Reunion panel examines state of Jewish studies

"This is an exciting moment for Jewish studies," said Gretchen Ritter, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences, in her introduction to a Reunion Weekend panel on "Jewish Studies at Cornell, Today and Tomorrow," held June 10 in the Physical Sciences Building. The panel included Jonathan Boyarin, Jewish Studies Program director, and Kim Haines-Eitzen, incoming director of the Religious Studies Program. Ritter noted that under Boyarin's leadership, the traditional strengths of the Jewish Studies Program, including its close connection to Near Eastern Studies and its focus on Jewish antiquity, have been expanded to include increased attention to the Jewish diaspora in the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America. "I think that dynamic combination makes this program particularly unique and really promises for a great future over the next few years," Ritter said. Boyarin said that his efforts to develop the program are guided by his belief that Jewish studies "should be a connecting thread through the humanities." "It's a field that is fundamentally interdisciplinary, and it offers a set of questions that pertain to the study of people and situations across millennia and continents," he said. Haines-Eitzen described the college's programs as rich, multidisciplinary environments for creative work and thinking outside the box - what she calls "free-range thinking." "When programs and departments partner well together, they form a strong and enduring, beautiful and complex web of possibilities and opportunities," she said.