2008 Woodie Awards
Changes to Jewish Studies, R. Jeremy Wieder the Cluster
Last Year's Departmental Review Finally Acted On
Ari Fridman and Zev Nagel
Issue date: 5/16/05 Section: News
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The Commentator has also learned that Yeshiva has retained Prof. Debra Kaplan of Queens College to teach medieval Jewish history in the fall. Dr. Kaplan, who received her doctorate in Ashkenazic Jewry in Early Modern Europe, accepted a full time, tenure track position, and will begin by teaching the medieval survey. Her specialty, however, is in the early modern period, and it remains to be seen in which period, medieval or early modern, she will teach future electives.
Yeshiva has also offered a visiting professorship to Prof. Steven Fine of the University of Cincinnati for a position in classical Jewish history. Dr. Fine specializes in interrelationships between rabbinic literature and archaeology. He is also the author of "This Holy Place: On the Sanctity of the Synagogue During the Greco-Roman Period."
Rabbi Wieder's appointment comes amid more than a year of internal shuffling, suspicious rumors, and proposed changes to the Jewish Studies department. Last year, Vice President for Academic Affairs Morton Lowengrub commissioned a review of the Jewish Studies program, bringing in a team of four outside reviewers to look at all Jewish Studies divisions - Bible, Jewish History, and Jewish Philosophy - with the conspicuous exclusion of a full critique of the Hebrew Language and Literature department. After meeting with department faculty and students, the committee produced a 6 page report which was then released to its faculty. Though students were an integral part of the committee's review - committee members surprisingly did not sit in on classes but rather conducted their research through extensive interviews - student leaders were never formally shown a copy of the findings.
Simultaneously, the review highlighted a growing tension in the department between faculty members, including sequestering of one unnamed senior member of the department who had reportedly intimidated students and colleagues. The unresolved tension led to the exclusion of some faculty members from departmental meetings, including the recent search committee, despite their seniority.