Dr. Alan Mittleman, director of the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies and chairman of the department of Philosophy, will serve as scholar-in-residence at “God, Politics, and the Jewish Tradition” a symposium sponsored by the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University on August 5.

The students, drawn from graduate schools across the US, will be reading and discussing a chapter on the theme of hope in Jewish thought, from his forthcoming book, Hope in a Democratic Age (Spring 2009).

Dr. Ismar Schorsch, chancellor emeritus and Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish History, has been elected president of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the only international body dedicated solely to advancing Jewish cultural activities. The foundation was established by Dr. Nahum Goldmann in 1965 with reparation funds from the Government of West Germany.

Dr. Burton Visotzky, Nathan and Janet Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, will attend the Yale Center for Faith & Culture’s Reconciliation Program: Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed: Implications for Christians and Muslims in New Haven, Connecticut, from July 28-31.

Dr. Leonard Levin, assistant professor of Jewish Philosophy, recently translated The Classic Jewish Philosophers from Saadia to the Renaissance and Philosophy of the Bible as Foundation for Jewish Culture, both by Eiezer Schweid. He also translated the forthcoming The Reasons for the Commandments in Jewish Though From the Bible to the Renaissance by Isaac Henemann (Academic Studies Press, 2008).

Dr. Levin's newest book is Seeing With Both Eyes: Ephraim Luntshitz and the Polish Jewish Renaissance (Brill, Summer, 2008). In addition, he is editor of the English translation of The Idea of Modern Jewish Culture (Academic Studies Press, 2008).

Rabbi Michael B. Greenbaum, vice chancellor and assistant professor of Educational Administration, was named one of Newsweek's "Top 50 Influential Rabbis of America." In addition, Ramah: A Paradigm," an essay by Rabbi Greenbaum, will appear in the forthcoming volume of Ramah at 60.

Dr. Edna Nahshon, an associate professor of Hebrew whose specialty is Jewish theater and performance, has received support for her forthcoming book, Jews and Shoes (August 2008) from the Littauer Foundation.

Dr. Burton Visotzky, Nathan and Janet Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, has just published his first novel, A Delightful Compendium of Consolation: A Fabulous Tale of Romance, Adventure and Faith in the Medieval Mediterranean (Ben Yehuda Press, March 2008).

Dr. Alan Mintz, Chana Kekst Professor of Hebrew Literature and chair of the Department of Hebrew Language, has received a grant from the Littauer Foundation in support for An Anthology of American Hebrew Literature, his forthcoming book which he is co-editing with Yaron Peleg.

Everyday Jews: Scenes From a Vanished Life, (Yale University Press), edited by Dr. David Roskies, Sol and Evelyn Henkind Professor of Yiddish Literature, is available for purchase.