SHACHAR PINSKER

Assistant Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture
Department of Near Eastern Studies
4155 Thayer Academic Building  - Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608
(734) 764-8103 - fax (734) 936-2679
spinsker@umich.edu 

EDUCATION


1996-2001         University of California, Berkley, Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and Comparative Literature

1997                 Columbia University, YIVO Institute, Yiddish Studies

1994-1995         Hebrew University, Jerusalem, M.A. in Hebrew and Comparative Literature

1990-1993         Hebrew University, Jerusalem, B.A., Hebrew and Comparative Literature, Amirim Honors Program

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2003- present    Assistant Professor of Hebrew Literature and Culture, Coordinator and Supervisor of Hebrew  Program, University of Michigan

2002                 Lecturer, Ben Gurion Univerity:

2001                 Visiting Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature, Harvard University.

2000                 Lecturer, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley.

2000                 Instructor, Center for Jewish Studies, Berkeley.

1999                 Instructor, University of California, Berkeley.

1997-1998         Lecturer, University of California, Davis.

1994-1996         Instructor, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Related Teaching Experience

1996-1999         Instructor, Lehrhaus Judaica, Jewish Adult Education Center of Northern California

1996-2000         Director, The East Bay Havruta Project, Berkeley

1998                 Assistant Curator, Jewish Studies, UC Berkeley Library

1996-1997         Scholar in Residence, Diller Program, San Francisco,

1994-1995         Instructor and Researcher, Elul Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem


FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

2005                 Research Grant and Faculty Award, Rackham School, U of Michigan

2005                 Faculty Development Award, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, U of Michigan  

2005                 Interdisciplinary Faculty Associates award, CRLT, U of Michigan  

2004                 Koret Foundation Jewish Studies Publication Grant

2002-2003         Kreitman Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ben-Gurion University.

2001-2003         Postdoctoral Fellowship, American Academy for Jewish Research (Declined).

2000-1              Dissertation Fellowship, National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

2000                 Newhall Fellowship for excellence in teaching, Graduate Theological Union,Berkeley.

1998                 Benjamin Goor Prize, Best graduate paper in Jewish Studies, University of California.

1996-1998         Koret Fellowship for Jewish Studies, University of California and GTU, Berkeley.

1991-1993         Amirim Honors Fellowship for Excellence in the Humanities, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

 

PUBLICATIONS:

Books


Sheila Jelen and Shachar Pinsker [Eds.], Hebrew, Gender and Modernity: Critical Responses to Dvora Baron’s Fiction (forthcoming, Maryland University Press, 2006).

Shachar Pinsker. Old Wine in New Flasks: Rabbinic Intertexts and the Making of Hebrew Modernism, (in preparation for Stanford University Press)

Articles:


“Whose Canon Is it? On the Formation and Dissemination of the Hebrew Canon” [Hebrew], Theory and Criticsm. Fall 2004.

 “The Train that Rides Inside: The Jewish Predicament in Aharon Appelfeld’s The Iron Tracks,” in Igal Shwartz and Risa Domb [Ed.] Aharon Applefled and his World, (Cambridge University and Ben-Gurion University Press, 2005).


“No Place without it: Rabbinic Intrertexts and Modernist Hebrew Fiction” [Hebrew], Iyyunim Bitkumat Israel 16, 2006.

“Unraveling the Yarn: Intertextuality, Gender and Cultural Critique in the Stories of Dvora Baron,” Nashm: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies and Gender 11, 2006

“Reading Dvora Baron’s Gilgulim” in Jelen and Pinsker [Eds.], Hebrew, Gender and Modernity: Critical Responses to Dvora Baron’s Fiction (forthcoming, Maryland University Press, 2006)

“The Construction of ‘Secular’ and ‘Religious’ in Modern Hebrew Literature”, Zvi Gittelman [ed.] Secularism and Jewish Identities, (forthcoming)

“Suddenly We Reached God: Religious Poetry in Israel”, Modern Jewish Studies 5:2, 2006

“Imagining the Beloved: Nation and Gender in Early 20th Century Hebrew Fiction,” under review, Gender and History

Yossl Birshtein as a Double Agent in Israeli Literature,” in preparation for Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History

“Midrash, Intertextuality, and Modernist Hebrew Fiction”, in Anita Norich and Yaron Eliav [Eds.] Jewish Literatures and Cultures: Contexts and Intrertexts (forthcoming).


Samples of Papers and Presentations:

“Yiddish in Israeli Literature and Culture” in an international conference on Yiddish and Translation at the Center for Jewish Studies, UC Berkeley, May 2005.

“The Construction of Secular and Religious in Modern Hebrew Literature,” International Conference on Secularism and Jewish Identities, University of Michigan, April 2005.

Yiddish as a Double Agent in Israeli Literature and Culture, Association of Israel Studies conference, Jerusalem June 2004 (Panel organizer and chair).

To Write in a Silent Language: The Fiction of Yossl Birshtein, HAPH conference, University of Texas, Austin,  2004

þMidrash, Intertextuality and Modernist Hebrew Fiction, Hebrew and Comparative Literature Colloquium, University of Haifa, 2003.

þþþþ The Train that Rides Inside: Representation of the Jewish Predicament in Aharon Appelfeld’s “Iron Tracks”, Conference on Appelfeld’s Literary Work, Cambridge University, 2003.

Counter-Narratives of Exile and Return in Dvora Baron’s Gilgulim,  National Association of Professors of Hebrew Conference, Ben-Gurion University, 2002.

The Midrashic Imagination in Modern Hebrew Literature, Jewish Studies Colloquium, Harvard University, 2002.

David Fogel Language of Eros, Association of Jewish Studies conference, Washington D.C., 2002.

Intertextuality as a Cultural Critique: Examination of Dvorah Baron’s Fiction, National Association of Professors of Hebrew conference,  NYC, 2001.

Imagining the Beloved: Gender and Nation in Early Modernist Hebrew Prose, Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Boston, 2000.

Gnessin’s Brawl: Between Realism, Modernism and Intertextuality, National Association of Professors of Hebrew Conference in Hebrew Literature, Chicago, 2000.

Moving Sideways: Rabbinic Models in Gnessin and Fogel, Association of Jewish Studies Conference, Chicago, 2000.

Successful or Late Return: Examination of Esther Raab’s Poetry,” National Association of Professors of Hebrew Conference, NYC, 1997.

 

SERVICE:

Departmental

Coordinator and supervisor of the Hebrew Program 2003-present.

NES Undergraduate Committee 2004-present.

Undergraduate Advisor for HJCS concentrators 2004-present.

 

University:

Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies Executive Committee 2004-2005.

Frankel Center for Judaic Studies Executive Committee 2004-2005.

Steering Committee for lecture series: “The Changing Face of Israeli Society” at the University of Michigan 2004-2005. 

FLAS committee 2004-2005, CMENAS

 

TEACHING & RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Modern Hebrew Literature
Modern Yiddish Literature
Literary Modernism and Postmodernism
Midrash and Modern Hebrew literature
Intertextuality
Gender in Modern Hebrew Literature
Nationalism and Literature
Canon and Margins in Hebrew and Israeli literature
Centers of Modern Hebrew Literature in Eastern and Central Europe
Post-Structural Theory and Criticism


PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Association for Jewish Studies
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
Association of Israel Studies
Middle Eastern Studies Association