Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) proudly announces that two of its faculty members, Professor Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D., Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies and Linguistics and Director, Jewish Language Project, and Rabbi Wendy Zierler, Ph.D., Sigmund Falk Professor of Modern Jewish Literature and Feminist Studies, have been recognized with prestigious honors in recognition of their important contributions to Jewish studies.
Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D.
Professor Benor has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research (AAJR), the oldest organization of Judaic studies scholars in North America. This esteemed honor, with a reputation for being the pinnacle of achievement in Jewish studies, acknowledges scholars who have demonstrated profound scholarly impact.
Each year, a committee elects up to five new AAJR fellows, evaluating candidates based on their research productivity, innovation, and influence in the field. Emphasis is placed on work that is field-creating, field-transforming, or field-advancing. Additionally, the committee considers the candidates’ contributions to graduate training and mentorship, ensuring that those chosen are not only leaders in research but also in fostering the development of future scholars.
Professor Benor joins a distinguished lineage of HUC-JIR scholars who have previously been honored with this fellowship. Current fellows include Rabbi Martin A. Cohen, Ph.D., and Michael Meyer, Ph.D., Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History Emeritus. Past fellows include Rabbi Eugene Borowitz, Ed.D., Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., Rabbi Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D., Herbert Paper, Ph.D., and Jakob J. Petuchowski, Ph.D. The first of her generation at HUC-JIR to receive this honor, Professor Benor’s election serves as recognition of her substantial ongoing contributions to the field.
Rabbi Wendy Zierler, Ph.D.
The Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania has named Rabbi Zierler the Thomas and Elissa Ellant Katz Fellow for the Spring 2025 semester. Fellows are selected based on their research’s potential to make a meaningful impact on a particular field of focus. The Center provides a collaborative atmosphere that fosters intellectual exchange among leading scholars.
This year’s Katz Center fellowship theme is “Jews and Health,” considering work that examines how Jewish texts, traditions, and communities have approached issues of health and medicine throughout history. Rabbi Zierler’s project, titled “Elu v’Elu: Gendered Fictions of Illness by S. Y. Agnon and Devorah Baron,” delves into the gendered narratives of illness in the fiction of these important twentieth-century Israeli writers and peers, who shared many common literary features, often responding to each other’s writing. Rabbi Zierler’s recognition highlights her scholarly activity and productivity, her literary focus—she is one of the only Fellows chosen who works on literature—as well as her ability to contribute to the cohort.
HUC-JIR celebrates these achievements, recognizing them as examples of the college’s unceasing commitment to academic excellence and leadership in Jewish scholarship.
“The honors awarded to Professor Benor and Rabbi Zierler not only celebrate their individual achievements but also highlight HUC-JIR’s dedication to fostering an environment where scholars can thrive and pursue work that reimagines and reinvigorates Jewish studies. Their contributions exemplify the innovative and impactful scholarship that is a hallmark of our institution.”
— Rabbi Andrea Weiss, Ph.D., HUC’s Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost
We congratulate Professor Benor and Rabbi Zierler on these notable and impressive honors and look forward to their continued contributions to HUC-JIR and the global community of Jewish scholars.
