Ilan Benattar Robert F. & Patricia G. Ross Weis Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies & History
Biography
A lifelong fascination with languages and the movement of ideas in and between them led me gradually toward the academic study of an intensely multilingual population: the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. My current book project investigates the growth and dissolution of a network of Ottoman Jewish liberal intellectuals over the late Hamidian era and early Second Constitutional Period (c. 1892-1912) as they agitated against the extant communal order and then, gradually, came to form an integral part of it. At the center of this history stands the journalist, communal activist, and future leading scholar of Ottoman Jewry, Abraham Galante (1873-1961). By presenting the ideology and activism of this 鈥淕alante Network" as a function of class-based politics, I outline a new perspective on Jewish history in the modern Middle East. More broadly, I am a historian of modern Jewish politics, culture, society, and intellectual life with particular interests in themes of class formation, intra-communal conflict, and trans-regional networks. I locate myself at the intersection of the fields of Jewish history, the history of the Middle East/North Africa, and Global History.
My teaching interests span the breadth of modern Jewish history and beyond. At F&M I will offer regular survey courses on Jewish history as well as upper-level courses on the history of antisemitism, Zionism, Israel/Palestine, global Jewish identities, gender, and the environment. In the classroom, I often assign memoirs as well as translated press coverage and communal records drawn from my own research. I frequently employ creative cultural documents such as film, literature, and visual art in my teaching. To my mind, the value of studying Jewish history lies in both the fact that it represents a unique iteration of the broader human experience and in that it offers an insightful microcosm of the complexities, connections, and conflicts which have shaken the modern world. Indeed, the study of Jews and Judaism requires us to think globally鈥攂roadly and comparatively. Exploring these histories allows students to gain an expansive, nuanced, and inclusive conception of issues with pressing contemporary significance, e.g. race, migration, diaspora, nationalism, minority rights, etc.
Teaching Experience
Franklin & Marshall, 2024- : Robert F. & Patricia G. Ross Weis Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies
& History
Courses, Fall 2024: Jews in the Modern World; History of Antisemitism
Courses, Spring 2025: Israel/Palestine: A Modern History; The Arab Jew: History of
an Identity; Premodern Jewish History
SUNY Purchase, Fall 2023: Adjunct Assistant Professor
Courses Taught: Jewish Civilization & Culture
Occidental College, Fall 2022: Visiting Assistant Lecturer
Courses Taught: Judaism in the Modern Era, History of Antisemitism
New York University, Summer 2020: Instructor
Courses Taught: Jews of the Modern Middle East & North Africa
Education
New York University; Manhattan, NY
Joint Ph.D. in History/Hebrew & Judaic Studies (2023)
New York University; Manhattan, NY
M.Phil in Hebrew and Judaic Studies
CUNY Graduate Center; Manhattan, NY
Master of Arts, Middle Eastern Studies
Binghamton University; Vestal, NY
Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, History & Arabic Studies
Academic Publications
鈥溾楢 New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan鈥: Ashkenazi Refugees & The Ottoman Jewish Liberal Opposition (1906-1908).鈥 Jewish Quarterly Review 115, no. 1 (2025) [Forthcoming]
Manuscripts-in-progress
Professionals, Social Capital, and Public Rebuke: Modern Class Formation and the Shaping of Ottoman Jewish Political Culture [Working Title]
Grants & Awards
(2021) American Sephardi Federation Broome & Allen Fellowship
(2020) NYU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Torch International Research Fellowship (AY 鈥20-鈥21)
(2020) American Academy for Jewish Research Graduate Student Grant
(2018) Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Summer Fellowship鈥擳urkish
(2017) Foreign Language Area Scholarship (FLAS) Summer Fellowship鈥擜rabic
(2016) M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies Outstanding Student Award
Conference Presentations
鈥淪ocial Conflict over Traditions of Water Impurity in the Fin-de-Si猫cle Jewish Mediterranean.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2024.
鈥淛ewish Professionals and Professional Class Culture in Late Ottoman Society (c.1900-1912).鈥 Middle East Studies Association. Virtual. November 2024.
鈥淧ress Censorship and the Development of Ottoman Jewish Political Culture.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA. December 2023.
鈥溾楢 New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan鈥: Abraham Galante and Ottoman Territorialism.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.
鈥溾楾hey Know Classical Hebrew, the Talmud, and Nothing Else鈥: Abraham Galante鈥檚 La Vara and the Contest over Rabbinic Leadership in Late Ottoman Palestine.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2020.
鈥淏etween 鈥楾urkiya鈥 and 鈥楾ogarma鈥: Thinking Toponyms in Late Ottoman Jewish Thought.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Diego, California. December 2019.
鈥淎braham Galante, Ottoman Jewish Diaspora, and the Opposition to Chief Rabbi Moshe HaLevi (1904-1908).鈥 Formation of Culture in Diaspora Conference. St. Petersburg State University, Russia. September 2019 (Invited).
鈥#Right2Left Biblical Translations in Jewish Textual History: Case Studies in Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish.鈥 Presented at #Right2Left Workshop. Digital Humanities Summer Institute. University of Victoria, British Columbia. June 2019.
鈥淢aking a Sephardi Classic, Sephardi: Writing (and Reading) Shevet Yehudah into Ladino.鈥 Presented at ucLadino 8th Annual Judeo-Spanish Symposium. LA, California. February 2019.
鈥淭oward a Reinvigorated Intellectual Genealogy of Zionism and Middle Eastern Jewry: Bialik鈥檚 鈥楻evival of the Sephardim鈥.鈥 Presented at Columbia MESAAS Graduate Conference. NY, NY. March 2015.
Conference Panels Chaired
鈥淏etween Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew: Texts and Contexts.鈥 Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.
Public Lectures/Events
鈥淎ntisemitism: Historical Roots & Contemporary Trajectories.鈥 Occidental College, Office for Religious & Spiritual Life. LA, CA. November 2022.
鈥淪hattered Rhymes: The Life and Poetry of Erez Bitton鈥. Event Moderator and Discussant. CUNY Graduate Center. NY, NY. February 2015.