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Dr. David Berger: New Head of Jewish Studies
Matt Williams
Issue date: 5/7/07 Section: News
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Dr. David Berger will assume responsibility for the cluster head of the Jewish Studies Department in Yeshiva College this coming fall semester. The cluster head's power will be greatly diminished, as the position will be split into four sections, each run by its own head. Professor Carmy will serve as the head of the Bible and Philosophy sub-department, Professor Schneider for Hebrew, and Professor Fine for Jewish History. Dr. Berger will serve in a more managerial position. I talked with Dr. Berger about his new job and the possibilities it holds.
The Commentator: What did you do before beginning at YU?
David Berger: was the Broeklundian Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. I was also Visiting Professor of Jewish History at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, a Fellow and Executive Committee member of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Co-chair of the Academic Advisory Committee of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and a member of the Council of the World Union of Jewish Studies, the Academic Committee of the Rothschild Foundation Europe, and served on the editorial board of Tradition. From 1998 to 2000, I was President of the Association for Jewish Studies. I was a Fellow of the Annenberg Research Institute, a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, and a Visiting Professor at both Yale University and Harvard University.
Commie:What are your fields of interest as a scholar?
DB:I am the author of The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages, which was awarded the John Nicholas Brown Prize by the Medieval Academy of America, and co-author of Judaism's Encounter with Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?, a Finalist for the Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought. One of my books, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference, which has since been published in an updated Hebrew version translated by the author ("Ha-Rebbe Melekh ha-Mashiach," Sha'aruriyyat ha-Adishut, ve-ha-Iyyum al Emunat Yisrael), received the 2003-2004 Samuel Belkin Literary Award. I have also written numerous articles on medieval Jewish history, Jewish-Christian relations, anti Semitism, contemporary Judaism, and the intellectual history of the Jewish people.
The Commentator: What did you do before beginning at YU?
David Berger: was the Broeklundian Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. I was also Visiting Professor of Jewish History at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, a Fellow and Executive Committee member of the American Academy for Jewish Research, Co-chair of the Academic Advisory Committee of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, and a member of the Council of the World Union of Jewish Studies, the Academic Committee of the Rothschild Foundation Europe, and served on the editorial board of Tradition. From 1998 to 2000, I was President of the Association for Jewish Studies. I was a Fellow of the Annenberg Research Institute, a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, and a Visiting Professor at both Yale University and Harvard University.
Commie:What are your fields of interest as a scholar?
DB:I am the author of The Jewish-Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages, which was awarded the John Nicholas Brown Prize by the Medieval Academy of America, and co-author of Judaism's Encounter with Other Cultures: Rejection or Integration?, a Finalist for the Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought. One of my books, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference, which has since been published in an updated Hebrew version translated by the author ("Ha-Rebbe Melekh ha-Mashiach," Sha'aruriyyat ha-Adishut, ve-ha-Iyyum al Emunat Yisrael), received the 2003-2004 Samuel Belkin Literary Award. I have also written numerous articles on medieval Jewish history, Jewish-Christian relations, anti Semitism, contemporary Judaism, and the intellectual history of the Jewish people.
Viewing Comments 1 - 9 of 11
David Berger
posted 5/06/07 @ 9:47 PM EST
I have no substantive corrections to make in this article (though the headline should be read in light of my response to the third question), but I am uneasy about the tone that emerges as a result of an act of journalistic license exercised by the author with respect to the format of my interaction with the Commentator. (Continued…)
lawrence kaplan
posted 5/07/07 @ 4:20 PM EST
David: It was pretty clear that something like that happened. Good luck with your new position and new responsibilities. It is a very encouraging sign that YC is taking Jewish Studies seriously. (Continued…)
mordechai
posted 7/06/07 @ 1:00 PM EST
You should change your headline to bigot appointed to head of Jewish studies. This man is an embarrassment to YU with his bigoted biased lies he writes about Chabad. (Continued…)
Alex
posted 7/17/07 @ 10:34 PM EST
I second Mordechai's comment. It is not simply the nasty tone of Dr. Berger's writing about Chabad that is suspect, but the INCREDIBLY poor and sloppy nature of his scholarship; to label his book on this subject "an exercise in loshon hara of mammoth proportions" would be an understatement. (Continued…)
tzvee
posted 7/17/07 @ 11:20 PM EST
"But I will say that his position only detracts from the credibility of Jewish Studies at Y.U., and conscientious members of the community ought to take note of this fact. (Continued…)
Mordechai
posted 9/03/07 @ 8:12 PM EST
This is a great step for Yeshiva.
Rabbi Dr. Berger is a great man with a distinguished career.
Halevai there would be more like him.
It reflects well upon YU as well. (Continued…)
Susan Shoresh
posted 9/30/07 @ 9:08 AM EST
Kol Hakavod to YU on the fine choice of Dr. David Berger to its faculty. This appointment can only bode well for your future as Dr. Berger is a man of meticulous scholarship and great integrity. (Continued…)
stephen
posted 10/03/07 @ 5:39 PM EST
The appointments mentioned in the article (Berger, Fine, etc.) seem----to me, at least----to be an attempt to balance (a compromise between?) the different ideological interests that control Yeshiva University. (Continued…)
mordechai
posted 10/07/07 @ 8:00 PM EST
Please, the fact that some "Rabbis" endorse Bergers bigotry only shows they aren't worth much as Rabbi's. It doesn't justify his hate filled factually inaccurate book. (Continued…)
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