Center for Jewish Studies names Podhoretz prize winners

Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2009 Norman Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies and the 2009 Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies.

Jonathan Gould, a junior in Eliot House, won this year’s Norman Podhoretz Prize in Jewish Studies for his essay “Pluralism, Education, and Acculturation: The Scopes Trial and American Jewish Life in the 1920s.” The award is given to the Harvard University student who submits the best essay, feature article, or short story on a Jewish theme. The Ernest H. Weiner Fund at the American Jewish Committee sponsors this tribute to Podhoretz, editor of Commentary magazine from 1960 to 1995.

Samuel Jacoby, a senior in Pforzheimer House, and Jacob Victor, a senior in Leverett House, both won this year’s Selma and Lewis Weinstein Prize in Jewish Studies. Jacoby’s entry was “Rabbi Abendana’s ‘Kuzari’: The Story of a Book in 17th Century Amsterdam” and Victor’s entry was “A Sort of Columbus to Those Near-at-Hand: The Cultural Vision of Saul Bellow.” Lewis H. Weinstein ’27, LL.B. ’30, established the namesake prize, which is given to the Harvard University student or students who submit the best undergraduate essay in Jewish studies.