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Steven Weitzman answers “What does it mean to be Jewish?” in our latest #0dot2 video. 

Steven Weitzman is the Abraham M. Ellis Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages and Literatures and Ella Darivoff Director of the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. 

His latest book, The Origin of the Jews (Princeton University Press, 2017), was the winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity.

Professor Weitzman specializes in the Hebrew Bible and the origins of Jewish culture. Recent publications include Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity (Harvard University Press, 2005); Religion and the Self in Antiquity (Indiana University Press, 2005); The Jews: A History (Prentice Hall, 2009); and a biography of King Solomon, part of the new “Jewish Lives” series, published by Yale University Press in 2011. 

He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University after completing his B.A. at UC Berkeley, and spent several years teaching in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University where he served as director of its Jewish Studies program for six years. He comes to the University of Pennsylvania from Stanford University, where he was Daniel E. Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion and the director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies.

B’nai B’rith International has launched the Zero.Dot.Two Initiative (#0dot2) ahead of its 175th anniversary to discuss ideas around Jewish identity, to educate social media users about Judaism as a proactive way to combat anti-Semitism and to promote the Jewish connection to the State of Israel through the voices of many online influencers. With approximately 14.4 million Jewish individuals alive today, we represent approximately 0.2% of global citizens.

To learn more about this project and hear voices from other Jewish influencers, please visit: http://bit.ly/2pZ3qov.