By Gabriella Gomperts, Senior Features Editor
Dr. Joshua Karlip is the Herbert S. and Naomi Denenberg Chair of Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, as well as the Associate Director of the YU Center for Israel Studies. Dr. Karlip, who hails from Baltimore, Maryland, began teaching at YU in the fall of 2007.
How long have you worked at YU?
I started teaching at YU in the fall of 2007. So I have been at YU for eighteen years. For the first thirteen years, I taught only uptown at YC and in Revel. Then, right before the pandemic, we realized that SCW was being underserved in Jewish History. So we began a rotation, in which we all teach alternately in YC and SCW. Once I taught at Stern once, I knew that I would always come back!
What is your academic focus?
My current academic focus is a book project on rabbinic writing in the Soviet Union. I look at how rabbis in the Soviet Union wrote teshuvot (rabbinic responsa), drashot (sermons) and other compositions that addressed the extreme theological and practical challenges of living as a religious Jew in a militantly atheistic society and state.
Do you have any advice for students interested in pursuing a career in Jewish history?
In the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, I am mentoring several very talented doctoral students as they write their dissertations. I always have related to prospective Ph.D. students as, le-havdil (not to compare the two things), halakha demands that we relate to a prospective convert to Judaism: I tell him or her that pursuing a doctorate is a huge, all-encompassing undertaking with few job prospects at the end of the process. Many if not most Ph.D.s in Jewish history, as in all the humanities, wait years to receive their first tenure-track job offer, if they receive one at all. In addition, the anti-Zionism so prevalent on U.S. campuses today has resulted in many of my pro-Israel colleagues experiencing marginalization on their campuses. In contrast, I have seen anti-Zionist colleagues rewarded with prestigious positions.
As you can see, I therefore discourage students from pursuing a Ph.D. in Jewish history unless they truly feel that they will be unhappy doing anything else, or unless they have another means of livelihood. That said, I encourage YC (Yeshiva College) and SCW (Stern College for Women) students to pursue study of Jewish history on the undergraduate, M.A. and, on occasion, even Ph.D., level as a means to enhance their careers in Jewish education, communal service and the rabbinate. These fields, in contrast to purely academic positions, offer real employment opportunities. Since I strongly believe that we cannot understand the present moment without the context of the past, I encourage all students planning careers in the rabbinate and Jewish education to study Jewish history at Revel in addition to their main programs in RIETS (Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary), GPATS (Graduate Program in Advanced Talmud/Tanach Studies), Azrieli, etc.
What is your favorite topic to teach?
My favorite topic to teach is my course “Religion and Secularism in Zionism and the State of Israel.” The course explores the internal clash between secularist and religious trends within Zionism and in the internal battle within Orthodoxy between Zionist and non-Zionist forces. We start the course with the first round of this Kulturkampf, or culture war, in Russia of the 1880s and follow it into the contemporary State of Israel. Since October 7, it has never been more important for students to understand the history of Zionism and Israel generally, and the battles between secularism and religion within the movement and the State of Israel more specifically. Through a deep dive into primary sources, students come to understand all sides of the conflict and how they inform current tensions in Israel.
What other projects are you working on?
The second volume of my most recent book, Oyfn Sheydveg, was just published by the German press Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht on July 31, 2025. Volume One was published in December 2023. Oyfn Sheydveg (At the Crossroads) was a Yiddish journal published in Paris by East European Jewish intellectuals in 1939. Its articles discussed the political and cultural crises of European Jewry in the fateful year of 1939. This journal originally appeared in two issues in April and August 1939. Its editors, Elias Tcherikower and Yisroel Efroikin, were preparing a third issue for 1940, which was not published due to the outbreak of World War II and the German invasion of France. Many years ago, I discovered the manuscripts for this third issue of the journal. It is now appearing in print for the first time. This critical edition of the journal contains both the original Yiddish and the full English translation of the articles, accompanied by an extensive annotation to explain both textual references and historical context. Volume One begins with a book-length introduction to the journal in its historical contexts. Volume Two contains a similar, though somewhat shorter, introduction. I am planning a public event celebrating the book’s publication for the spring.
What do you like most about working at YU?
I love teaching in a place where I share the same core values and lifestyle with the YU community: Some of those core values are Ahavat HaTorah — love of Torah; Ahavat Yisrael — love of the Jewish people, the Land of Israel and the State of Israel; and Ahavat Habriyot — love of humanity. So many of my students are preparing to serve all three of these principles in both their professional and personal lives.
What would you like students to know?
I want students to know that I understand my work at YU as a mission. SCW and YC aim to ground students’ commitment to Judaism through rigorous education. I am honored to help in this work by teaching students our history. I believe that the synthesis of an academic approach and empathy for the subject matter will enhance the Jewish identities of the students. I am committed to helping students succeed in my class, in their educational experience and in their lives.
Photo Credit: Joshua Karlip