013 he was appointed the inaugural Les and Eva Erdi Lecturer in Israel and Middle East Studies at Monash University in Australia. For this 2014-2015 academic year, Dr. Geller is a post-doctoral fellow in Israel Studies at the University of Toronto.

Sara Yael Hirschhorn, Post-doctoral fellow 2012-2013, NEJS, is in the second year of a five-year position as lecturer and Sidney Brichto Fellow in Israel Studies at the University of Oxford, cross-appointed with the Faculty of Oriental Studies and the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. She recently signed a contract with Harvard University Press for the publication of her first book, "City on a Hilltop: American Jews and the Israeli Settler Movement Since 1967."

Click here to read more about the above scholars and to see what other Schusterman Center alumni are doing now.

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$2,500 Eizenstat Undergraduate Israel Travel Grant

Apply for a $2,500 Frances Taylor Eizenstat '65 Undergraduate Israel Travel Grant, open to undergraduates in all departments. Study, research, learn Hebrew, or arrange an internship in almost any field of interest. Deadline: October 15th.

Join Us for a Reception and Q&A
Thursday, September 18th
5:00 - 7:00 p.m. (Note new time)
Rapaporte Treasure Hall

Hear last year's grant recipients (check out their blog posts and photos here) speak about their experience, ask them your questions, and get inspired. Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, who established the grant in memory of his wife Frances '65, will be in attendance.

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Fall Semester Israel Studies Courses at Brandeis

Courses available in Fine Arts, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Politics, and Hebrew language. Click here to see courses. Remember, enrollment ends September 11, so sign up soon!

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Hot off the Presses: New Israel Studies Publications

New releases in the Schusterman Series in Israel Studies:

Becoming Israeli: National Ideals & Everyday Life in the 1950s

With a light touch and many wonderful illustrations, historian Anat Helman investigates "life on the ground" in Israel during the first years of statehood. She looks at how citizens -- natives of the land, longtime immigrants, and newcomers -- coped with the state's efforts to turn an incredibly diverse group of people into a homogenous whole. Read more...

A Jewish Kapo in Auschwitz: History, Memory, and the Politics of Survival
The biography of the Communist Jewish kapo whose controversy-ridden story spans Europe and Israel. "An astonishingly excellent work of historical reconstruction and interpretation...[By] combining deep and creative research, conceptual sophistication, and deep humanity, Tuvia Friling offers us what should be a classic, important, and enduring work of history." Jeffrey Here, University of Maryland. Read more...

Now in paperback:

Israel: A History

Written by one of Israel's most notable scholars, this volume provides a breathtaking history of Israel, from the origins of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century to the present day. Based on archival sources and the most up-to-date scholarly research, this authoritative history will be the gold standard in the field for years to come.
Read more...

New issue of Israel Studies, Volume 19.3

Fall 2014 issue of Israel Studies will be available September 17 through JSTOR, Project Muse, and your university library. Click here for a sneak peek at the table of contents.

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Upcoming Events

For more on upcoming events, click here. Check back frequently for updates and new events. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates.

September 10, Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law Lunchtime Seminar -
Orit Rozin "The Right to Childhood: Law, Social Change and Collective Identity" 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. in the WSRC Lecture Hall, Brandeis University
Co-sponsored with the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.
September 11, What Israel's Growing Ties with China Mean for the U.S.-Israel Relationship, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. in Levine-Ross, Hassenfeld Conference Center. Brandeis International Business School event co-sponsored by the Schusterman Center.
September 18, Eizenstat Undergraduate Israel Travel Grant Reception and Q&A, in the the Rapaporte Treasure Hall, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
October (details TBA): A film screening and Q&A with Israeli director Anat Selzer in collaboration with the Hebrew Language Program and the Department of Film, Television and Interactive Media.
Stay tuned for updates and additional events!

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www.brandeis.edu/israelcenter