Rabb. Prof. Dr. Birgit Klein

RESUME

Education and Career

2017 – Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters, title “Rabbi,” Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Wyncote, PA (USA)

Since 2006 – Holder of the Chair of “History of the Jewish People” at the Heidelberg College for Jewish Studies.

2006 – Habilitation in Jewish Studies at the Department of History and Cultural Studies, Freie Universität Berlin.

2004–2005 – Research Assistant at the Institute for Jewish Studies, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.

1998 – Ph.D. in Jewish Studies at Gerhard Mercator University Duisburg (advisor: Prof. Dr. Michael Brocke; co-advisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Rohrbacher).

1996–2001 – Research assistant in Jewish Studies and in the German-Israeli DFG project “Germania Judaica IV” at Gerhard Mercator University Duisburg.

1993–1996 – Research assistant at the Institute for Jewish Studies, Free University of Berlin.

1991 – Master of Arts in Jewish Studies from the Heidelberg College of Jewish Studies.

Studied Jewish Studies, Theology, and Classical Philology, including in Jerusalem and Heidelberg.

Awards and Scholarships

2022–2023 – Fellow at the Marsilius College, University of Heidelberg

2017 – Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: The Whizin Prize in Jewish Ethics

2016 – Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: The Evelyn R. Mehlman Jewish Music Award

2014–2015: Fellowship, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Wyncote, PA (USA)
January–May 2011: Weiner Family Fellowship at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Philadelphia, PA (USA)

2004 – Albert Steeger Prize from the Rhineland Regional Council

2001–2004 – Lise Meitner Habilitation Fellowship from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia for the project “Jewish Matrimonial Property and Inheritance Law in the Early Modern Period: Development Since Antiquity and Its Impact on Gender Relations and Relations with Non-Jewish Society."

1993 – Doctoral fellowship from the Studienwerk Villigst.

1992–93 – Annual scholarship from the DAAD for a research stay at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

1984–85 – Scholarship recipient of the “Studium in Israel” working group.

1983–1989 – Recipient of a scholarship from the Studienwerk Villigst.

Main Areas of Research

• History of Jews in the Early Modern Period, particularly in German-speaking regions (current projects include, among others, research on Joseph Süß Oppenheimer)
• Research on the global networks of Jewish actors in the Early Modern period, for example, on Sephardic history in Curaçao
• Research on the history of Jews in antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern era, addressing issues in social and gender history as well as legal, economic, religious, and intellectual history, including Jewish matrimonial property and inheritance law and the related adaptation of non-Jewish legal institutions and the use of non-Jewish courts, the use of (human) blood as a remedy in Jewish traditions, or on Jewish horticulture as a material expression of the claim to social participation.

Memberships

• General Rabbinical Conference Germany (Allgemeine Rabbinerkonferenz / ARK)
• Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA)
• Board Member of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute for German-Jewish History, Essen
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Historical Museum (DHM), Berlin (2010–2020)
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the “Central Archive for Research on the History of the Jews in Germany,” Heidelberg
• Member of the Academic Advisory Board of the “Topography of Terror” Foundation, Berlin
• Member of the Academic Advisory Board for the series “German-Jewish Authors of the 19th Century: Writings on State, Nation, and Society” (Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Vienna, Weimar)
• Board of Trustees of the Portheim Foundation, Heidelberg (Heidelberg Museum of Ethnology)
• Member of the research group in the interreligious consultation process “Religions, Diplomacy, and Peace” (11/2020 – 07/2023) at the Research Center of the Evangelical Study Community (FEST)

Other Activities

• Classical singing, from the Renaissance to the modern era, in ensembles and as a soloist; Tai Chi; cooking.

PUBLICATIONS

For Publications consult the German website please.