The Association for Israel Studies annually awards the Ben Halpern Award for the best doctoral dissertation submitted during that calendar year in the study of the yishuv, Zionism, and the state of Israel. This award honors the memory of Ben Halpern, a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Israel Studies. His book, The Idea of the Jewish State, was a seminal contribution to the study of Zionism. For many years an inspiring teacher at Brandeis University, Halpern left a powerful and distinctive intellectual legacy including a commitment to study Israeli society according to rigorous scholarly and scientific norms.
Dissertations must be nominated by two recommenders familiar with the candidate's work. The recommenders are expected to explain the work's contribution to the study of the yishuv, Zionism, or the state of Israel. A copy of the dissertation and the letters of recommendation should be sent to each member of the Halpern Dissertation Award committee. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 31, 2007.
Past Winners of the Halpern Award:
2006
Sharon Asiskovitch, L'daber b'kama kolot, litsod b'kama shvilim: politika birokratit v'tmurot b'mediniut haravaha hayisraelit, 1985-2002 [Speaking with Different Voices, Walking Along Several Paths: Bureaucratic Politics and Changes in the Israeli Welfare State, 1985-2002], submitted to the Hebrew University.
2004-2005 (biannual award)
Shira Robinson, Occupied Citizens in a Liberal State: Palestinians under Military Rule and the Colonial Formation of Israeli Society, 1948-1966. Submitted to Stanford University.
2002-2003 (biannual award) co-winners
Sharon Kangisser Cohen, Finding Their Voices: The Life Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust in Israel. Submitted to Hebrew University.
Oren Meyers, Israeli Journalists as an Interpretive Memory Community. Submitted to University of Pennsylvania.
2000-2001 (biannual award)
Sharon Lang, Shaking Hands with the Enemy: The Quest for Honor among Israeli-Palestinian Men. Submitted to Harvard University.
1998-1999 (biannual award)
Eli Avraham
1996-1997 (biannual award)
Adriana Kemp
1994-1995 (biannual award)
Sara Helman, Hasiruv l'sharet b'tsava k'nisayon l'hagdara mehudeshet shel ezrahut (Conscientious Objection to Military Service as an Attempt to Change the Contents of Citizenship).
Submitted to Hebrew University.