Ilan BenattarRobert F. & Patricia G. Ross Weis Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies & History
Ilan Benattar is a historian of Jewish politics, society, and culture in modern Middle Eastern and North African contexts. His monograph project, “A Rod of Punishment”: Ottoman Jewish Liberalism from Opposition to Establishment (1894-1914), offers the first dedicated study of Ottoman Jewish liberals through the colorful and contentious formation of their political tradition.
F&M Teaching
Robert F. & Patricia G. Ross Weis Visiting Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies &
History (August 2024-Present)
Courses: Jews in the Modern World; Arab Jewish Identities; Jewish-Muslim Relations;
Medieval Jewish History; History of Antisemitism; Palestine/Israel: Modern History
Education
New York University; Manhattan, NY
Joint Ph.D. in History/Hebrew & Judaic Studies (2023)
New York University; Manhattan, NY
M.Phil in Hebrew and Judaic Studies
CUNY Graduate Center; Manhattan, NY
Master of Arts, Middle Eastern Studies
Binghamton University; Vestal, NY
Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, History & Arabic Studies
Book
“A Rod of Punishment”: Ottoman Jewish Liberalism from Opposition to Establishment, 1894-1914 [in preparation]
Academic Publications
“‘A New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan’: Ashkenazi Refugees & The Ottoman Jewish Liberal Opposition (1906-1908).” Jewish Quarterly Review 115, no. 1 (2025): 69-98.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
“David HaNagid’s Sefer Pirkei Avot (Alexandria, 1901): Maimonidean Genealogies, Mediterranean Print, & Fin-de-Siècle Arab Jewish Class Culture.” From Baghdad to Barcelona: Jewish Experiences in the Mediterranean (Brill, 2027). [Accepted, Forthcoming]
Completed Article Manuscripts
“Press Censorship and Ottoman Jewish Political Culture in the late Hamidian era (1902-1908)”
“Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Neologism and the Anti-Musar Idiom of late Ottoman Jewish Liberalism.”
Grants & Awards
(2025) Franklin & Marshall Committee on Grants Faculty Research Award
(2021) American Sephardi Federation Broome & Allen Fellowship
(2020) NYU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Torch International Research Fellowship (AY ‘20-‘21)
(2020) American Academy for Jewish Research Graduate Student Grant
(2018) Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Summer Fellowship—Turkish
(2017) Foreign Language Area Scholarship (FLAS) Summer Fellowship—Arabic
Select Conference Presentations
“Renarrating El Plieto of late Ottoman Jerusalem: Sephardic Communal Conflict in a Mediterranean Frame.” Scholarly Workshop in Honor of David Engel. Skirball Department of Hebrew & Judaic Studies. New York University. May 2026.
“Zionism and Ottoman Jewish Liberals before the Young Turk Revolution (1908).” Zionism in the Middle East & North Africa Workshop. Taub Center for Israel Studies. New York University. February 2026.
“Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Neologism & the Anti-Musar Idiom of late Ottoman Jewish Liberalism.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Washington DC. December 2025.
“David HaNagid’s Sefer Pirkei Avot (Alexandria, 1901): Maimonidean Genealogies & the Politics of Mediterranean Jewish Print.” Maimonides in Translation Symposium. European Association for Jewish Studies. Virtual. December 2025.
“Antimekatregista: A Judeo-Spanish Political Neologism and late Ottoman Jewish Liberalism.” International Workshop “Modern and Contemporary Jewish Translation and Multilingualism: Practices, History, and Semiotics.” Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Virtual. July 2025.
“Social Conflict over Traditions of Water Impurity in the Fin-de-Siècle Jewish Mediterranean.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2024.
“Jewish Professionals and Professional Class Culture in Late Ottoman Society (c.1900-1912).” Middle East Studies Association. Virtual. November 2024.
“Press Censorship and the Development of Ottoman Jewish Political Culture.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA. December 2023.
“‘A New Project of Jewish Colonization in the Sudan’: Abraham Galante and Ottoman Territorialism.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.
“‘They Know Classical Hebrew, the Talmud, and Nothing Else’: Abraham Galante’s La Vara and the Contest over Rabbinic Leadership in Late Ottoman Palestine.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. December 2020.
“Between ‘Turkiya’ and ‘Togarma’: Thinking Toponyms in Late Ottoman Jewish Thought.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. San Diego, California. December 2019.
“Abraham Galante, Ottoman Jewish Diaspora, and the Opposition to Chief Rabbi Moshe HaLevi (1904-1908).” Formation of Culture in Diaspora Conference. St. Petersburg State University, Russia. September 2019 (Invited).
“#Right2Left Biblical Translations in Jewish Textual History: Case Studies in Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish.” Presented at #Right2Left Workshop. Digital Humanities Summer Institute. University of Victoria, British Columbia. June 2019.
“Making a Sephardi Classic, Sephardi: Writing (and Reading) Shevet Yehudah into Ladino.” Presented at ucLadino 8th Annual Judeo-Spanish Symposium. LA, California. February 2019.
“Toward a Reinvigorated Intellectual Genealogy of Zionism and Middle Eastern Jewry: Bialik’s ‘Revival of the Sephardim’.” Presented at Columbia MESAAS Graduate Conference. NY, NY. March 2015.
Conference Panels Chaired
“Jewish Colonial Modernity in Global Perspective.” Association for Jewish Studies. Washington DC. December 2025.
“Mizrachi Jews—Boundaries and Identities.” Association for Jewish Studies. Virtual. December 2024.
“Zionist Settler Violence.” Middle East Studies Association. Virtual. November 2024.
“Between Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew: Texts and Contexts.” Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference. Boston, MA. December 2022.
Selected Lectures/Events
“A Conversation with Rachel Cockerell, Author of Melting Point: Family, Memory, and the Search for a Promised Land.” Moderator & Discussant. Jewish Community of Lancaster Alliance. Zoom. November 2nd, 2025.
“Introduction and Post-Screening Q&A: Where Are You Going Moshé? (2007).” Franklin & Marshall College, Conflict & Conflict Resolution Film Series, 2024-2025. Lancaster, PA. February 2025.
“International Holocaust Remembrance Day Event, Comments + Q&A.” Klehr Center for Jewish Life, Franklin & Marshall College. Lancaster, PA. January 2025.
“The Origins of Jewish Nationalism in late Nineteenth Century Europe.” University of Illinois-Chicago, HIST278: The Middle East since 1258. Zoom. October 2024.
“Antisemitism: Historical Roots & Contemporary Trajectories.” Occidental College, Office for Religious & Spiritual Life. LA, CA. November 2022.
“Shattered Rhymes: The Life and Poetry of Erez Bitton”. Event Moderator and Discussant. CUNY Graduate Center. NY, NY. February 2015.