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Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards

Made possible by funding from Jordan Schnitzer through the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Family Fund of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, the Association for Jewish Studies is proud to award eight prizes this year (four winners and four finalists) for the annual Jordan Schnitzer Book Prize.

The categories in the 2023 competition were Jewish Literature and Linguistics; Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture; Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania; and Philosophy and Jewish Thought. Books published in 2021 and 2022 by AJS members were eligible for submission. Each category was judged by a committee of expert scholars in their field who chose this year’s winners and finalists. Winners receive a $10,000 prize and Finalists receive a $2,500 prize.

We wish a hearty congratulations to this year’s awardees.

2023 WINNERS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

Strangers in the Archive: Literary Evidence and London’s East End
HEIDI KAUFMAN
(University of Virginia Press)

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Poisoned Wells: Accusations, Persecution, and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321 – 1422
TZAFRIR BARZILAY
(University of Pennsylvania Press)

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

A Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg
NATHANIEL DEUTSCH and MICHAEL CASPER
(Yale University Press)

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

The Kabbalistic Tree
J. H. CHAJES
(The Pennsylvania State University Press)

FINALISTS

In the category of Jewish Literature and Linguistics

The Object of Jewish Literature: A Material History
BARBARA E. MANN
(Yale University Press)

In the category of Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History and Culture

Catholic Spectacle and Rome’s Jews: Early Modern Conversion and Resistance
EMILY MICHELSON
(Princeton University Press)

In the category of Modern Jewish History and Culture: Africa, Americas, Asia, and Oceania

Baghdadi Jewish Networks in the Age of Nationalism
S. R. GOLDSTEIN-SABBAH
(Brill)

In the category of Philosophy and Jewish Thought

Jewish Politics in Spinoza’s Amsterdam
ANNE O. ALBERT
(The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization)


For further information, contact Amy Weiss, Grants and Professional Development Manager, at aweiss@associationforjewishstudies.org.

2008-2023 Jordan Schnitzer Book Awards

2010 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
2021 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
2009 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
2020  Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
2024 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
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2023 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
2008 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award Recipients
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2012 Jordan SchnitzerBook Award Recipients