We invite applicants for a cash grant of $1800 to be awarded in memory of Dr. Elka Klein to a doctoral candidate preparing to spend a month or more abroad during the 2024-25 academic year, conducting historical and/or archival research as part of a dissertation project.

The grant recipient will be selected by a panel of scholars based on the relevance and potential contribution of the proposed work to the fields and concerns important to Dr. Klein, such as Sephardic culture, medieval history, gender studies, and Jewish studies.

Applicants for the grant are asked to submit the following information by e-mail to the address below:

• A c.v.

• A copy of the applicant’s dissertation proposal

• A description of the specific research to be undertaken abroad

• A working budget, including what other funds have already been secured

• A letter of recommendation from the applicant’s dissertation supervisor, addressing the applicant’s qualifications and the significance of the research the applicant will be undertaking. Letters of recommendation should be printed on official stationary and scanned.

Deadline: April 1, 2024

To submit an application, or for more information, please contact Dr. Gail Labovitz, glabovitz@aju.edu

The selected recipient will be expected to acknowledge the grant in the dissertation and in any subsequent publications that result from the research subsidized by the grant. We thank the Association for Jewish Studies for their help in fund-raising and administration to make this grant possible.

Dr. Elka Klein (1965-2005) was passionate about her vocation as a historian and a teacher. Her untimely death in the spring of 2005 was a great loss to all who knew her, whether personally or professionally. In her memory, her friends and academic colleagues in the fields of History and Jewish Studies have created this memorial to honor her dedication to and her achievements in her academic life.

Works by Dr. Elka Klein:

Jews, Christian Society and Royal Power in Medieval Barcelona (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006)

Hebrew Deeds of Catalan Jews 1117-1316 (Barcelona, Girona: Societat Catalana d’Estudis Hebraics, 2004)

“Splitting heirs: patterns of inheritance among Barcelona’s Jews,” Jewish History 16,1 (2002), 49-71

“The widow’s portion: law, custom and marital property among medieval Catalan Jews,” Viator 31 (2000), 147-163

“Protecting the widow and the orphan: a case study from 13th century Barcelona,” Mosaic 14 (1993), 65-81

If you would like to contribute to the Dr. Elka Klein Memorial Travel Grant, so that we can continue to offer grants in future years, please send your donation to:

The Association for Jewish Studies

Center for Jewish History

15 W. 16th Street

New York, NY 10011-6301

Checks should be made out to the Association for Jewish Studies, with the words “Elka Klein memorial” in the memo line (if you do not put this somewhere on the check, it will not go to the right account!)

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