Affiliated Faculty: Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries

Colleagues from other departments at Rutgers whose work intersects with the field of Jewish studies can be invited to affiliate with the Department of Jewish Studies. Their teaching and scholarship enhance the work of both the department and the Bildner Center. Here are short profiles of three affiliated faculty members.


HaberlCharles Häberl
, associate professor in the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures, specializes in both modern and ancient languages of the Middle East, as well as the ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities of the region. An expert on the world’s endangered languages, he specializes in Mandaic, the language of a small ethno-religious minority in Iran, and Aramaic. His command of the latter has benefited Jewish studies students who have worked independently with him in order to read classical Jewish texts in their original languages.

Read the abridged, open access version of his coedited book The Mandaean Book of John.


BallentineDebra Scoggins Ballentine
, director of graduate studies and associate professor in the Department of Religion, specializes in ancient Israelite and Judean history, religion, and literature. In her courses on the Hebrew Bible and ancient Near Eastern religions, she explores with students how ancient cultic traditions are thoroughly embedded in their historical setting, yet resonant with many cross-cultural social dynamics.

Listen to Ballentine discuss her work here in a video created by the Office of New Program Initiatives and Digital Learning at Rutgers.


KhayyatEfe Khayyat
, an assistant professor in the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures, is the newest affiliated faculty member in Jewish studies. He specializes in Middle Eastern languages, including Ladino, Turkish, and Arabic, and has expertise in the literatures of the Middle East and the cultural history of the Ottoman Middle East. Last year, he taught Rutgers' first course on Ladino, which was cross-listed with Jewish studies.

Read an excerpt from an interview about Khayyat’s most recent book, Istanbul 1940 and Global Modernity (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).


RESISTANCE: Event Recording Now Availableresistance

If you were unable to attend the Resistance film discussion with Director Jonathan Jakubowicz and actors Jesse Eisenberg and Bella Ramsey, we are pleased to have a recording of the event available now on the Bildner Center’s website.

View here

This film is available on multiple streaming platforms. Watch at home.

IFCPresented by the Rutgers Jewish Film Festival in partnership with IFC Films and Tamar Simon of Mean Streets Management.



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