Monthly Archives: October 2023

Creating Holiness: Books, Scrolls and Icons as Carriers of Sacredness, Conference in Mainz, 17–20 June 2024

Call for Applications, Conferences

Every written culture has its sacred texts. Through the regular reading of these texts, which is usually guided by a fixed rite in the same direction, a group of people reassures themselves of their community and constructs a place of cultural identity beyond the profane. The sacred text not only defines the respective beliefs, but also represents the physical expression of divine revelation, and is often itself revered as a representative of the divine in ritual. Such a text has a special quality as a manuscript, since its value can be increased not only by the high quality of the material and decoration, but also by the extraordinary virtues of the scribe and the circumstances of the act of writing itself. There are notions of what requirements such a scribe should fulfill and what rituals writing itself is subject to. The process of writing becomes a sacred act, a divine service, or an ascetic practice.

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Assistant Professor of Instruction in Jewish Studies

Jobs

The Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies (SCJS) in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a faculty appointment without tenure at the rank of Assistant Professor of Instruction to begin in fall semester 2024. In addition to teaching undergraduate courses for SCJS, one-third of the Assistant Professor of Instruction in Jewish Studies’ effort will be committed to service as SCJS Assistant Director. We invite candidates from all disciplines, although SCJS priority areas of specialization include: The Jews of the Medieval/Early Modern World; North American Jewish Literature; Jews of the Mediterranean and/or Middle East.

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Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

Jobs

The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the study of Judaism, expected to begin August 25, 2024. We invite applications from scholars of Judaism with any methodological approach or geographical area of focus. We particularly, but not exclusively, encourage applications from scholars who engage with any of the following topics: ethnography of religion; lived religion; gender and sexuality; religion, race, and/or colonialism; religion, law, and secularism. 

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Frankel Institute Fellowship, Theme: Jewish/Queer/Trans

Call for Applications

Fellowship applications are accepted from both tenured and untenured faculty as well as from recent Ph.D.’s without a tenure-track position and professors emeriti. Where appropriate, applications are accepted from independent artists, documentary filmmakers, and writers. For these non-academic applicants, a B.A. degree is required and a graduate degree is encouraged.

We encourage all applicants to apply for a full academic year (September-April). We also offer a limited number of single-term fellowships under special circumstances. Should you be interested in a single-term fellowship, the application will require that you explain the special circumstances. Please note that Fall term runs September-December and Winter Term runs January-April. Fellows can serve no more than two terms within a period of four years.  

The Frankel Institute is structured as a full-year residential fellowship; however, alternative arrangements may be available. If you are unable to reside in Ann Arbor and would like to request alternative arrangements, the application requires that you explain your request.

University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, & the Arts Faculty Eligibility:

All LSA faculty eligible to apply must be tenure–track, full–time faculty members engaged in major scholarly and/or creative projects in the humanities and/or interpretive sciences. They must have completed two consecutive terms of full–time teaching since their last leave of any kind. As this is a scholarly activity leave, terms on this award do not count toward sabbatical. Further, LSA faculty may apply to only one of the following in a given year: (1) Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, (2) Institute for the Humanities, or (3) Michigan Humanities awards.

University of Michigan Emeritus faculty members are not eligible for the fellowship.

Compensation

All fellows receive compensation of $62,000 for a full academic year fellowship, or $31,000 for a single term. Additionally, University of Michigan health benefits are available for fellows who carry a 50% or greater appointment for four consecutive months.

Contact

Please contact js-frankel-institute-applications@umich.edu with any questions regarding the application or program requirements.

Applications are due by November 27, 2023. Please note this is a revised deadline, the original deadline was November 6, 2023.

Applications are reviewed by the Institute’s Steering Committee and at least two external evaluators drawn from the Institute’s Academic Advisory Board.  Notifications will be made no later than March 2024.

Document Checklist

To complete your application, you will need to upload the following documents in PDF format.

  • Abstract of your proposed fellowship project (100 words)
  • Description of your proposed fellowship project (1,000 words)
  • Current CV with a list of your publications
  • 1 sample of completed work and/or work in progress (not more than 40 pages each)
  • 2 references — include name, institution, and email

All documents and other materials must be in English.

Read more and apply