David N. Myers
UCLA Department of History
(310) 825-3780
Fax (310) 206-9630
email: myers@history.ucla.edu
(Updated: January 2009)
PROFESSIONAL:
2001-
Professor of Jewish
History. Department of History,
1996-2001 Associate
Professor of Jewish History. Department
of History, University of
1992-95 Assistant
Professor of Jewish History. Department
of History,
1991-92
Lecturer. Department of History,
2003 (May) Professeur
invité. École des Hautes Études en
Sciences Sociales.
1995
(Sept.) Visiting Professor of Jewish
History.
EDUCATION:
1985-91
Ph.D (with distinction),
May 1991; Department of History (Jewish History).
M.Phil., May 1988; M.A., May 1987.
1984‑85
Ph.D candidate;
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.
1982‑83 Tel‑Aviv University; Tel‑Aviv,
Israel.
M.A. candidate;
Department of Jewish History.
1981-82
1978-80 A.B.
cum laude, May 1982. Near Eastern Languages and Literature.
1977-78
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS:
2008- Elected Fellow,
2008-09 Grant,
UC/Utrecht University Collaborative Grant Program.
2007-09
Book project support,
“Europaische Traditionen – Enzyklopädie
jüdische Kulturen,” Saxon Academy of Sciences (Collection of sources by
Simon Rawidowicz).
2007 Publication subvention, Lucius
N. Littauer Foundation.
2004-05: “UCLA in LA” Community Partnership
Grant (History of the Jews in Los
Angeles).
1997
(fall) Visiting Scholar, Institute
for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
1995
(spring) Fellow, Center for Judaic
Studies,
1994-95 Leo Baeck Institute/DAAD Fellowship
in German-Jewish History.
1992-93
1992- UCLA Academic Senate Faculty
Research Grant.
1989-91 Charlotte
W. Newcombe Foundation Doctoral Dissertation
Fellowship.
Fulbright‑Hays
Doctoral Dissertation Grant.
Lady Davis Trust
Doctoral Fellowship.
National Foundation for
Jewish Culture Doctoral Fellowship.
Memorial Foundation for
Jewish Culture Doctoral Fellowship.
President's Fellowship,
PUBLICATIONS:
Books
(Authored)
Re-Inventing the Jewish Past: European Jewish
Intellectuals and the Zionist Return to History.
Resisting
History: Historicism and its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought.
Princeton:
Between Jew and Arab: The Lost Voice of Simon
Rawidowicz.
Books (Edited)
David N. Myers and William V. Rowe, eds. From
Ghetto to Emancipation: Historical and
Contemporary
Reconsiderations of the Jewish Community, introduction by D. N.
Myers.
PA:
David
N. Myers and David B. Ruderman, eds. The
Jewish Past Revisited: Reflections on Modern Jewish Historians,
introduction by D. N. Myers.
Elisheva
Carlebach, John M. Efron, and David N. Myers, eds. Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim
Yerushalmi.
Richard
Hovannisian and David N. Myers, eds. Enlightenment
and Diaspora: The Armenian and Jewish Cases.
Michael
Brenner and David N. Myers, Jüdische Geschichtsschreibung heute: Themen, Positionen, Kontroversen.
David N. Myers et. al. Acculturation
and its Discontents: The Italian Jewish Experience between Integration and Exclusion.
“Ben
Yisrael le-`amim: hirhurim `al matsav limude ha-historyah ha-yehudit be-Yisrael”
(Between Israel and the Nations: Reflections on the State of Jewish Historical
Scholarship in Israel), Zion 74 (2008/09), 339-352.
“Philosophy
and Kabbalah in Wissenschaft des Judentums: Rethinking
the Narrative of Neglect.” Studia Judaica (
“Simon
Rawidowicz on the Arab Question: A Prescient Gaze into the ‘New History.’” Lauren B. Strauss and Michael Brenner, Mediating Modernity: Challenges and Trends
in the Jewish Encounter with the Modern World: Essays in Honor of Michael
A. Meyer (
“Discourses
of Civilization: The Shifting Course of a Modern Jewish Motif.”
Jeremy Cohen and Richard I. Cohen, eds. The Jewish Contribution to Civilization: Reassessing an Idea (
“Glaube und Geschichte: A Vexed Relationship in German-Jewish Culture.” Modern
Judaism and Historical Consciousness, edited by A. Gotzmann and C. Wiese (
“R.
B. Kitaj and the State of ‘Jew-on-the-Brain.’” The Jewish Role in American Life 5 (2007), 69-73.
“Can there be a Principled
Anti-Zionism?: On the Nexus between Anti-Historicism and
Anti-Zionism in Modern Jewish Thought.” Journal of Israeli History 25 (March 2006), 33-50.
“A Third Guide for the Perplexed? Simon Rawidowicz ‘On Interpretation.’” History
and Literature: New
“Selbstreflexion
im modernen Erinnerungsdiskurs.” Jüdische Geschichtsschreibung heute: Themen,
Positionen, Kontroversen.
“Rebel in Frankfurt: The
Scholarly Origins of Jacob Katz.” The Pride of Jacob: Essays on Jacob Katz and His Work. Edited by Jay M. Harris.
“Between Yiddish and Hebrew—and
Greek? Thoughts on the Language(s) of Jewish History.”
Commentary to roundtable discussion in Jewish Book Annual 55/56 (1997-1999), 45-52.
“Hazono shel Hazony, or Even If You Will
It, It Can Still Be a Dream.”
“Hermann
Cohen and the Quest for Protestant Judaism.” Leo
Baeck Institute Year Book 46 (2001), 195-214.
'Mehabevin et ha-tsarot':
Crusade Memories and Modern Jewish Martyrologies." Jewish History 13:2 (Fall 1999), 49-64.
Introduction
and commentary, Enlightenment and
Diaspora: The Armenian and Jewish Cases (
“Derrida’s Yerushalmi,
Yerushalmi’s Freud: History, Memory and Hope in a Post-Holocaust Age.”
La Sho’ah
tra intrepetazione e memoria (Naples,
1999), 489-507.
“Response
to Jay Harris’
"Mashber ha-historicism u-misud
mada`e ha-Yahadut" (The Crisis of Historicism and the
Institutionalization of Jewish Studies).
Mada`e ha-Yahadut (Journal of
the World Union of Jewish Studies) (Fall 1998).
"Of Marranos and Memory: Yosef Hayim
Yerushalmi and the Writing of Jewish History." Jewish
History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, (Hanover, NH, 1998), 1-21.
Introduction
and "Between Diaspora and
Introduction
and "'The Blessing of Assimilation' Reconsidered: An Inquiry into Jewish
Cultural Studies," From Ghetto
to Emancipation: Historical and Contemporary Reconsiderations of the Jewish
Community (Scranton, PA, 1997), vii-xviii,
17-36..
"The
Ideology of Wissenschaft des Judentums." Daniel Frank and Oliver Leaman, eds., History of
Jewish Philosophy (
"A
New Scholarly Colony in
1996),
142-159.
"'Distant
Relatives Happening onto the Same
and
Cultural Ideal." Jewish Social
Studies I:2 (1994/95), 75-100.
“Was
there a ‘
"Eugen Täubler: The Personification of 'Judaism as
Tragic Existence'." Leo Baeck
Institute Year Book (39) 1994, 131-150.
In Search of the "Harmonious Jew":
Memorial
Lecture.
"The Fall and Rise
of Jewish Historicism: The Evolution of the Akademie
für die Wissenschaft des
Judentums (1919-1934)."
"Remembering
Zakhor: A Super-Commentary." History and Memory 4 (Fall/Winter 1992),
129-146.
Nomi
Maya Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, "Community,
Constitution and Culture: The Case of the Jewish Kehilah."
"History as Ideology: The Case of Ben Zion
Dinur, Zionist Historian 'Par Excellence'." Modern
Judaism, May 1988, 167‑194.
"The Scholem‑Kurzweil Debate and
Modern Jewish Historiography." Modern Judaism, October
1986,
261‑285.
“Victory and Sorrow,” review of Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar. The New
Republic, October 22, 2008, 44-47.
Review
of The Jewish Century by Yuri
Slezkine.
Review of Mémoire juive et nationalité
allemande: Les juifs berlinois à la Belle Époque by
Jacques Ehrenfreund. Jewish History, fall 2003.
"Ha‑Yahadut
ha‑reformit: teguvah yehudit le‑modernah." Ha -Doar,
2.24.89, 14‑17. (Review essay
of
Michael A. Meyer, Response to Modernity.)
Review
of Fateful Months: Essays on the
Emergence of the Final Solution by Christopher Browning. Holocaust
and Genocide Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988.
Review
of Political Principles in Maimonidean
Halakha (Hebrew) by Gerald J.
Blidstein. AJS Review, Fall 1987, 282‑290.
Review
of Hitler and the Armenian Genocide
by Kevork Bardakjian. Holocaust and Genocide
Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1987.
“What does
Kiryas Joel Tell Us about Liberalism in
“R. B.
Kitaj (1932-2007) and the Jewish Archive.”
American Art (Summer 2008),
98-100.
“R. B. Kitaj and the
Idea of ‘Jewish Art.’” R. B. Kitaj: Passion and Memory (Exhibition catalogue from the
Editor’s
Introductions in the Jewish Quarterly Review
94: 1 (2004), 94:4 (2003); 95:1
(2005), 95: 3 (2005),
97:4 (2007).
Section
Introduction, Western State Jewish
History (special issue devoted to Pioneer Jews of Los Angeles in the
Nineteenth Century) 38 (Spring/Summer 2006), 154-156.
Roundtable
Special Feature: “The Israeli Settlements.”
Yale Israel Journal 7 (Summer 2005), 34-35.
Interview, “Zu ‘Diaspora’ und den ‘Segnungen der
Assimilation.’” Kalonymus 4 (2001), 23-27.
Entries
in The Oxford Dictionary of Jewish
Religion, Encyclopaedia Judaica,
and Zeman Yehudi hadash.
"Dual Loyalty in a Post-Zionist Era". Judaism,
summer 1989, 333-343.
Historical
Appendix in Reuven Porat, The History of
the Kibbutz: Collective Education, 1904-1929.
Opinion
pieces in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, the Jewish Forward, Los Angeles
Times, and Agos (
RECENT LECTURES
“An American Shtetl: Politics
and Piety in Kiryas Joel.” Lecture
series on Synagogue and State. The
Menasseh Ben Israel Institute.
“Von Dubnow zu Rawidowicz. Über
eine jüdische Nation jenseits des Nationalstaats.” The
Ninth Annual Simon Dubnow Lecture. The
Simon Dubnow Institute.
“On the Idea of a Jewish Nation: Before and Beyond
Statism.” Presentation at UC-Utrecht
Symposium on Jewish Politics and Political Behavior. UCLA.
October 12, 2008.
“From ‘Holy Community’ to
“The Refugee Question: A New Look at Remembrance and
Forgetting.” International conference on “History and Memory” in Honor of Anita
Shapira.
“Rethinking
Jewish Collectivity: What was the Jewish Nation? What is the Jewish Nation?” The Helen and Martin Schwartz Lectures in
Judaic Studies.
“Philosophy
and Kabbalah in Wissenschaft des
Judentums: A Reconsideration.”
International Conference on “Philosophy and Kabbalah” at the
“What
does Kiryas Joel Tell us about Liberalism in
Panel
Discussion: “
“
“Beyond
Statism: Rethinking Jewish Collectivity.”
Seminar on Jewish Political Theory.
Panel
Discussion, “Out of the Quagmire:
”Two Keys to Jewish Survival.” The
Richard Franklin Memorial Lecture. Congregation
Kol Emet.
Discussant, “The Myth of the
People of the Book.” People of the Book
Festival.
“Post-Zionism and its Roots: Shifting Currents in Israeli Historical
Consciousness.” Institute for Cultural History,
Discussant,
“Hasia Diner: American Jewish Historian.”
Western Jewish Studies Association Conference.
“
Roundtable
Panel, “Jewish Masculinities in
“Between
Segregation and Integration: The Case of Kiryas Joel.” World Congress for Jewish Studies.
Introductory
remarks and “Recovering the ‘Lonely Man’: The Significance of Simon Rawidowicz
to Modern Jewish History.” International
symposium on “Babylonia and
“From
the Burden of Segregation to the Blessing of Assimilation: Two Unlikely Keys to
Jewish Survival.” Lecture at
international conference on “What Enabled the Jews to Survive in History?” The Jerusalem Spinoza Institute.
Chair
and Commentator, “German-Jewish Discourses of Ethics and Power.” Association for Jewish Studies
conference.
“Response
to R. B. Kitaj.” Commentary at Jerome
Nemer Lecture. USC.
“
“An
American Shtetl.” Lecture at
“Discourses
of Civilization: The Shifting Course of a Modern Jewish Motif.” Lecture at
international conference on “The Jewish Contribution to Civilization.”
“The
Jewish Question as Arab Question:
“Politics
and Piety in Kiryas Joel.” Lecture at
conference on “Ethics of the Neighbor.”
UCLA,
“Beyond
a History of ‘Suffering and Learning’: From Text to Texture in Jewish
History.” Lecture at Gruss Colloquium on
“Challenging Boundaries: History and Anthropology in Jewish Studies” at the
“Beyond Despair: The Israel-Palestine Conflict
Today.” The Feinberg Lecture in
Jewish Studies at
“’Between
Jew and Arab’: Simon Rawidowicz and the Jewish Politics of the Arab
Question.” The 41st Simon
Rawidowicz Memorial Lecture.
“Against
Time and Space: Anti-Historicism and Anti-Zionism in Modern Jewish Thought.”
Lecture at international symposium on “Convergence and Divergence: Antisemitism
and Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective.”
“Between
False Messiahs and Free Thinkers: Dick Popkin and the Rethinking of Jewish
History.” Lecture at Clark Library
celebration of Richard Popkin.
“Between
Insularity and Engagement: Kiryas Joel in Historical Perspective.” Lecture at the 35th Association
for Jewish Studies conference.
“Beyond
Influence: Toward a New Cultural History?”
Keynote address at international conference on “Between Languages:
Strategies of Jewish Self-Preservation in Trans-Cultural Processes.”
“The
Case of Kiryas Joel: Politics and Piety in an American Shtetl” (with Nomi Stolzenberg). Presentation as part of the working group on
law and culture sponsored by the Social Science Research Council and the
Russell Sage Foundation.
“Mein Leben als Weltjude: Nahum Goldman
as a World Jew.” Commentary at an
international conference on “Nahum Goldmann: Statesman without a State.”
SELECTED PAST LECTURES
“’Between
Hebrew and Arab’: An Unpublished Chapter from Simon Rawidowicz’s Bavel virushalayim.” Lecture at the 34th Association
for Jewish Studies conference.
“World
Jewry: Retrospective and Prospective.”
Lecture at academic symposium on the occasion of Rabbi David Ellenson’s
inauguration as President of Hebrew Union College.
“The
Question of Influence—at the Crossroads of Civilization.” Lecture presented at UCLA conference on
“Jewish Civilization and its Discontents.”
“A
Case of Hashpaitis: Influence and its
Discontents in Jewish Historiography.”
The 13th World Congress of Jewish Studies.
“From
Dream to Nightmare?
“The
Problem of History in German-Jewish Thought.”
The Samuel Braun Lecture in Prussian-Jewish History at
“Rebel in Frankfurt: The Scholarly Origins of
Jacob Katz.” Lecture presented at a
plenary session on the legacy of Jacob Katz at the annual Association for
Jewish Studies conference.
“The
Culture(s) of Modern Jews: A New Chain of Tradition?” Lecture presented at
"From
International
conference on German Zionism at the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut,
Introduction
and commentary, conference on “Marranos
and Modernity.” UCLA. February 1997.
"Historicism
and Anti-Historicism in Modern Jewish Studies." Lecture presented at
Ben-Gurion and
"Mashber ha-historicism u-misud mada`e
ha-Yahadut." The 12th
World Congress for Jewish Studies.
"Derrida,
Yerushalmi, and Freud: History and Hope in a Post-Holocaust Age." Lecture
presented at
an
international conference on the Holocaust.
"Jews
and the University: An Historical Perspective." Lecture presented at UCLA
Hillel Faculty Reception.
"Zionism
and History: A Relationship Reconsidered." Lecture presented at an international conference on the
centenary of the Zionist movement,
"Jewish
Cultural Vitality in Urban
Club,
"'Mehabevin et
ha-tsarot': Crusades Memories and Modern Jewish Martyrologies." International
Conference
on the Crusades and the Jews.
"Beyond
History: Anti-Historicism in Modern Jewish Thought." Lecture presented at
the University Seminar on Jewish Studies,
"'The
Blessings of Assimilation' Reconsidered: An Inquiry into Jewish Cultural
Studies." Lecture,
Emancipation?:
Historical and Contemporary Reconsiderations of the Jewish Community"
which I
organized
at the
"Voluntary
Community: An Anomaly?" Lecture,
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College,
Introduction
and commentary, conference on “Enlightenment and Diaspora: The Armenian and
Jewish Cases.”
Commentary,
conference on “Enlightenment and Tolerance.”
"The
Meeting of Hebrew, Yiddish, and German-Jewish Cultures in
"
Presence
in Europe: The
RECENT CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA
2008: Lead
convener: “The Jew in French Philosophy after the Holocaust.” Symposium at UCLA. December 7, 2008.
2008: Convener. The UC-Utrecht Symposium on Jewish Politics
and Political Behavior.
UCLA. October 13, 2008.
2008: Lead convener. “The Idea of the
Arab Jew.” International symposium at
UCLA.
Feb. 3-4, 2008.
2008: Organizer and co-curator. “Portrait of a Jewish Artist: R. B. Kitaj in
Text and
Image.” Exhibit at the Young Research Library
Department of Special
Collections. January 7, 2008.
2007: Co-convener. “History as
Reflected in Israeli Literature.”
Conference at UCLA.
March 11-13, 2007.
2007: Co-convener. “The Blessing of Assimilation
Reconsidered.” Conference
at
2006: Convener. Viterbi Colloquium in Italian Jewish
Studies. UCLA. 2005-06.
2006: Co-convener. “The State
of
Conference
at UCLA. February 12-13.
2005: Co-convener. “Jewish LA: Then and Now.” Conference at UCLA and Autry
2005: Co-convener. “Babylonia and
2005: Co-convener. “Jewish Messianism
in the Time of Jesus: Historical Echoes, Present
Impact.” Conference at UCLA. March 13-14.
2004-05: Co-convener. “The History of Jews in
UCLA and the
2004-05: Co-convener. “Jewish Question/Muslim Question: The Burden
of Assimilation in
European Society.” Year-long research seminar at UCLA.
SELECT UNIVERSITY SERVICE
2004- Director,
1996-2000
2002-04 Vice Chair for Academic Personnel,
UCLA History Department.
2005-07 Member, Academic Personnel Committee,
UCLA History Department.
2005-06 Chair, Bylaws Committee, UCLA History
Department.
2001-02
1998-2000 Member, Advisory Committee, Von Grunebaum
Center for Near Eastern Studies.
1997- Member, 1939 Club Holocaust
Memorial Committee.
1997-99 Chair, Maurice Amado Advisory
Committee for Sephardic Studies.
1996-2000 Chair, Search Committee for Maurice Amado
Chair in Sephardic Studies.
1992-96 Member, Chancellor's Committee on
Religion, Ethics, and Values.
1992-2008 Jewish History Field Coordinator, UCLA
History Department.
1992-95 Chair, Graduate Placement, UCLA
History Department.
SELECT EXTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES
2001-
Co-editor, Jewish Quarterly Review.
Member, editorial
boards: Judaism, Simon Dubnow Jahrbuch, and transversal.
2008-- Member, Progressive Jewish
2006- Advisory Council,
2003- Member, Progressive Jewish
2002-2007 Member,
2002-2004 Member,
2001- Member, UCLA Hillel Board.
2000-01 Member, Program Committee (History of
the Jewish People), Thirteenth World
Congress
of Jewish Studies,
1999-2004 Consultant,
Curricular Revision Project (joint Jewish-World History), UCLA-
1996-2005 Member, Board of Directors, Association
for Jewish Studies.
1996-2004 Member, Board of Academic Advisors,
Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies.
2004- Instructor, Wexner Heritage
Fellows Program.
1995-97
1995: Consultant and author of report
on Israel-Diaspora relations, Jewish Federation of
Greater
1994: Referee for scholarly presses
including
Chicago,
Cornell, Fordham, Indiana, Littman Library, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Rutgers,
University Press of New England, University Press of Virginia, Wayne State, and
Yale.