About BAJS

1. Committee
2. Constitution 2004
3. BAJS Presidents
4. BAJS Student Essay Prize Winners
5. Annual General Meeting Reports

Committee

PRESIDENT and CONFERENCE 2008 ORGANISER: Prof. Philip Alexander: Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. Email: philip.alexander@manchester.ac.uk

TREASURER: Dr. Jim Aitken: CJCR, Wesley House, Jesus Lane, Cambridge CB5 8BJ. Email: jka12@cam.ac.uk

SECRETARY: Dr. Daniel Langton: Centre for Jewish Studies, Department of Religions & Theology, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL. Email: daniel.langton@man.ac.uk

Prof. Geoffrey Khan (ex-president: till 2008): Faculty of Oriental Studies, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA. Email: gk101@cam.ac.uk

Prof. Michael Berkowitz (ex-president: till 2009): Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT Email: uclhmib@ucl.ac.uk

Dr. Dan Levene (till 2008): Department of History, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ. Email: D.Levene@soton.ac.uk

Dr. Alison Salvesen (till 2009): The Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, Pusey Lane, Oxford, OX1 2LE. Email: alison.salvesen@orinst.ox.ac.uk)

Dr. Willem Smelik (till 2009): Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies, University College London, London WC1E 6BT. Email: willem.smelik@ucl.ac.uk

Dr. Hannah Holtschneider (till 2009): School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, New College, Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LX. Email: H.Holtschneider@ed.ac.uk

Prof. Seth Kunin (till 2010, President-elect 2009): Dean's Office, South Lodge, Science Laboratories, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE. Email: s.d.kunin@durham.ac.uk

Dr. Maria Diemling (till 2010): Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Canterbury Christ Church, University, North Holmes Road, Canterbury CT1 1QU. Email: maria.diemling@canterbury.ac.uk

Prof. Joachim Schloer (till 2011): University of Southampton, Parkes Institute, Dept of History, Southampton, SO17 1BJ. Email: schloer@soton.ac.uk

Dr. Lars Fischer (till 2011): Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies, University College London, London WC1E 6BT. Email: uclhlfi@ucl.ac.uk

Constitution 2004

1. Name
The Association shall be called ‘The British Association for Jewish Studies’ (BAJS).

2. Aims
The aims of the Association shall be to promote and defend in the British Isles, on a non-profit-making basis, the scholarly study of Jewish culture in all its aspects within Higher Education; to organise conferences; to initiate and support research and publication.

3. Membership
(i) Ordinary Members
Ordinary membership shall be open to scholars concerned with the academic pursuit of Jewish Studies. Ordinary members hall be entitled to vote at meetings of the Association and shall be eligible for membership of the Committee and for Office.
(ii) Student Members
Student membership shall be open to graduate students working for a higher degree in the field of Jewish Studies.
(iii) Associate Members
Associate membership shall be open to those with a serious academic interest in Jewish Studies but who are not professionally involved in the subject.

4. Election to Membership
Application for membership shall be made to the Secretary and shall be accompanied by the name of two suitable referees, at least one of whom shall be an ordinary member of the Association. Applications shall first be considered by the Committee and, if approved, submitted to the first Annual General Meeting for election.

5. Subscriptions
A subscription is payable by every ordinary member, student member and associate member as a condition of membership. The amount will be determined from time to time by the Annual General Meeting. The membership of any ordinary or associate member whose subscription is more than two years in arrears may be deemed to have lapsed.

6. Accounts
The balance sheet and income and expenditure accounts of the Association shall be submitted for approval to the Annual General Meeting.

7. The Committee of the Association
The business of the Association shall be conducted by a Committee consisting of the Officers and ordinary Committee members of the Association.
Officers
The Officers shall be the President, Treasurer, Secretary, Publicity Officer, and Editor of the Bulletin. They shall be elected to hold office for one year. The President is not eligible for immediate re-election. The President shall be pre-elected at the Annual General Meeting held two years before the year in which he or she is due to hold office. The Treasurer, Secretary, Publicity Officer, and Editor of the Bulletin may be re-elected annually. In the event of either the Treasurer or Secretary demitting office in mid-term, the President shall be empowered to appoint a new Treasurer or Secretary to hold office until the next Annual General Meeting.
Committee Members
Eight members shall be elected to the Committee for the following year at the Annual General Meeting, to serve for five years. The retiring Committee members shall not be eligible for re-election until two years have passed. The President-elect for the following year shall be an ex officio member of the Committee. The ex-President shall be an ex-officio member of the Committee for a period of three years. The Committee shall have the power to co-opt up to two additional members.
Election
Nominations for election to the Committee and to office shall be signed by two ordinary members who have secured the nominees consent. They shall either be sent to the Secretary 15 days before the Annual General Meeting or presented to him or her at this meeting.
Quorum
Six shall be a quorum at any meeting of the Committee.

8. Annual General Meeting
There shall be an Annual General Meeting at a time and place determined by the Committee for the election of Officers and Committee members, for the receipt of the accounts, and for the receipt of a report on the activities of the Association. A minimum notice of 30 days will be given to ordinary members. Notice of any motion to be proposed by a member shall be seconded by another member and shall reach the Secretary at least 15 days before the Annual General Meeting.

9. Other Meetings
Conferences, seminars and study meetings may be arranged by the Committee.

10. Income
The income and property of the Association shall be used exclusively towards the furthering of the aims of the Association. All Officers and Committee members of the Association shall be honorary.

11. Constitution
(i) The Constitution of the Association may be amended at the Annual General Meeting or at a Special General Meeting, upon a 2/3 majority of those present.
(ii) Every member shall receive a copy of the Constitution of the Association.

BAJS Presidents

1975 Dr. G. Vermes 1976 Prof. J. Weingreen 1977 Dr. E.I.J. Rosenthal 1978 Prof. J. Barr 1979 Dr. E.J. Wiesenberg 1980 Prof. J.B. Segal 1981 Rabbi Dr. L. Jacobs 1982 Dr. B.S.J. Isserlin 1983 Prof. C. Abramsky 1984 Dr. D. Patterson 1985 Prof. J. Sawyer	1987 Dr. P.S. Alexander 1988 Dr. G. Vermes 1989 Dr. N.R.M. de Lange 1990 Dr. A.P. Hayman 1991 Dr. T. Rajak 1992 Dr. S.C. Reif 1993 Prof. B. Jackson 1994 Dr. N. Solomon 1995 Dr. M. Goodman 1996 Dr. W. Horbury 1997 Dr. J. Klier	1998 Prof. R. Loewe 1999 Prof. G.J. Brooke 2000 Dr. A. Shivtiel 2001 Dr. A. Rapaport-Albert 2002 Prof. T. Kushner 2003 Dr. C.T.R. Hayward 2004 Dr. J. Weinberg 2005 Dr. Isabel Wollaston 2006 Prof. Geoffrey Khan 2007 Prof. Michael Berkowitz 2008 Prof. Philip Alexander

BAJS Student Essay Prize (Kessler Foundation in association with The Jewish Chronicle )

2006
1st - Charlotte Alfred, ‘Should Palestinian attitudes to Israeli Jews be explained primarily in terms of religion or modern nationalism?’ (Edinburgh)
2nd - Felicity Griffiths, ‘The Blood Libel and the Papacy’ (UCL)

2005
1st - Helen Bartos, 'Compare and Contrast the Experiences of Jewish Immigrants in the US, England and One Other English-Speaking Land Around 1900' (UCL)
2nd - Hannah Ewence, 'How Can national Socialist Attitudes Toward Motherhood Be Interpreted?' (Southampton)
3rd - Hannah Judd, 'With Reference to the Work of Melissa Raphael, Discuss Whether there Is a Need for a Jewish Feminist Response to the Holocaust' (Birmingham)

2004
1st - Zubin Mistry, 'Jewish Greek literature: apologetic or assertive?' (Cambridge)
2nd - Fiona Eatwell 'Popular Conceptions of the Jew in the Medieval Period' (Manchester)
3rd - Steven Winter 'Revisiting the 1948 War' (UCL)

2003
1st - Helene Bartos 'The Zionist Movement and Jewish Settlement in the Land of Israel 1881 to 1948' (UCL)
2nd - Daniel Cowen 'The Treatise of the Pool of Obadiah Maimonides, 1228-1265' (Oxford)
3rd - Ophira Starr 'Are There Modernistic or Even Post Modernistic Elements in the Hasidism?' (UCL)

2002
1st - Sally Style (UCL)
2nd - Greg Smart (SU)

2001
1st - J. Cartaris, 'Yiddish cinema: Der Dibek' (UCL)
2nd - S. Schubert, 'Greek adn Roman perceptions of Jews' (UCL)
3rd - Danny Burkemann, 'R. Ruether and G. Kittel on Jews' (Cambridge)

2000
1st - C. Belo
2nd - I. Conn
3rd - E. Krausova (UCL)

1999
1st - R. Esterson (UCL)
2nd - R. Tragen (Manchester) and L. Wicken (UCL)