Prof. Gershon Bacon
CV
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
Publications
For Prof. Bacon Gershon's list of publications please click on the link
Research
Main research interests
- Political, social and intellectual/religious history of Jews of Poland and Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries, with special emphasis on interwar period;
- History of Orthodox Jewry in Europe;
- History of the rabbinate in Europe and the United States;
- History of Jewish women in Poland;
- Political and ideological movements in European Jewry in the 19th and 20th centuries
- Last modified: 1/09/2022
