English

פרופ' יצחק קונפורטי

טלפון
03-5317261
דוא"ל
Yitzhak.Conforti@biu.ac.il
משרד
בניין 410 חדר 31
שעות קבלה
שעת קבלה יום ג' בשעה: 15:00 בתיאום מראש.
אתר אישי
קורות חיים

Prof. Yitzhak Conforti - Curriculum Vitae

 

 

The Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History

and Contemporary Jewry

Bar Ilan University

Building 410, room 31

972-3-5317261

E-mail

Yitzhak.Conforti@biu.ac.il

confory@gmail.com

Personal Website

https://biu.academia.edu/YitzhakConforti

 

 

1. Education

2003    Ph.D. Jewish History, Bar Ilan University, cum laude.

1997    M.A. Jewish History, Bar Ilan University.

1990    B.A. Jewish History and Education, Hebrew University, cum laude.

 

2. Academic Appointment

2022-               Associate Professor, Jewish History Department, Bar Ilan University

2012-2022       Senior Lecturer, Jewish History Department, Bar Ilan University

2007-2012       Lecturer, Jewish History Department, Bar-Ilan University

2007-2008       Adjunct Lecturer, Institute for Contemporary Jewry Hebrew University

2003-2007       Adjunct Lecturer, Jewish History Department, Bar-Ilan University

2016- 2019     Head of the institute for the study of the Land of Israel and its Yishuv, Bar Ilan University.       

 

 

3.  Grants and Awards

2024    Visiting Research Scholar, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University.

2022    Visiting Scholar, Taub Center for Israel Studies, New York University.

2022    Fellow, Center for Jewish History, New York.         

2020    The Rector Prize for Scientific Innovation, Bar Ilan University.

2015    Fellow, Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

2014    Visiting Scholar, Taub Center for Israel Studies, New York University.

2014    Visiting Scholar, Center for Jewish History, New York.

2008    Riklis Prize, The faculty of Law and Judaic studies, Bar Ilan University.

2007    Hecht Prize, University of Haifa Herzl Institute.

2006    Ish Shalom Prize, Yad Itzhak Ben Zvi Institute.

2005    Visiting Scholar, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Oxford.

2003    The Mozes M. Schuf Fellowship.

  1.     The Prof. Jacob Katz Fellowship, The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish      History

1999- 2003 The President and the Dean Fellowship, Bar Ilan University.

 

4. Papers Presented at Academic Conferences and Seminars (Selected):

  1. “The Cultural Origins of Zionism: History, Politics and Vision” AJS 56th Conference 15-19 December 2024. (online)
  2. “Empire and Mandate: Before the State” (moderator) The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University (April 8, 2024).
  3. “Zionist Education of the Hebrew Bible” AIS Conference, NYU New York (June 2023).
  4. “Jewish Nationalism and Religion: The Hebrew Bible and the Formation of the 'New Jew'” AJS Conference, (18-20 December 2022 Boston).
  5. “From Religious Holiness to National Sanctity: Zionism and the Hebrew Bible” NYU, Public Lecture the Taub Center for Israel Studies (29 November 2022).
  6. “Religion and Jewish Nationalism: The case of the Hebrew Bible,” ICHS-CISH The International Association for Historical Sciences, (August 21-27, 2022, Poznan, Poland).
  7. “The Zionist Utopias" World Union of Jewish Studies (8-12 August 2022, Jerusalem). 
  8. “The Zionist Utopia and Nation Building,” AIS Conference (27-29 June, Bar Ilan University, 2022).
  9. “Zionism and the Bible in Mandate Palestine,” AIS Conference 7-9 June 2021 (University of Illinois On-line).
  10. “Zionism and the Bible: A Cultural Dimension of Jewish Nationalism,” ASEN Conference (London April 8th On-line).
  11. “Zionism and the Bible” AJS Annual Conference (Washington D.C. On-line) 14 December 2020.
  12. “The Zionist Consciousness and the Hebrew Bible” (Sede Boquer Colloquium Ben Gurion University of the Negev), 7 January 2020.
  13. “Understanding Early Zionism: A Cultural Approach” AIS Annual conference (Berkeley University, June 2018)
  14. “Traditional roots in Early Zionism” EAJS conference (Krakow, July 2018)
  15. “History and Utopia in the Zionist Movement”, AIS Annual conference (Brandies University, June 2017)
  16. “Ethno Symbolism and Jewish Nationalism” ASEN Conference (LSE University London, April 2017)
  17. “East and West in Early Zionism: Between Hibbat Zion and Political Zionism,” AIS Annual conference (Begin Institute, Jerusalem June 2016)
  18. “How to Sustain Jewish Culture in the Age of Nationalism?” AIS Annual conference (Concordia University, Canada, June 1-3, 2015)
  19. “Wissenschaft for the People: Early Zionist Scholars and Jewish Academic Studies”, Doing Wissenschaft: The Academic Study of Judaism as Practice 1818-2018, 21st Annual Gruss Colloquium in Judaic Studies (Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, April 27-28, 2015).
  20. “The Impact of Wissenschaft des Judentums on Jewish Nationalism and Zionism,” The Role of Scholarship in the Shaping of Jewish Identity – A Symposium on the Wissenschaft des Judentums (Leo Back Institute, Center for Jewish History, New York March 1, 2015).
  21. “The Ethnic and Cultural Origins of Zionist Historiography,” Hebert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Ruth Meltzer seminar (University of Pennsylvania January 28, 2015).
  22. “Exile or State in Jewish National Historiography,” World Union of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem July 28 – August 1, 2013).
  23. “Land and People: Territorial and Ethnic Dimensions in Zionism,” AJS Conference (Chicago, December 16-18 2012)
  24. “Searching for a Homeland: The Territorial Dimension in the Zionist Movement and the Boundaries of Jewish Nationalism,” ASEN Conference (London School of Economics, March 2012).
  25. “Zionist Awareness of the Jewish Past: Inventing Tradition or Renewing the Ethnic Past?” ASEN Conference (London School of Economics, April 2011).
  26. “Ethnic or Civic Jewish State in Herzl's and Ahad Ha’am’s Vision,” Nationalism and Ethics – The Zionist Discourse and Arab Problem, (Tel Aviv University, March 2011).
  27. “The Cultural Alternative: Charisma and Reason in the Zionist Movement,” ASEN Conference (London School of Economics, April 2010).
  28. “Between Nationalism and Universalism in the Zionist Vision,” AIS Conference (University of Toronto, May 2010).
  29. “History and Utopia: Past Awareness and Future Shaping in Zionism,” World Union of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem, 2-6 August 2009)
  30. “Between Civic and Ethnic: Israel in light of the Zionist Utopia,” AJS Conference (Washington, 21-23 December 2008)
  31. “East and West in Jewish Nationalism: Confronting Types in the Zionist Movement,” ASEN Conference (London School of Economics, April 2008).
  32. “The 'New Jew' in Zionist Thought: Ideology and Historiography,” AAJS Conference, Monash University, Melbourne Australia (February17-18, 2008).
  33. “Nationalism and Historical Continuity in Jewish History,” AJS Annual Conference Washington DC, USA (December 18-20, 2005).
  34. “Between History and Memory: Jacob Katz as a Zionist Historian,” International Conference at Zalman Shazar Institute, The Israeli Historical Society, Jerusalem (February 1-2, 2004).
  35. “Alternative Voices in Zionist Historiography,” AJS Annual Conference, Boston Mass. USA (December 21-23, 2003).

 

 

מחקר

Teaching Academic Courses (Selected)

  1. Jewish Nationalism
  2. Zionist Historiography and Utopia
  3. Topics in Historiography
  4. Myth and Memory in the Zionist Movement
  5. From Jewish Settlements (Yishuv) to Jewish State (1917-1967).
  6. Zionism and Religion
  7. Nationalism and Jewish Identity
  8. Jewish Nationalism and Culture in Modern Age
  9. Jewish Modern Historiography
  10. Zionism and its Opponents
  11. The First Aliyah and the Second Aliyah (1882-1914)
  12. Modern Jewish history – survey course

 

 

פרסומים

 

List of Publications

 

Books

  1. Yitzhak Conforti, Zionism and Jewish Culture: A Study in the Origins of a National Movement (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2024). link
  2. Yitzhak Conforti, Shaping a Nation: The Cultural Origins of Zionism 1882-1948 (Hebrew; Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2019). link
  3. Yitzhak Conforti, Past Tense: Zionist Historiography and the Shaping of the national Memory (Hebrew; Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2006). link

 

Journal Articles

  1. “The Zionist Utopia and the Prophecy on the Past” Criticism and Interpretation 51 (accepted 27.8.2024, Forthcoming) [Hebrew]
  2. “Zionism and the Hebrew Bible: From Religious Holiness to National Sanctity” Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 60, 3 (2024), pp. 483-497. link
  3. “Utopian Imagination in the Zionist Movement: The Case of 'Jerusalem Rebuilt',” Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 59, 4 (2023), pp. 597-608. link
  4. “Cultural Origins of Jewish Nationalism: Early Zionism and the Weight of Pre-Modern Tradition,” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Vol. 21, 3 (December 2021), pp. 1-15. link
  5. “The Zionist Utopias: Between Building a Future and Shaping the Past” Australian Association for Jewish Studies Vol. 34 (December 2021), pp. 69-104. link
  6. “People and Land between Religion and Nationalism in the Zionist Movement,” Democratic Culture 18 (2018), pp. 99-125. [Hebrew] link
  7. “State or Diaspora: Jewish History as a form of National Belonging,” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Vol. 15, 2 (2015), pp. 230-250. link
  8. “Searching for a Homeland: The Territorial Dimension in the Zionist Movement and the Boundaries of Jewish Nationalism,” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Vol. 14, 1 (2014), pp. 36-54. link                           
  9. “Exile or State in Jewish National Historiography,” Iyunim Bitkumat Israel, 9 (2015) special issue: Homeland in Exile, Offer Schiff (ed.), pp. 137-170. [Hebrew] link
  10. “Zionist Awareness of the Jewish Past: Inventing Tradition or Renewing the Ethnic Past?” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism Vol. 12, 1 (2012), pp. 155-171. link
  11. “Between Ethnic and Civic: The Realistic Utopia of Zionism,” Israel Affairs Vol. 17, 4 (October 2011), pp. 547-566. link
  12. “‘The New Jew’ in the Zionist Movement: Ideology and Historiography,” Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, Vol. 25 (2011), pp. 89-121. link
  13. “East and West in Jewish Nationalism: Conflicting Types in the Zionist Vision?” Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 16, 2 (April 2010), pp. 201-219. link
  14. “The 'New Jew' in the Zionist Thought: Nationalism, Ideology and Historiography,” Israel 16 (2009), pp. 63-96. [Hebrew] link
  15.  “Alternative Voices in Zionist Historiography,” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, Vol. 4, 1 (May 2005) pp. 1-12. link
  16. “The 'Objectivity Question' and the Zionist Historians,” Zion 68 (2003), pp. 467-496. [Hebrew] link
  17. “The Continuity of Modern Anti-Semitism in Post-Holocaust Historiography,” Gesher 139 (Summer 1999), pp. 23-38. [Hebrew] link
  18. “The Emergence of Modern Anti-Semitism in Light of Jewish Historiography,” Yalkut Moreshet 67 (April 1999), pp. 77-106. [Hebrew] link

 

Chapters in books

  1. “The Cultural Origins of Zionism” in: Colin Shindler (ed.) Routledge Handbook on Zionism (London: Routledge Taylor & Francis, 2024), 239-251. link
  2. “Integrating National Consciousness into the Study of Jewish History,” in: Anne O. Albert, Noah Gerber, Michael Meyer (eds.), Frontiers of Jewish Scholarship: Expanding German Origins, Transcending European Borders (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022), pp. 137-155, 232-238. link
  3.  “Ethnicity and Boundaries in Jewish Nationalism,” Chapter 8 in: J. Jackson and L. Molokotos-Lieberman (eds.), Nationalism, Ethnicity and Boundaries – Conceptualising and understanding identity through boundary approaches (London: Routledge, 2014), pp. 142-161. link
  4.  “Ethnic or Civic Jewish State in Herzl’s and Ahad Ha’am’s Vision,” Ephraim Lavie (ed.), Nationalism and Ethics – The Zionist Discourse and the Arab Problem (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2014), pp. 101-122. [Hebrew] link
  5.  “Historiography in the Name of the Nation: Ben-Gurion and Jewish History,” in: Yossi Goldstein (ed.), Yosef Da’at: Studies in Modern Jewish History in Honor of Yosef Salmon (Beer Sheva: Ben Gurion University Press, 2010), pp. 391-407. [Hebrew] link
  6. “Jacob Katz as a Zionist Historian and Educator,” in: Israel Bartal and Shmuel Feiner (eds.) Historiography Reappraised: New Views of Jacob Katz's Oeuvre (Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center, 2007), pp. 165-182. [Hebrew] link
  7. “Yehoshua Kaniel: Historiography of Continuity and Change,” Dov Schwartz (ed.), Bar Ilan University from Concept to Enterprise, Vol. 2 (Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University Press, 2006), pp. 81-92. [Hebrew] link

 

Book reviews

  1. Yossi Goldstein, We Were the First: A History of Hibbat Zion, 1881-1918, (Jerusalem: 2015) Zion Vol. 83, 2 (2018), pp. 255-260. [Hebrew] link
  2. Ben Zion Dinur, Posthumous and Other Writings, Edited. by Arielle Rein, (Jerusalem, 2009), Studies in Contemporary Jewry (2012) Vol. 16, pp. 324-326. link
  3. Yaffa Berlowitz (ed.), Talking Culture: The First Aliya, an Inter-period Discourse (Tel Aviv: 2010), Cathedra 149 (2013) pp. 271-275. [Hebrew] link
  4. Yosef Salmon, Do not Providence: Orthodoxy in the Grip of Nationalism (Jerusalem, 2006), AJS Review 32 (2008), pp. 464-467. link
  5. “Between Zionism and Religion” Zmanim (fall 2008), pp. 110-112. link 

תאריך עדכון אחרון : 09/10/2024