The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought

The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was established in 2000 by Mr. Avraham Goldstein-Goren of Milan and the Cukier Goldstein-Goren Foundation.

The current director of the center is Prof. Boaz Huss.

The goal of the center is to promote the knowledge and research of Jewish Thought both in Israel and around the world. To this end the center sponsors every year a number of activities:

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International Conferences

The center organizes conferences on topics of central significance in Jewish Thought. Both Israeli and foreign scholars are invited to participate.

Nine highly successful conferences were held under the auspices of the center till now. Conferences held under the auspices of the center till now include:

Esotericism in Jewish Thought, May 27-29, 2019.

"The Halakhah: An Unchanging Canon? On the Halakhah in Changing Cirscumstances", May 16-18, 2016.

"Jewish Prayer: New Perspectives", May 20-22, 2013.

"Levinas Facing Biblical Figures", December 28-29,2010.

"Jewish Thought and Jewish Belief", May 31-June 2, 2010.

“Spiritual Authority – Struggles over Cultural Power in Jewish Thought”, May 28-30, 2007.

"Study and Knowledge in Jewish Thought", June 6-9, 2004.

"Shabbat - Idea, History, Reality", May 14-16, 2001.

"Judaism and the World - Interaction, Influence, and Impact", May 29-31, 2000.

The center also participated as a co-sponsor of the following conferences:
"Holy Lands and Sacred Histories in New Religious Movements", The 2017 CESNUR Conference, July 2-6, 2017

"The Cosmic Movement: Sources, Contexts, Impact ", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, March, 20-22, 2017.

"Perceiving the Other: Ancient and Modern Interactions with Outsiders". The 2015 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Symposium Award. Granted by the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) at University of Heidelberg, March, 14-15, 2016.

"Western Esotericism between Religions: Conversions and Transformations", the fifth annual meeting of the Israeli Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, June 8th 2015.

"Theosophical Appropriations: Kabbalah, Western Esotericism and the Transformation of Traditions", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, December, 16-18,2013.

"Light for the Nations" or "Charity Begins at Home", March 18th 2012.

"The Study and Appropriation of Kabbalah in the Modern Period", February 11th 2013

"Karaite Studies: The State of the Field", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, February 27th-March 1st 2012.

"Western Esotericism Historical Contexts & Cultural Contacts", The Inaugural Conference of the Israeli Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, May 18th 2011.

"Kabbalah and Contemporary Spiritual Revival: Historical, Sociological and Cultural Perspectives", May 20-22, 2008.

"Religious Cultures in the Early Modern Period: Texts and Contexts", May 23-25, 2005.

The center also sponsors seminars and symposia in conjunction with the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought

The Goldstein-Goren Book Award

The center offers an award every three years to the best recent book in the field of Jewish thought published either in English or Hebrew. The amount of the award is $30,000.

Awards that were bestowed are as follows:

2019: Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Goy, Israel's Multiple Others and the Birth of the Gentile (Oxford University Press)

2016: Benjamin D. Sommer, Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library, 2015)

2013: Ephraim Kanarfogel, The intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz (Wayne State University Press, 2012) and Roni Weinstein, Break the Vessels: Kabbalah and Jewish Modernity ( Tel-Aviv University Press, 2011, in Hebrew)

2010: Eliezer Schweid, Criticism on Modern Secular Culture [Hebrew] (Magnes Press, Jerusalem, 2007)

2007: Yair Lorberbaum, The Image of God: Halacha and Aggada [Hebrew] (Schoken Publishing House, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, 2004).

2004: Peter E. Gordon, Rosenzweig and Heidegger: Between Judaism and German Philosophy (University of California Press, Berkeley 2003), and Mordechai Akiva Friedman, Maimonides, the Yemenite Messiah and Apostasy [Hebrew] (Ben-Zvi Institute, Jerusalem 2002).

2001: Moshe Halbertal, Between Torah and Wisdom [Hebrew] (Magnes Press, Jerusalem 2000) and Dov Schwartz, Astral Magic in Medieval Jewish Thought [Hebrew] (Bar-Ilan University Press, Ramat-Gan 1999).

The Goldstein-Goren Library of Jewish Thought

The center launched a new book serie in 2004 under the general editorship of Haim Kreisel and has already published thirty books:

Reading the Bible in the Pre-Modern World: Interpretation, Performance and Image (English), edited by Chanita Goodblatt and Howard Kreisel.

Milḥamot Ha-Shem (The Wars of the Lord) by Book Five, Part Two and Part Three, Book Six by R. Levi Ben Gershom (Gersonides)  (Hebrew), edited by Ofer Elior.

The Cosmic Movement: Sources,Contexts, Impact (English), edited by Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss

Talmudic Stories: Narrative Art, Composition and Culture (habrew), by Jeffrey L. Rubenstein

Eben Ha-'Ezer, Supecommentary on Ibn Ezra's Torah Commentary, by R. Judah Leon ben Moses Moskoni (3 volumes, hebrew), edited by Haim (Howard) Kreise

Salomon Had a Vineyard: God, the Torah and Israel in R. Shlomo Alkabetz's Writings (Hebrew), By Bracha Sack

Five Early Commentators on R. Abraham Ibn Ezra (Hebrew), editor-in-Chief: Howard Kreisel, editors: David Ben-Zazon, Eliezer Davidovich, Ofer Elior, Orly Shoshan.

R. Judah Halevi, The Book of Kuzari The Book of Rejoinder and Proof of the Despised Religion, translated from Judeo-Arabic into modern Hebrew and annonated by Michael Shwarz with an introduction by Daniel J. Lasker

'Upon Them We Shall Meditate' Studies on Maimonides' 'Laws of the Study of Torah (Hebrew) by Gerald J. Blidstein

Theosophical Appropriations: Esotericism, Kabbalah, and the Transformation of Traditions, edited by Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss

Jewish Prayer: New Perspectives (Hebrew), edited by Uri Ehrlich

Livyat Hen by Levi Ben Avraham, The Secrets of the Faith, The Gate of the Haggadah (Hebrew), edited by and introduction and notes by Haim (Howard) Kreisel

From the Fountains of Sefer Elimah by R. Moshe Cordovero and Studies in his Kabbalah (Hebrew) by Bracha Sack

Jewish Thought and Jewish Belief (hebrew and English), edited by Daniel J. Lasker

The Sermons of R. Zerahya Halevi Saladin (Hebrew), edited with an introduction and notes by Ari Ackerman

Studies in Kabbalah and Prayer (Hebrew), by Moshe Hallamish
Jewish Thought and Jewish Belief (hebrew and English), edited by Daniel J. Lasker

Kabbalah and Comtemporary Spiritual Revival, edited by Boaz Huss

A Beloved-Despised Tradition: Modern Jewish Identity and Neo Hasidic Writing at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century (Hebrew), by Nicham Ross.

The Writings of R. Moshe Ibn Tibbon (Hebrew), edited by Haim (Howard) Kreisel, Colette Sirat and Avraham Israel.

Studies in Repentance: Law, Philosophy and Educational Thought in Maimonides Hilkhot Tshuvah (Hebrew) by Adiel Kadari.

Spiritual Authority: Struggles over Cultural Power in Jewish Thought (Hebrew and English), edited by Haim (Howard) Kreisel, Boaz Huss and Uri Ehrlich.

Ma'yan Ein Ya'acov, The Fourth Fountain of the Book 'Elimah, by R. Moshe Cordovero (Hebrew), edited with notes by Bracha Sack, introductions by Shifra Asulin, Melila Hellner-Eshed, Bracha Sack, Esther Liebes and Lea Morris.

By the Well (Al Pi Habeer), Studies in Jewish Philosophy and Halakhic Thought, Presented to Gerald J. Blidstein (Hebrew), edited by Uri Ehrlich, Haim (Howard) Kreisel and Daniel J. Lasker.

Livyat Hen by Levi ben Avraham: The Quality of Prophecy and the Secrets of the Torah (Hebrew), by Haim (Howard) Kreisel.

Tradition, Heterodoxy and Religious Culture: Judaism and Christianity in the Early Modern Period (English), edited by Chanita Goodblatt and Haim (Howard) Kreisel. Now in full-text

Study and Knowledge in Jewish Thought (2 volumes, one in Hebrew and the other in English), edited by Haim (Howard) Kreisel.Now in full-text.

Shefa Tal: Studies in Jewish Thought and Culture in Honor of Bracha Sack (Hebrew), edited by Zeev Gries, Haim (Howard) Kreisel, Boaz Huss. Now in full-text.

Studies in Halakhic and Midrashic Thought (Hebrew), by Gerald J. Blidstein.

Sabbath – Idea, History, Reality (Hebrew and English) edited by Gerald J. Blidstein. Now in full-text.

The serie is published by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press and can be ordered through Mossad Bialik.

The Internet Resource and Learning Center

The new home page of the center includes e-lectures( text, sound and video) in English and Hebrew on a range of topics related to Jewish thought.

More than 600 lectures have been uploaded to our YouTube Channel.

The site is managed by Asher Binyamin.

Doctoral Fellowships

The center awards doctoral fellowships to students who will be registered in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The scholarship is given for a period of up to four years, as a supplement to other scholarships.

Special projects

Colette Sirat Writings

Ibn Ezra

Blidstein

About the Goldstein-Goren Center