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The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought
The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought
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About the Goldstein-Goren Center

The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was established in 2000 by Mr. Avraham Goldstein-Goren of Milan and the Cukier Goldstein-Goren Foundation.

The current director of the center is Prof. Boaz Huss.

The goal of the center is to promote the knowledge and research of Jewish Thought both in Israel and around the world. To this end the center sponsors every year a number of activities:

Our Activities

The center organizes conferences on topics of central significance in Jewish Thought. Both Israeli and foreign scholars are invited to participate.

  • Nine highly successful conferences were held under the auspices of the center till now. Conferences held under the auspices of the center till now include:
  • Esotericism in Jewish Thought, May 27-29, 2019.
  • "The Halakhah: An Unchanging Canon? On the Halakhah in Changing Cirscumstances", May 16-18, 2016.
  • "Jewish Prayer: New Perspectives", May 20-22, 2013.
  • "Levinas Facing Biblical Figures", December 28-29,2010.
  • "Jewish Thought and Jewish Belief", May 31-June 2, 2010.
  • “Spiritual Authority – Struggles over Cultural Power in Jewish Thought”, May 28-30, 2007.
  • "Study and Knowledge in Jewish Thought", June 6-9, 2004.
  • "Shabbat - Idea, History, Reality", May 14-16, 2001.
  • "Judaism and the World - Interaction, Influence, and Impact", May 29-31, 2000.

    The center also participated as a co-sponsor of the following conferences:
    "Holy Lands and Sacred Histories in New Religious Movements", The 2017 CESNUR Conference, July 2-6, 2017

    "The Cosmic Movement: Sources, Contexts, Impact ", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, March, 20-22, 2017.

    "Perceiving the Other: Ancient and Modern Interactions with Outsiders". The 2015 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Symposium Award. Granted by the Research Center for International and Interdisciplinary Theology (FIIT) at University of Heidelberg, March, 14-15, 2016.

    "Western Esotericism between Religions: Conversions and Transformations", the fifth annual meeting of the Israeli Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, June 8th 2015.

    "Theosophical Appropriations: Kabbalah, Western Esotericism and the Transformation of Traditions", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, December, 16-18,2013.

    "Light for the Nations" or "Charity Begins at Home", March 18th 2012.
  • "The Study and Appropriation of Kabbalah in the Modern Period", February 11th 2013

    "Karaite Studies: The State of the Field", Research Workshop of The Israel Science Foundation and The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, February 27th-March 1st 2012.

    "Western Esotericism Historical Contexts & Cultural Contacts", The Inaugural Conference of the Israeli Network for the Academic Study of Western Esotericism, May 18th 2011.

    "Kabbalah and Contemporary Spiritual Revival: Historical, Sociological and Cultural Perspectives", May 20-22, 2008.

    "Religious Cultures in the Early Modern Period: Texts and Contexts", May 23-25, 2005.


  • The center also sponsors seminars and symposia in conjunction with the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought

The Center's website includes e-lectures( text, sound and video) in English and Hebrew on a range of topics related to Jewish thought.

More than 600 lectures have been uploaded to our YouTube Channel. 

The site is managed by Asher Binyamin.

​​The center awards doctoral fellowships to students who will be registered in the  Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
​​The scholarship is given for a period of up to four years, as a supplement to other scholarships.​

​Colette Sirat Writings

Ibn Ezra

Blidstein

Past Events:

  • November 20, 2024: "Prayer's Worlds", A conference in honor of Prof. Uri Ehrlich upon his retirement. 
  • June 15, 2022: A seminar in honor of the publication of the book​ Karaism, An Introduction to the Oldest Surviving Alternative Judaism​ by Daniel J. Lasker​
  • May 23-25, 2022: International Conference "Hopes, Dreams and Aspirations in Jewish Thought​"
  • March 9, 22: A seminar in honor of the publication of the book​ ​Eben Ha-'Ezer, Supecommentary on Ibn Ezra's Torah Commentary, by R. Judah Leon ben Moses Moskoni (3 volumes, hebrew), edited by Haim (Howard) Kreisel
  • January 12, 2022: A seminar in honor of the publication of the book​ Until Elijah Comes - The Portrayal of Elijah the Prophet in Tannaitic Literature By: Adiel Kadari Poster
  • November 3–5, 2021, Prague: International Conference "One Biography, Multiple Places: The Life and Work of Shmuel Hugo Bergmann Between Prague and Jerusalem (1883–1975)" Video​
  • June 15, 2021: A seminar in​ memory of Prof. Gerald Yaacov Blidstein z"l. Video​
  • June 9, 2021: Research Students Conference
  • May 12, 2021: A seminar in honor of the publication of the book​ Ideology of Apostasy, th Ideology of Jewish Spaniards who Convertted to Christianity by Shalom Sadik Video