ADAM SHEAR

EDUCATION

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Ph.D., Department of History, May 2003.

Dissertation: “The Later History of a Medieval Hebrew Book: Studies in the Reception of Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari in Early Modern Europe”

M.A., History, May 1996.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Visiting Research Fellow, Rothberg School Graduate Studies Program, 1997-1998.

Visiting Student, Rothberg School Graduate Studies Program, 1993-1994.

Yale University, New Haven, CT

B.A. summa cum laude, with distinction in History, May 1993.

Senior essay: “William Whiston’s Judeo-Christianity: An Eighteenth-Century Millenarian Heretic on Jews and Judaism.”

Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

graduated May 1989

TEACHING

University of Pittsburgh

Instructor, Department of Religious Studies, August 2001-present

Undergraduate Courses:

“History of Jewish-Christian Relations” (Fall 2001; Fall 2002; planned for Fall 2003)

“Jewish Culture in Medieval Spain” (Spring 2003)

“Medieval Jewish Civilization” (Fall 2002; planned for Spring 2004)

“Modern Jewry” (Spring 2003; planned for Fall 2003)

“Readings in Jewish Historiography” (Spring 2002)

“Topics in Medieval Jewish History” (Fall 2001)

Graduate Courses:

“Medieval Judaism” (Fall 2002; planned for Spring 2004)

“Religion and History” (Spring 2002)

“Religion, Culture, and Communication” (planned for Fall 2003)

“Modern Judiasm” (planned for Fall 2003)

Independent Study/Directed Research:

Fall 2001: Leah Vendeland (undergraduate): historiography of the Bar Kokhba revolt

Spring 2002: directed a number of individual research and writing tutorials in conjunction with “Readings in Jewish Historiography” course.

Spring 2002: Sandee Collins (graduate): biblical historiography and historiography of Biblical Israel.

Fall 2002: Smana Pamphile (undergraduate): images of Jesus in Jewish tradition

Onyekwere Iheukwumere (undergraduate): Jesus in the context of first-century messianism

Samuel Newbury (graduate): anti-Semitism in the book of Matthew

Spring 2003: Jessica Sheeran (undergraduate): women in Judaism

Jason Levine (undergraduate): Second Temple Judaism

Peter de Vries (graduate): Jewish hermeneutics

Samuel Newbury (graduate): medieval Spain

****course web sites for current semester’s courses: via COURSEWEB

Bryn Mawr College

Instructor, Program in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Fall 1999.

Course:

“Who was a Jew? Historical Perspectives on Jewish Identity”

University of Pennsylvania

Teaching Assistant, Department of History, 1995-1997.

Courses:

“Europe in a Wider World, 1500-present,” Spring 1996, Spring 1997.

“History of Jewish Civilization: Biblical Beginnings to the Late Middle Ages,” Fall 1996.

“Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Middle Ages,” Fall 1995.

Guest lecturer on the Marrano Diaspora for “History of Jewish Civilization: From the Late Middle Ages to the Present,” Spring 1997.

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, National Foundation for Jewish Culture, 2000-2001.

Mark Uveeler Special Doctoral Scholarship, Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, 2000-2001.

Phillip Goldfein Fellowship in Jewish Studies, University of Pennsylvania, Summer 2000.

Mellon Dissertation Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 1999-2000.

Graduate Research Associate, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 1998-2000.

Benjamin Franklin Fellowship for Graduate Study, University of Pennsylvania, 1994-1999.

Fulbright Study Award for Israel, 1997-1998.

Interuniversity Fellowship in Jewish Studies, 1997-1998.

Dorot Foundation Travel Grant, University of Pennsylvania, Summer 1996.

Dorot Fellowship in Israel, 1993-1994.

American Jewish Congress Prize for Judaic Studies, Yale University, 1993.

Saybrook College Fellows Prize, Yale University, 1993.

Phi Beta Kappa, Yale University, elected 1992.

Dorot Foundation Travel Grant, Yale University, Summer 1992.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Dissertation/monograph project:

· a study of the transmission, reception, and influence of Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari in European Jewish culture from the late Middle Ages to the end of the nineteenth century.

Other ongoing projects:

· a study of the ways in which maskilim (adherents of the Jewish Enlightenment movement) used medieval Jewish thought to further their modernizing agenda.

· a study of the Beit Midrash in the home of Daniel Itzig, a prominent Berlin Jew, in the 1760s and 1770s, as an example of early institutionalization of the Jewish Enlightenment movement and its scholarly practices.

· a study of the books of Evronot, calendar-making manuals and almanacs written and printed by Ashkenazic Jews in the early modern period (part of a larger long-term project on the role of calendars, astronomy, and astrology in early modern Jewish culture).

PUBLICATIONS

Review of Joanna Weinberg, trans., Light of the Eyes by Azariah de’ Rossi, in Sixteenth Century Journal 23, 3 (2002): 929-931.

Catalog entry for Johann Buxtorf the younger, trans. and ed., Liber Cosri (Basel, 1660) for Center for Advanced Judaic Studies web exhibit, May 2000.

(URL: www.library.upenn.edu/cjs/exhibit.toc.htm#cosri)

Review of Abraham’s Heirs: Jews and Christians in Medieval Europe, by Leonard Glick (Syracuse, 1999) in H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews, September 1999.

(URL: www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=3666937425269)

Review of Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Jewish Identities, ed. Norman Kleeblatt (New York, 1996) in H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews, November 1997.

(URL: www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=8636890942936)

From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition. Exhibition Catalog, co-authored with Rebecca Kobrin. Philadelphia: Center for Judaic Studies, 1996.

(on-line version: http://165.123.252.47/Archive/1/Preface.htm)

“B’nai Jacob in the Interwar Period: An Immigrant Synagogue’s Move Toward Conservative Judaism,” Jews in New Haven 6 (1993): 69-86.

(http://pages.cthome.net/hirsch/vvicont.htm)

Forthcoming/Under Review:

“Judah Moscato’s Scholarly Self-Image and the Question of Jewish Humanism,” in Cultural Intermediaries: Jewish Intellectuals in Early Modern Italy, edited by David Ruderman and Giuseppe Veltri (forthcoming, University of Pennsylvania Press).

“Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in the Haskalah: Reinterpretation and Re-imagining of a Medieval Work,” forthcoming in Renewing the Past, Reconfiguring Jewish Culture: From Al-Andalus to the Haskalah. ed. Ross Brann and Adam Sutcliffe (forthcoming, University of Pennsylvania Press, fall 2003).

Review of Alison Coudert, The Impact of Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century, in The Jewish Quarterly Review (forthcoming).

Review of Eric Lawee, Isaac Abarbanel’s Stance Toward Tradition: Defense, Dissent, and Dialogue, in The Jewish Quarterly Review (forthcoming).

“The Role of Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari in Ashkenaz: A Case Study in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge,” submitted for publication in volume of proceedings of Amsterdam 2002 conference (volume in the process of being edited for submission to the Royal Netherlands Academy).

PRESENTATIONS

“Jewish History and the Paradigms of World History,” to be presented to the Historical Society, Boothbay Harbor, ME, June, 2004.

“Scriptures, Canons, Classics: Jewish Case Studies,” presented to University of Pittsburgh, Department of Religious Studies, March 28, 2003.

“The Christian Reception of Sefer ha-Kuzari: Buxtorf and Beyond,” presented to the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, Los Angeles, December 17, 2002.

“The Role of Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari in the Early Haskalah: A Case Study in the Transmission of Cultural Knowledge,” presented to the conference on “Sepharad in Ashkenaz: Medieval Knowledge and Eighteenth-Century Enlightened Jewish Discourse,” Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, February 19, 2002 (invited lecture).

“A Medieval Text and a Renaissance Book: Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in Sixteenth Century Italy,” presented to the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program, University of Pittsburgh, January 24, 2002. (invited lecture)

.“Sifre Ibronot: Medieval and Early Modern Ashkenazic Calendar Manuals,” presented to the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 19, 2000.

"A Medieval Book and a Modernizing Movement: Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in the Jewish Enlightenment," presented to Harvard University, Committee on the Study of Religion, December 7, 2000. (invited lecture)

“Judah Moscato: A Jewish Humanist?” presented to the conference on Jewish Scholarship and Philosophy in the Renaissance, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, September 18, 2000. (invited lecture) (conference summary on-line: http://www.ahf-muenchen.de/Tagungsberichte/Berichte/htm/2001/21-01.htm)

"A Medieval Book and a Modernizing Movement: Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in the Jewish Enlightenment," presented to the University of Pittsburgh Department of Religious Studies, September 11, 2000. (invited lecture)

“The Biographical Image of Judah Halevi in the Nineteenth Century: A Case Study of the Sephardic Mystique,” presented to the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, Chicago, December 17, 1999.

“A Medieval Text in a Renaissance Environment: Halevi’s Kuzari in Early Modern Italy,” presented to the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, St. Louis, October 29, 1999.

“Judah Halevi’s Kuzari in the Haskalah: The Image and Function of a Medieval Work,” presented to the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Colloquium, Philadelphia, April 26, 1999. (invited lecture)

“Who was the Author of Sefer ha-Kuzari? The History of the Image of a Book,” presented to the Association for Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, December 22, 1998.

“Judah Moscato’s Commentary on Judah Halevi’s Sefer ha-Kuzari: A Renaissance Commentary on a Medieval Text,” presented to the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, October 22, 1998.

“Judah Halevi and his Sefer ha-Kuzari in the Eyes of the Eastern European Haskalah,” presented to the Harvard Graduate Conference on Modern Jewish History, Thought, and Literature, Cambridge, MA, April 6, 1997.

EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE

University of Pennsylvania, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

Associate Editor, Jewish Quarterly Review, 1998-2000.

volume 88:3-4 (1998), volume 89:1-4 (1998-1999), volume 90:1-2 (1999)

University of Pennsylvania, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies

Manuscript editor for Transmitting Jewish Traditions: Orality, Textuality, and Cultural Diffusion, ed. Yaakov Elman and Israel Gershoni (University of Pennsylvania Studies in Jewish Culture and Society, Yale University Press, 2000), 1998-2000.

Wilson Quarterly, Woodrow Wilson Center, Smithsonian Institution

Research/Editorial Assistant, Summer 1991.

Urim v’Tumim, Yale University

Co-Editor-in-Chief, 1990-1991; Senior Editor, 1991-1993.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

University of Pittsburgh

Cultural Studies Program, Department Liason Committee, 2002-present.

Jewish Studies Advisory Committee, 2001-present.

Hillman Library Liason, 2002-present.

Newsletter Editor, 2002-present.

Jewish University Center Liason, 2002-present.

Department of Religious Studies, Classical Judaism search committee, 2001-present.

Bryn Mawr College

Advisory role on Hebrew and Jewish Studies program committee, Fall 1999.

University of Pennsylvania

Department of History, Kaplan Lecture committee, 1996-1997.

COMMUNITY EDUCATION

“Jewish-Christian Disputations in the Middle Ages,” presented to Young People’s Synagogue, Pittsburgh, June 1, 2003.

“Judaism and Violence,” presented to Academy of Life-Long Learning, Carnegie-Mellon University, March 14, 2003.

“Christians and Jews in the Middle Ages: Historical Perspectives in Light of Contemporary Developments,” presented to Temple Sinai, Pittsburgh, February 2003.

“A Medieval Model for Modern Jews: The Image of Judah Halevi in the 19th Century,” presented to Rodeph Shalom Congregation, Philadelphia, December 10, 1999.

“Jewish Violence and Jewish Historiography: A Discussion of Elliott Horowitz’s Work,” workshop led at Dorot Fellowship Annual Alumni Conference, Brewster, NY, October 16, 1999.

“New Christians, Marranos, and Jewish Identity,” presented to Beth Or Congregation, Springhouse, PA, March 21, 1997.

“The Sephardim Arrive in Italy: A New Era of Inter-Ethnic Interaction in Jewish History,” presented to Main Line Reform Temple Hassel Institute, Wynnewood, PA, March 10, 1996.

“Who is a Jew? Domestic and Diaspora Dilemmas,” presented to Dorot Foundation Seminar, Jerusalem, Israel, June 19, 1994.

Yale Hillel Children’s School, New Haven, CT

Fifth Grade Teacher, 1991-1993.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

University of Pennsylvania, Center for Judaic Studies and Van Pelt Library

Co-Curator for exhibit, “From Written to Printed Text: The Transmission of Jewish Tradition,” 1995-1996.

http://165.123.252.47/Archive/1/Preface.htm

University of Pennsylvania, Van Pelt Library

Consultant for Hebrew manuscripts in exhibit, “Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis: An Exhibition from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg,” 1995-1996.

http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/schoenberg/schoenberg_exintro.html

Israel Religious Action Center, Jerusalem, Israel

Research Assistant, 1993-1994.

(I was surprised to discover that some of the material I gathered has been translated into Spanish and preserved on the web: http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/coldwater/252/conver.html)

Yale University Library, Hebraica Processing Team

Assistant to Hebraica Cataloger, 1992-1993.

ADDITIONAL STUDY

Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA,

Exchange Scholar, 2000-2001.

Institute for Advanced Study, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

Jerusalem Summer School in Jewish Studies, June 1998.

Interuniversity Fellowship Seminar, Jerusalem, Israel, 1997-1998.

Shalom Hartman Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, Israel

Beit Midrash Program, Spring 1994, Fall 1997.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

American Academy of Religion

American Historical Association

Association for Jewish Studies

Sixteenth Century Studies Conference

Renaissance Society of America