Brandeis University Presidential Initiative to Counter Antisemitism in Higher Education

Summer Institute 2024 Faculty

Partial list

Photo of Rosann Catalano at deskDr. Rosann M Catalano holds a Doctorate in Philosophy in Systematic Theology from the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, where she did her major work on the theology of God and the poetry of suffering in the Book of Psalms. She also holds a Master of Arts in Theology and Biblical Studies from the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, and a Baccalaureate in Theology and Philosophy from Loyola University, Baltimore, MD.

Since 2009, Dr. Catalano has functioned as an independent scholar and educator, teaching Hebrew Bible and New Testament at Beth El and Chizuk Amuno Congregations, both in Baltimore.

From 1994 to 2017, Dr. Catalano was a pivotal figure at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, serving as a scholar of Roman Catholic Christianity, Associate Director, and Director of Programs. Her association with the ICJS continues to this day, as she remains an active independent scholar and educator.

Dr. Catalano also served as an Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University, Baltimore, MD, between 1980 and 1991 and as an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University of Maryland and at The Ecumenical Institute, St. Mary’s Seminary & University.

Dr. Catalano’s ongoing research focuses on the complex relationship between prayer and suffering and the dynamic interplay of emerging Christianity and rabbinic Judaism in the first centuries of the Common Era.

Dr. Catalano is the author of several publications and is a sought-after lecturer for Protestant, Jewish, and Catholic audiences on a variety of biblical, theological, and interfaith topics. Her areas of expertise include the dynamic relationship between suffering and prayer, the origins of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity, and the partings of their ways. She is a frequent Weekend Scholar-in-Residence and retreat director.

Headshot of Rabbi Ron FishRabbi Ron Fish is the ADL New England Interim Regional Director. He also currently serves as the East Division Director of Antisemitism Education and Advocacy, serving from Maine to Delaware. His central role is in addressing antisemitism on college campuses today and to offer support for Jewish communities during those first years of independence. His work is directed toward helping Directors of Equity and Inclusion (DEIs), Provosts and University Presidents to understand the experience of Jewish students on campus and their unique and diverse needs. 

Ron Fish is a graduate of Brandeis University and The Jewish Theological Seminary. He has served as a congregational rabbi in three communities in the Northeast for 25 years. Most recently, Ron was the Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel in Sharon, MA. He is currently the president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis and has worked through the years as a committed and enthusiastic partner for interfaith dialogue. In the run up to vote on the affordable care act, Ron organized 400 colleagues across the state of Connecticut to advocate for universal healthcare. 

He is the proud father of four and the husband to Leah Bieler, a writer and fellow Jewish educator.

Headshot of Alexander KayeAlexander Kaye is the director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, the Karl, Harry, and Helen Stoll Chair of Israel Studies, and associate professor in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He received a doctorate in Jewish history from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree and a master of philosophy from the University of Cambridge. Dr. Kaye is co-editor of The Journal of Israeli History: Politics, Society, Culture. He is also an ordained rabbi. Dr. Kaye's research is on Jewish intellectual history and the history of political and legal thought. With David N. Myers, he co-edited The Faith of Fallen Jews, a collection of works by the late Prof. Yosef H. Yerushalmi. His latest book, The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel (Oxford University Press, 2020), is a history of the idea that the State of Israel should be governed by halakha. It received the Salo Baron Prize from the American Academy for Jewish Research and the Leon Charney Book Award from Yeshiva University, and was a finalist for the Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in the category of philosophy and Jewish thought, as well as a finalist for the Concordia University Library - Azrieli Institute Award for Best Book in Israel Studies. Dr. Kaye has published chapters and articles in numerous books and journals. In 2021, Dr. Kaye was a co-recipient of the Young Scholar Award of the Association for Israel Studies.

Photo of Christopher Leighton speakingChristopher M. Leighton was the founding director of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies (Baltimore, Maryland) where he served for thirty-three years. Over the course of his tenure, the ICJS provided an educational forum where scholars, clergy, and lay leaders explored the complex interplay of Christians, Jews and Muslims, with particular attention to dialogical inquiries that confront the differences and distortions that have pitted our religious communities against one another. He co-edited Talking About Genesis, the study guide for Bill Moyers’ Genesis series. He worked closely with the Jewish scholars who crafted Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity, and the companion works Christianity in Jewish Terms and Irreconcilable Differences. During 2010-2012, he worked with the Institute for Theological Inquiry on a project examining the relationship between religion and violence, and his essay on Cain and Abel is published in Plowshares into Swords? He is the author of the recent book, A Sacred Argument: Dispatches from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim Encounter published by Wipf & Stock in 2024.

He is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and did his doctoral work in Philosophy and Education at Columbia University—Teachers College. He was awarded a Klingenstein Fellowship at Columbia. He is the recipient of Loyola College’s the Andrew White Award, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by St. Mary’s Seminary and University.

Headshot of Dr. Linda MaizelsDr. Linda Maizels is an independent scholar and researcher on antisemitism. Her doctoral dissertation, “Charter Members of the Fourth World”: Jewish Student Identity and the “New Antisemitism” on American Campuses, 1967-1994, examined the roots of contemporary campus antisemitism. Her master’s thesis, The Universal Nature of Hatred: Keith Stimely and the Culture of Holocaust Denial, focused on Holocaust denial, specifically the right-wing Institute for Historical Review.

Currently, Maizels is an adjunct faculty member at the Spertus Institute, where she teaches a course on antisemitism for the Master in Arts in Jewish Professional Studies (MAJPS) and lectures for the Leadership Certificate in Combating Antisemitism (LCCA). She is also a member of the Advisory Council for the Brandeis University Presidential Initiative to Counter Antisemitism in Higher Education and a Senior Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University.

Publications include:

Headshot of Izabella TabarovskyIzabella Tabarovsky is a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism. She is a senior advisor with the Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center; a fellow with ISGAP and the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism; and a contributing writer to Tablet. Her writings have appeared in Fathom, Sapir, Quillette, and Newsweek, among others, as well as in several essay collections, including Jewish Priorities: 65 Proposals for the Future of Our People (Wicked Son Press); The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century: From the Academic Boycott Campaign to the Mainstream (Routledge); and Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays (Routledge).

Headshot of Graham WrightGraham Wright is an associate research scientist at the Steinhardt Social Research Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, and an associate research professor at the Heller School for Social Policy.

Graham is a political scientist, political theorist, and quantitative methodologist. He has published numerous academic articles exploring the complex intersection between attitudes and identities in American politics, the dynamics of contemporary antisemitism, and American Jews’ relationship to Israel. His work on deliberative democracy is the subject of a forthcoming book from Routledge.

His work at CMJS primarily focuses on antisemitism, the ongoing evaluation of Birthright Israel, and studies of US undergraduates. At the Heller School he teaches classes on statistics, research design, and contemporary antisemitism.