Dr. Alex Valdman
Department of Jewish History
My life before BGU:
I was born in Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union - today’s St. Petersburg, Russia. After the age of ten I lived in Beer-Sheva and graduated from Makif Gimmel High School. I studied at Ben-Gurion University, and after completing my doctorate I held postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, at the University of Haifa, and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I later spent several years at Tel Aviv University and at the Kaye Academic College of Education.
Why BGU?
When my family immigrated to Israel, we lived close to the University and used to wander among the university buildings, then a half-campus, half-desert. Returning here now feels like an extraordinarily meaningful closing of a circle. Beyond that, I could not have asked for a more stimulating, collegial, and genuinely pleasant academic, professional, and social environment.
My research:
I research the history of Jews in Eastern Europe, and in particular the history of Russian-speaking Jews. My first book, which draws on archival materials I gathered on three continents, reconstructs what it meant to be a Jewish student attending a gymnasium, that is, a general secondary school, in the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century. The study yielded several striking findings, among them that successful integration into the gymnasium system did not always lead to what we call assimilation. Quite the opposite: for many students it helped shape a new, activist Jewish consciousness.
I am currently working on a large project that explores the relationship between Israel and Jews from the Soviet Union after the Second World War and the Holocaust. This project, through which I seek to rethink the long arc of encounters between Soviet Jews and Israel, brings me back to the fundamental questions of belonging and identity that I first asked myself as a child in Beer-Sheva. In other words, the research is not only about the past; it is about how we understand ourselves and define Jewish identity, then and now.
An insight from my research:
Those who insist that there is only one “correct” way of being Jewish simply do not know, or do not understand, the historical experience of the Jewish people. To study Jewish history is, first and foremost, to discover just how diverse and compelling this story truly is.
Something that doesn't appear on my CV:
One of my hobbies is public transportation. Fortunately for me, trains, trams, and other modes of transit are also historical phenomena. So, occasionally I manage to blend work with pleasure, writing and teaching about trains in history, or teaching history through stories of travel and journeys.
A source of inspiration:
There are several, but I would like to mention my elementary school teacher, Haviva Gamlieli, from the Korczak Elementary School in Beer-Sheva. I was not a standout pupil, yet her impact on me was profound, through the stories of her own struggle to attain an education, her love for Hebrew culture, and her talks with us about the need to strive, and the possibility of succeeding even when growing up in the periphery.
When I grow up…
As a child, I wanted to become a tram driver. That didn’t quite work out, and it now seems I will have to postpone achieving that dream indefinitely.
If I weren’t a researcher, I would be…
A tram driver (see above).
In brief:
- Careful planning or spontaneity? Without planning, there can be no spontaneity.
- Pilates or spinning? Plain old running - why complicate things?
- Morning or night? Both.
- Summer or winter? In Israel—mostly winter and a bit of autumn, when the heat eases and “Shir Tishrei” starts playing on the radio.
- Steak or tofu? Neither.
- Shuk or shopping mall? Both.
- Berry Sakharof or Noa Kirel? Between the two - Sakharof.
- Instant coffee or espresso? Espresso.
- Trekking or the beach? Trekking
- Evening with friends or evening alone? Both.
- Car or train? Train, of course.
- Classical Europe or East Asia? Europe, but not only the classical parts.
- Sea or pool? Doesn’t matter, as long as it’s brief.
- City or country? City.
- Movie in a cinema or a Netflix binge? A movie.
- Text message or phone call? Text.
- Dog or cat? Cat.
- Fantasy or reality TV? Neither.
- Three things I’d take to a deserted island: My wife and our two children.
