Prof. Gershon Bacon

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

Date of birth:       December 17, 1948

Birthplace:           Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Marital Status:     Married, four children

 

Education                                

 

         Columbia University, New York

                Major Specialization area - Jewish History

                Minor Specialization area - Polish and

                                                            Russian History

                Degrees awarded - Master of Philosophy, 1978; Doctor of Philosophy, 1979

                 Jewish Theological Seminary, New York

                Degree awarded - Master of Hebrew Literature and

                                              rabbinical ordination, 1972

                                             Honorary doctorate, 1998

         University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

                Degree awarded - Bachelor of Arts (summa cum laude), 1968

                 Gratz College, Philadelphia

                Degree awarded - Bachelor of Hebrew Literature, 1968

 

Research Languages

 

         Hebrew, Yiddish, French, German, Polish, Russian

 

 Full-time Employment

        

         Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

         Associate Professor in Jewish History - tenured,

         full-time, employed 1981-present

         Chairman, Dept. of Jewish History, 1998-2001

         Lecturer (= assistant professor in USA), 1981-1985

         Senior Lecturer (tenured, = associate professor in USA), 1985-1997

         Associate Professor (= full professor in USA), 1997- present

        

         Jewish Theological Seminary, New York

         Instructor and Assistant Professor of Jewish History, 1974-1981

 

 

Public and Communal Positions

 

         Incumbent, Marcell and Maria Roth Chair for the History and Culture of Polish

         Jewry, Bar-Ilan University, 2012-present

 

         Member of supervisory control committee, Central Archives for the History of the  

         Jewish People, 2012-present 

 

         Member of executive board, Keller Foundation, 2012-present

 

         Member of executive board, Historical Society of Israel, 2011- 2015

 

         Member of supervisory control committee, World Union of Jewish Studies,

         2009- present

 

         Member of international editorial advisory board, Scripta Judaica Cracoviensa,

         2002-present

 

         Section Editor: Poland 1795-1939 and member of editorial board, Jews in Eastern    

         Europe: The Yivo Encyclopedia, 2001-2008

 

         Member of executive board, World Union for Jewish Studies, 2004-2009

 

          Member of board of directors, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish

          People, 2004-2009

    

         Director, Klein Chair on the History of the Rabbinate in Europe, Bar-Ilan

         University, 2000-2012; member of advisory board, 1996-2000

 

         Council member, Historical Society of Israel, 2000-2003

 

         Director, Institute for Research on Religious Zionism, Bar-Ilan University,

         1997-1998

 

         Coordinator, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch chair,

         Jewish History Department, Bar-Ilan University,

         1995-2000

 

         Member of Editorial Board, Bi'Shevilei Ha'Tehiya,

         1991-2000

 

         Director of Kotlar Institute for Judaism and

         Contemporary Thought, 1990-1995

 

         Member of Academic Advisory Board, Institute of

         Traditional Judaism, Teaneck, NJ, 1990-present        

 

         Member of Editorial Board, Yivo Annual, 1989-2000

 

         Israel Association of Slavic and East  European Studies,

         secretary, 1982-1983; vice- president, 1983-1984; treasurer, 1984-1985;

         secretary, 1985-1986; treasurer, 1986-1987, 1988-present

 

 

Scholarships and Fellowships

 

         Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania

         Fellow, beginning of spring semester 2012 (research group on Jews and travel)

 

         Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Michigan Ann Arbor

         Fellow, fall semester 2011 (research group on Jews and Politics)

 

         Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University -

         Fellow, spring semester 2008 (research group on Hasidism); Fellow, academic year

         1997-1998 (research group on orthodoxy); fellow, academic year 1993-1994

         (research group on East European Jewry)

 

          Israel Science Foundation (ISF) – research grant for years 2007-2010 (with Dr.

          Mirjam Rajner)       

 

          History department and Judaic Studies Program, Yale University – Jacob Blaustein

          Visiting Professor, fall semester 2007

 

          Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania -

          Fellow, January-February 2003 (research group on East European Jewry)

 

         American Council of Learned Societies -

         research fellowship, 1995-1996

 

         Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture - research

         fellowship, 1985-1986; post-doctoral fellowship,

         1980-1981; doctoral fellowship, 1977-1978

 

         International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) -

           grant for research in Poland, 1973

 

         National Foundation for Jewish Culture - doctoral

           research grant, 1973-1974

 

         Kościuszko Foundation - grant for study in Poland,

           1973-1974

 

         New York State Herbert Lehman Fellowship, 1969-1973

 

         Philadelphia Board of Education Full Tuition

           Scholarship, 1965-1968

 

         Pennsylvania State Scholarship, 1965-1968

        

Graduate student advising

 

Completed MA - 1.   Esther Segel-Eitan

2.Haim Sperber

3.Allon Raichlin

4.Maia Matania (Gender Studies)

5.Akiva Bigman

 

Completed PhD    1. Shlomo Leibovici

                              2. Adam Ferziger

                              3. Haim Shalem

                              4.  Asaf Kaniel

                              5.  Haya Galinski Meller

                              6.  Haim Sperber

                              7.  Adva Selzer

                              8. Daphna Ben-Yosef (Contemporary Jewry)

                              9. Adah Gebel (history, Ben-Gurion University)

                              10. Moshe Uriel

 

Present graduate students:

 

PhD – 1. Yohanan Ben-Yaakov

           2. Moshe Tarshansky

           3. Uri Oholy