Dr. Yitzhak Conforti
CV
Education
| 2003 | Ph.D. (cum laude) | Bar Ilan University | Jewish History |
| 1997 | M.A. | Bar Ilan University | Jewish History |
| 1990 | B.A. (cum laude) | Hebrew University | Jewish History and Education |
Academic Appointments
| 2016- 2019 | Head of the institute for the study of the Land of Israel and its Yishuv, Bar-Ilan University. |
| 2012- | 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. |
Grants and Awards
| 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 Izhak Ben Zvi Institute. |
| 2005 |
Visiting Scholar, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Oxford. |
| 2003 | The Mozes M. Schuf Fellowship. |
| 2003 |
The President and the Dean Fellowship, Bar Ilan University (1999-2003). |
Publications
List of publications
Books
Yitzhak Conforti, Past Tense: Zionist Historiography and the Shaping of the national Memory (Hebrew; Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2006).
Yitzhak Conforti, Shaping a Nation: The Cultural Origins of Zionism 1882-1948 (Hebrew; Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2019).
Journal Articles
“People and Land between Religion and Nationalism in the Zionist Movement,” Democratic Culture 18 (2018), pp. 99-125. [Hebrew]
“State or Diaspora: Jewish History as a form of National Belonging,” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, Vol. 15, 2 (2015), pp. 230-250.
“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.
“Exile or State in Jewish National Historiography,” Iyunim Bitkumat Israel, 9 (2015) special issue: Homeland in Exile, Offer Schiff (ed.), pp. 137-170. [Hebrew]
“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.
“Between Ethnic and Civic: The Realistic Utopia of Zionism,” Israel Affairs Vol. 17, 4 (October 2011), pp. 547-566.
“‘The New Jew’ in the Zionist Movement: Ideology and Historiography,” Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, Vol. 25 (2011), pp. 89-121.
“East and West in Jewish Nationalism: Conflicting Types in the Zionist Vision?” Nations and Nationalism, Vol. 16, 2 (April 2010), pp. 201-219.
“The 'New Jew' in the Zionist Thought: Nationalism, Ideology and Historiography,” Israel 16 (2009), pp. 63-96. [Hebrew]
“Alternative Voices in Zionist Historiography,” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, Vol. 4, 1 (May 2005) pp. 1-12.
“The 'Objectivity Question' and the Zionist Historians,” Zion 68 (2003), pp. 467-496. [Hebrew]
“The Continuity of Modern Anti-Semitism in Post-Holocaust Historiography,” Gesher 139 (Summer 1999), pp. 23-38. [Hebrew]
“The Emergence of Modern Anti-Semitism in Light of Jewish Historiography,” Yalkut Moreshet 67 (April 1999), pp. 77-106. [Hebrew]
Chapters in books
“Integrating National Consciousness into Jewish Academic Studies,” in: Michael Meyer, Anne O. Albert, Noah Gerber (eds.), Frontiers of Jewish Scholarship: Expanding German Origins, Transcending European Borders (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press 2021 [Forthcoming]), Chap. 7.
“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.
“Ethnic or Civic Jewish State in Herzl’s and Ahad Ha’am’s Vision,” Ephreim Lavie (ed.), Nationalism and Ethics – The Zionist Discourse and the Arab Problem (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2014), pp. 101-122. [Hebrew]
“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]
“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]
“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]
Book reviews
Yossi Goldstein, We Were the First: A History of Hibbat Zion, 1881-1918, (Jerusalem: 2015) Zion Vol. 83, 2 (2018), pp. 255-260. [Hebrew]
Ben Zion Dinur, Posthumous and Other Writings, Edited. by Arielle Rein, (Jerusalem, 2009), Studies in Contemporary Jewry (2012) Vol. 16, pp. 324-326.
Yaffa Berlowitz (ed.), Talking Culture: The First Aliya, an Inter-period Discourse (Tel Aviv: 2010), Cathedra 149 (2013) pp. 271-275. [Hebrew]
Yosef Salmon, Do not Providence: Orthodoxy in the Grip of Nationalism (Jerusalem, 2006), AJS Review 32 (2008), pp. 464-467.
Papers Presented at Academic Conferences (Selected)
| 14 December 2020 | AJS Annual Conference, Washington D.C. (On line) | “Zionism and the Bible” |
| 7 January 2020 | Sede Boquer Colloquium, Ben Gurion University of the Negev | “The Zionist Consciousness and the Hebrew Bible” |
| June 2018 | AIS Annual conference,Berkeley University | “Understanding Early Zionism: A Cultural Approach” |
| July 2018 | EAJS conference,Krakow | “Traditional roots in Early Zionism” |
| June 2017 | AIS Annual conference, Brandies University | “History and Utopia in the Zionist Movement” |
| April, 2017 | ASEN Conference,LSE University London | “Ethno Symbolism and Jewish Nationalism” |
| June 2016 | AIS Annual conference, Begin Institute, Jerusalem | “East and West in Early Zionism: Between Hibbat Zion and Political Zionism” |
| June 1-3, 2015 | AIS Annual conference, Concordia University, Canada | “How to Sustain Jewish Culture in the Age of Nationalism?” |
| April 27-28, 2015 | 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 | “Wissenschaft for the People: Early Zionist Scholars and Jewish Academic Studies” |
| March 1, 2015 | 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 | The Impact of Wissenschaft des Judentums on Jewish Nationalism and Zionism” |
| January 28, 2015 | Hebert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, Ruth Meltzer seminar, University of Pennsylvania | “The Ethnic and Cultural Origins of Zionist Historiography” |
| July 28 – August 1, 2013 | World Union of Jewish Studies ,Jerusalem | "Exile or State in Jewish National Historiography" |
| December, 16-18 2012 | AJS Conference,Chicago | "Land and People: Territorial and Ethnic Dimensions in Zionism" |
| March, 2012 | ASEN Conference,London School of Economics | "Searching for a Homeland: The Territorial Dimension in the Zionist Movement and the Boundaries of Jewish Nationalism" |
| April 2011 | London School of Economics | "Zionist Awareness of the Jewish Past: Inventing Tradition or Renewing the Ethnic Past?" |
| March 2011 | Nationalism and Ethics – The Zionist Discourse and Arab Problem, Tel Aviv University | "Ethnic or Civic Jewish State in Herzl's and Ahad Ha’am’s Vision" |
| April 2010 | ASEN Conference,London School of Economics | "The Cultural Alternative: Charisma and Reason in the Zionist Movement" |
| May 2010 | AIS Conference ,University of Toronto | "Between Nationalism and Universalism in the Zionist Vision" |
| 2-6 August 2009 | World Union of Jewish Studies ,Jerusalem | "History and Utopia: Past Awareness and Future Shaping in Zionism" |
| 21-23 December 2008 | AJS Conference,Washington | "Between Civic and Ethnic: Israel in light of the Zionist Utopia" |
| April 2008 | ASEN Conference,London School of Economics | "East and West in Jewish Nationalism: Confronting Types in the Zionist Movement" |
| February17-18, 2008 | AAJS Conference, Monash University, Melbourne Australia | "The 'New Jew' in Zionist Thought: Ideology and Historiography " |
| December 18-20, 2005 | AJS Annual Conference Washington DC, USA | "Nationalism and Historical Continuity in Jewish History" |
| February 1-2, 2004 | International Conference, Zalman Shazar Institute, The Israeli Historical Society, Jerusalem | Between History and Memory: Jacob Katz as a Zionist Historian" |
| December 21-23, 2003 | AJS Annual Conference, Boston Mass. USA | "Alternative Voices in Zionist Historiography" |
Research
Jewish Nationalism; Zionism; History and Memory; Utopia; Jewish Modern Historiography; Hebrew Education in the Land of Israel (1882-1967)
- Last modified: 17/07/2022
