David Mendelsson, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer in Israel Studies and Modern Jewish History

Contact Information

school/program: Jerusalem-Based Programs
academic field: History, Israel Studies
campus: Jerusalem

David Mendelsson recently stepped down as Director of the Year-in-Israel program at HUC-JIR/Jerusalem where he fulfilled this role for eight years. Aside from lecturing at HUC-JIR in the field of Israel Studies and Modern Jewish History, David also lectures at the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University. He has been scholar-in-residence at the University of Southern California, Brandeis University, and Michigan State University. He has lectured widely in the United States to various Jewish agencies and in Israel to multiple groups of visitors to the country. David completed his doctorate and M.A. in the Department of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University and received his undergraduate degree at Manchester University, England. The subject of his doctorate was the History of Jewish Education in England between 1944-88 which was published by Peter Lang. David lives in Mevaseret Zion with his partner, Dalia. They have three children, Galit, Yael, and Itai. 

Mount Herzl: Sacred Space and Sacred Time on a Jerusalem Mountain:

Zionism and the Arabs in the Mandate Period

Competing Voices in the Israeli Landscape

Masada and the Construction of Collective Memory in Contemporary Israel

Elections, Coalition-Making Voters, and Parties in Israel

Israel Seminar

Arab-Israel Conflict

History of the Zionist Movement

History of the Reform Movement from its origins in Germany, onward to America and experience in Israel