Draft:World Union of Jewish Studies

• The World Union of Judaic Studies (WUJS) is the overarching organization for the academic study of Jewish matters. Its members include researchers, students, and intellectuals from all over the world. The president of the World Union of Judaic Studies is Professor Aharon Maman of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The World Union of Judaic Studies (WUJS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of Jewish studies. Financed through annual membership dues and grants from public and private foundations. WUJS headquartered are in the Yitzhak Rabin Building for Judaic Studies on the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

History

The Union was founded in 1957 during the Second World Congress of Jewish Studies. The first congress was convened in 1947 by Jewish studies scholars at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The World Association for Jewish Studies was headed by: Prof. Ephraim Orbach (1969 – August 1989), Prof. Ezra Fleischer (August 1989 – June 1993), Judge Prof. Menachem Elon (June 1993 – August 2005), former member of the Knesset Prof. Menachem Ben-Sasson (August 2005 - May 2006), Prof. Sara Japhet (May 2006 - August 2009), Prof. Yosef Kaplan (2009–2013). Prof. Moshe Idel (2013–2022). In 2022, at the 18th Congress, Prof. Aharon Meman was elected to serve as the president of the union.

Dr. Anat Kutner is the current director of the union.

To serve as a unifying framework for research organizations in Jewish studies institutions and organizations in Israel and abroad. To organize and sponsor international conferences and congresses on Jewish studies in their broadest context, to sponsor conferences dealing with Jewish studies, to promote research in various fields of Jewish studies, to publish books and journals dedicated to the research fields of Jewish studies, to assist scientific and research institutions worldwide in collecting and organizing material on topics related to Jewish studies, to coordinate and foster relationships and cooperation between institutions and research bodies dealing with Jewish studies worldwide.

WUJS organizes the World Congress of Jewish Studies every four years. The congress is at the heart of WUJS' activities. It has been held since the summer of 1957, once every four years, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This congress is the most important of its kind in the world. In 2013, approximately 1,500 scholars and intellectuals from around the world participated.

According to the tradition established by the Union since its founding, the congress lectures are published as an anthology divided according to the congress divisions.

The papers from the thirteenth World Congress were published as part of the "Leket" online project. Papers from the fourteenth World Congress were published in three volumes. The proceedings of the fifteenth World Congress were uploaded to the Union's website.

In addition to the quadrennial World Congress, the Union initiates annual conferences held each year at a different university in Israel. These annual conferences are open to researchers and to the general public.

Publications

WUJS publishes the journal Jewish Studies .

WUJS publishes sources for the study of the history of Jewish culture.

scholarships

Jewish Culture Memorial Fund

WUJS, in conjunction with the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, offers a fellowship named after Professor Urbach to support promising doctoral candidates and junior scholars in the field of Jewish Studies. The fellowship is designed to facilitate the publication of their first scholarly monograph.

Fellowships are granted to outstanding postdoctoral researchers in Jewish Studies who have earned their doctorate within the past three years. The fellowships, valued at $10,000 per year, support postdoctoral research and include an invitation to present one's research at the World Congress of Jewish Studies.

Book publication support grant

Recognizing the significant costs associated with publishing academic books in Hebrew, the Union has, since 2014, been providing grants to support the publication of forthcoming books and their authors who have secured publishing contracts.