The Posen Project for the Study of Secular Jewish History and Cultures
Since 2000, when the Foundation started with one university in Israel, the Foundation has worked with more than 40 colleges and universities in the United States, Israel, Canada and Europe to support the development and teaching of interdisciplinary courses in Jewish secularization and Jewish history. Each institution has received development grants between $35,000 to $50,000 per year for three years through the Posen Project. Several outstanding institutions had the grants renewed for an additional three years.
Applicants for Posen Grants submitted creative, well-conceived proposals that include a strong “core” course on the history or process of Jewish secularization over the past three centuries; proposals must demonstrate an understanding of what it means to teach secular Jewish culture. Applicants also submit plans for at least two peripheral courses related to Jewish secularism or secularization, and demonstrate an ability to integrate these courses over time and make them permanent.
The "core" of the program is a course in Jewish thought, history, sociology, anthropology, or other related disciplines - or ideally an interdisciplinary course - that examines the process of Jewish secularization over the past three centuries or focuses specifically and explicitly on the secular traditions within modernity. Some of the core courses in the program are:
The Modernization and Secularization of Jewish Thought (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
What is Judaism, and Who are the Jews - From Spinoza and Mendelssohn to Kaplan and Levinas: History and Thought (Tel Aviv University)
Tel Aviv - A Godless City? Tel Aviv and the Secular Zionist Project (Tel Aviv University)
Introduction to Cultural and Jewish Secular Thought (University of Haifa)
Judaism and Jews in the Cradle of Modernism (Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya)
Secular Jews: Lives and Choices from 1750 to the Present (Brandeis University)
Secular Jewish Thinkers (University of California-Davis)
Spirit of Secularism: Jewish Cultures in Secular Age (UCLA)
Literature of the Haskalah: Secularization and Sexuality (Graduate Theological Union)
Negotiating Religion and State: Jewish Secularism and the Emergence of European Modernity (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
Making Jews Modern: Varieties of Secular Judaism (Rutgers University)
Secular Judaisms from Spinoza to Salami (Temple University)
Secular Judaism in Historical Perspective (Tulane University)
While examples of these courses are available on the web, the Posen Project does not dictate a single template for these courses. On the contrary, the Project is interested in fostering creativity in the teaching of this subject and successful applications must demonstrate such original thinking.
Proposals are evaluated by an Academic Advisory Committee (AAC); grants are awarded annually, and are renewable for up to two additional years, pending review. Posen Grants are administered in North America by the Center for Cultural Judaism. For more information on the Posen Project, click here for a sample syllabus, prepared by Professor Menachem Brinker, and bibliography in Jewish secularization for resources in developing a "core" course in the study of Jewish secularism.
North American Institutions that have received Posen Project development grants:
Bard College
Binghamton University
Boston University
Brandeis University
Brown University
Dickinson College
Goucher College
Graduate Theological Union
Hampshire College
Harvard University
Hunter College
Lehigh University
Miami University of Ohio
Muhlenberg College
Queens College
Rice University
Rutgers University
Temple University
The New School
Tulane University
University at Albany
University of California-Davis
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado—Boulder
University of Denver
University of Florida
University of Kansas
University of Massachusetts—Amherst
University of Miami
University of Michigan
University of Toronto
University of Virginia
Israeli Institutions that have received support from the Posen Foundation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Tel Aviv University
Ofakim Program at Tel Aviv University
University of Haifa
Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya
Open University of Israel
Kerem Institute for Jewish Humanistic Teachers’ Training
European Institutions:
University College London
Sorbonne, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris (School of Graduate Studies)
University of Wroclaw, Poland
Academic Advisory Committee (North America):
Dr. David Biale (Chair) (University of California–Davis)
Dr. Laura Levitt (Temple University)
Dr. Andrea Lieber (Dickinson College)
Dr. Mark Raider (University of Cincinnati)
Dr. Naomi Seidman (Graduate Theological Union)
Dr. Susan Shapiro (University of Massachusetts–Amherst)
Academic Advisor for Israeli University Programs:
Dr. Eli Yassif (Tel Aviv University)
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