Almost a Golden Era

This academic memoir traces a scholar’s journey from student life in the United States and Israel to a career at the universities of Maryland, Yale, and Pennsylvania. Bringing together personal recollections and reflections on academic life, it explores the pursuit of a scholarly vocation and the building of an intellectual community.

The career at the heart of this book coincides with a transformative period in Jewish studies: the emergence and growth of programs across North America and Europe, alongside renewed vitality and expansion in Israel, between roughly 1970 and 2020. Through the experiences of a participant in and observer of these developments, the memoir offers a personal account of a significant chapter in the history of Jewish learning.

Today, the confidence that accompanied this expansion has become less assured. Political, social, and intellectual changes have raised pressing questions about the future of universities and the place of Jewish studies within them. Looking back on a period of remarkable growth, this memoir invites readers—and particularly younger scholars—to consider how the field’s recent past can illuminate its present challenges and future possibilities.