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Dr. Rafi Tsirkin-Sadan, Senior Lecturer

Dr. Rafi Tsirkin-Sadan
Contact Info

The Open University of Israel Department of Literature, Language and Arts One University Road P.O.B. 808 Ra’anana 4353701, Israel
Office:09-7781657 Fax:09-7782671 Email:rafaelt@openu.ac.il

Areas of Interest
  • Russian Literature
  • Hebrew Literature in European Context
  • Literature and History

2004-2010
Ph.D. the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Institute of Contemporary Jewry
Dissertation: Y. H. Brenner's Work and Its Connection to Russian Literature and Thought
Supervisors: Prof. Menachem Brinker (ז''ל); Prof. Jonathan Frankel (ז''ל)
2000-2003
M.A. magna cum laude the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Dep. of History, specialization in Russian Studies
Thesis: Nihilism in Russian Literature, 1862-1866
Supervisor: Prof. Jonathan Frankel (ז''ל)
1997-2000
B.A. magna cum laude the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Depts. of History and of Islamic and Middle-Eastern Studies
Since 2018
Department of Literature, Language, and the Arts, The Open University of Israel: Senior Lecturer
2015-2019
Department of Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University: Adjunct Lecturer
2014-2016
Department of German, Russian, and East-European Studies, The Hebrew University: Adjunct Lecturer
2013-2014
Department of Hebrew Literature, the Hebrew University and Department of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Sapir College: Adjunct Lecturer
2012-2013
Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies, Columbia University: Visiting Lecturer
2010-2012
Department of Hebrew Literature and the School of History, the Hebrew University: Adjunct Lecturer

Post-Doctoral Fellowships

2016-2018: German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development

2014-2015: Israeli Inter-University Partnership in Russian and East-European Studies

2013-2015: Daat Hamakom: I-Core in the Study of Modern Jewish Culture

2012-2013: Rabin Fellowship, Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University

2012-2013: Anne Tanenbaum Fellowship, Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto, (declined)

2011-2012: Warburg Fellowship, the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies, the Hebrew University

2010-2012: Herzl Fellowship, Cherrick Center for the Study of Zionism, the Yishuv, and the state of Israel, the Hebrew University

2010-2011: Yad Ben-Zvi Institute Post-Doctoral Award

Doctoral Awards

2006-2010: Israeli Council for Higher Education Rotenstreich Fellowship for Outstanding Doctoral Candidates (Vatat)

2010, 2006-2007:: Beit Shalom Aleichem Award for Doctoral Candidates

2005-2006: Shlomo Glass and Fanny Balaban-Glass Memorial Fund Award in Jewish studies, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University

2004-2005: David and Ruth Livingston Scholarship, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, the Hebrew University

2004-2005: Ginzburg Award, Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, the Hebrew University

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. Y. H. Brenner's Work and Its Connection to Russian Literature and Thought, Supervised by Prof. Menachem Brinker and Prof. Jonathan Frankel, 2010

 Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2015).¬ Wandering Heroes of Committed Literature: Nihilists and Nihilism in Russian Literature, 1862- 1866 [in Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Ha-Kibbutz Ha-Meuhad, 151 pages.

- English version (under contract). Bloomington, IN: Slavica, Indiana University.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2013). Jewish Letters in the Pushkin Library: Y. H. Brenner's Work and Its Connection to Russian Literature and Thought [in Hebrew]. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 260 pages.

Gordinsky N and Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2019). Guest editor of special issue of Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature:  The Image of European Metropolis in Modern Jewish Literature

Dubnov, A., Florsheim, F., and Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2009). Zionism As Seen from Without, part of the series Selected Issues in the History of the Yishuv and the State of Israel [in Hebrew]. Bialik Institute, 124 pages.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2020). "Genre and Politics: The Concept of Empire in Joseph  Brodksy's work",Partial Anwers: Journal of Litrerature and the History of Ideas, pp.119 - 143

Tsirkin-Sadan, R, (forthcoming 2020). "From Revision to Rehabilitation:  Simon Dubnov as a Literary Critic", Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Insituts [in German].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2019). "A Curse of Forbidden City: Peterburgian Sonnets of Haim Lensky and the Image of St. Petersburg in Russian and Hebrew Literature", Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature, pp. 121 – 142 [in Hebrew].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2017). "Empire, Nationalism and East-West Dichotomy in Samson by Ze’ev Zabotinsky", Theory and Criticism: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, pp. 81 – 104 [in Hebrew].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2014). "Between Marginal and Transnational: Post-Soviet Immigration in Hebrew Literature." East European Jewish Affairs, special issue on Jewish Migration, Vol. 44, pp. 253-268.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2012)."Tolstoy, Zionism and the Hebrew Culture." Tolstoy Studies Journal, volume XXIV, 2012, pp. 26-35.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2011)."Theology and Politics in The Brothers Karamazov", Zmanim, November 2011, pp. 52-65. [in Hebrew].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2009). "Y. H. Brenner's Criticism and the Theory of Russian Realism". Jerusalem Studies in Hebrew Literature, Vol. 23, pp. 183-214. [in Hebrew].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2019). "From Revision to Rehabilitation:  Simon Dubnov as a Literary Critic",  Am ve-Olam: A Tribute to Professor Israel Bartal, edited by Dimitry Shumsky, Jonathan Meir, Gershon David Hundert [in Hebrew]. Zalman Shazar Insitute for the Jewish History, pp. 97- 116.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2013). "Self-Evaluation by Means of Art: Brenner's Reading of Belinsky" in Bounded Mind and Soul: Russia and Israel, 1880-2010, edited by Horowitz, Brian and Shai Ginsburg. Bloomington, IN: Slavica, Indiana University. pp. 97-107.

Tsirkin-Sadan. R (2018). "Review on Shelly Zer Sion's HaBima in Berlin: the Institutionalization of a Zionist Theatre, East European Jewish Affairs, vol. 47, issue 2-3, pp. 324 – 327.

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2013). "Review of Leonid Livak's The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination: A Case of Russian Literature", Studies in Contemporary Jewry, vol. 27, pp. 328-330.

Tsirkin-Sadan. R. (2018). "Joseph Brodksy: The Last of the Imperial Poets". Alpayim and More: Multidisciplinary Journal for Contemporary Thought and Literature, Nitza Drori (ed.), pp. 194 -215. [in Hebrew].

Tsirkin-Sadan, R. (2013). "Margins of Freedom: Joseph Brodsky's Essayist Writing". Kol Kore: Metula Poetry Festival Vol. 1, Ury Hollander (ed.), May 2013: pp. 29-34. [in Hebrew]

Conferences

February 15-16, 2009: "'Self Evaluation' by means of art: Brenner Reading Belinskii"
International Conference: The Expanse of Russia in Israel
University of Tulane, New Orleans.

September 23, 2009: "The reception of Leo Tolstoy in the Hebrew Literature"
International Conference: Teach the Young According to Their Way: Trends in Late 19th-Early 20th Century Jewish Education
University College London

March 6-7, 2010:"Brenner's Literary Criticism and Theories of Russian Realism"
International Workshop: Perspectives on Brenner
Columbia University, New York

October 3-6, 2010: "Place, Language, and Belonging in Joseph Brodsky's Essays"
International Conference: In and Out of Place: Dynamics of Belonging, 2nd Annual German-Israeli Frontiers of Humanities Symposium (GISFOH 2010),
Potsdam

January 2, 2011: "Tolstoy, Zionism, and the Hebrew Culture",
The Scholion Lectures Marathon
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

October 15-19, 2012: "From Particular to Universal: Hebrew Literature by Post-Soviet Immigrants"
International Conference: Russian Jewish Migration Across Borders, Across Time Columbia University, New York

March 18, 2014: "Between Aesthetics and Politics: Reflections on Early Hebrew Criticism"
Inter-disciplinary conference: Borders
Sapir College, Sderot

June 24-26, 2014: "Brenner and Dostoevsky"
Annual Conference of National Association of Professors of Hebrew Annual Conference
Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva

Dec 28-30, 2014: "Simon Dubnov as Literary Critic"
International Conference in the honor of Prof. Israel Bartal: Making History Jewish
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

January 11-12, 2015: "The East-West Dichotomy in Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky's Samson"
International Conference: Mediating Israeli and East-European History
Saitama University, Tokyo

. March 15-16, 2015: "Cities of Joseph Brodsky"
International Workshop: To Moscow, To Moscow! European Metropolis and the birth of Modern Hebrew Literature,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

June 1, 2015: "Manuscripts don't burn! They turn into the movie scripts: Master and Margarita on the screen"
Annual Conference of Israeli Inter-University Partnership in Russian and East-European Studies
Ben Gurion University of Negev

May 15, 2017:"Sensualists or Revolutionaries? Sex and Radicalism in 19th century Russian Literature"
Conference: Autobiography Literature and Testimony in Russian Context and Beyond
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

October 16-17, 2017: "Slivers of Empire: Towards the Collective Biography of Post-Soviet Hebrew Writers"
International Conference Exodus of the Mind: East-West Knowledge Transfer Since 1989
German and Israeli foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), Potsdam

December 14-15. 2017: "Homel as a Laboratory of Modern Hebrew Literature"
International Workshop in the framework of GIF research project At their Surroundings: Localizing Modern Jewish Literatures in Eastern Europe
University of Regensburg

. December 26-28, 2017: "Round Table: Israeli Culture and the Reds"
International Conference Russian and Zionist Revolutions: Visions of New Society in 1917and Today 
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

October 23- 25, 2018: "Close Reading of Haim Lensky's poem 'The Day Came Down' 
International Conference Shared Spaces – Contact Zones: Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature in Eastern Europe
Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture, The University of Leipcig.

May 13-16, 2019: "Empire and Nationalism in Vladimir Jabotinsky's Samson
International Conferences Mapping Victorian Empires, Cultures, Identities
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The University of Haifa  

Guest Lectures and Seminars

April 27, 2010: "Y. H. Brenner's Work and Russian Thought and Literature"
Guest Lecture, Cummings Center for Russian and East-European Studies
Tel Aviv University

December 1, 2011: "The East-West Dichotomy in Russian Zionism"
Guest Lecture, Cherrick Center Forum for the Study of Zionism
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

February 25, 2014: "Post-Colonial Readings of Samson by Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky"
Guest lecture, Cherrick Center Annual Reception for Herzl Fellows
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

May 8, 2014: "Jerusalem as a Site of Desire: The Cases of Yehuda Amihai and Uri Zvi Greenberg"
Guest Lecture, Sapir College

February 20, 2015: "Hebrew Literature in the European context" (with Dr. Natasha Gordinsky)
Seminar, Deutsche Literaturarchiv, Marbach

May 19, 2016: "Under Russian Eyes: Israeli Place and Literature in Russian-language literature in Israel"
Guest Lecture, Cherrick Center Forum for the Study of Zionism
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

March 29, 2017: "Joseph Brodsky: The Last of Imperial Poets"
Guest Lecture, Department of Comparative Literature
Haifa University

June 2, 2019: "Eros and Revolution: Two Poles in The World of Leftist Radical in 19th Russian Literature"
Guest Lecture, Russian and East-European Studies Program
Tel Aviv University

June 5, 2019: "Nikolai Gogol and Bureaucracy"
Guest lecture, Department of Hebrew and General Literature   
Beit Berl College

Public Talks

December 18, 2011: "The Immigrant as a Critic, the Writer as an Immigrant," Keynote Address
Literary Encounter on Immigration and Literature with the participation of
H.E. Mr. Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel
President of the State of Israel Residence, Jerusalem

September 11, 2012: "Immigration in Modern Jewish Literature"
Columbia University Hillel, New York

February 2014: Series of lectures on Russian-Jewish Literature
Zalman Shazar Center, Jerusalem

December 1, 2014: "Between Jewish Renaissance and Russian Decadence: Literary Works by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky"
Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem

May 27, 2014: "Between Leo Tolstoy and Meir Shalev: Russian Romances of Hebrew Literature"
Catedra Lecture Series "Mother Russia and Eretz Israel"
Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv

April, 2019: "Literature as History, History as Literature: Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace"
Radio University Series War and Peace, Galei Tzahal 

  • 2018-2019: Russian Story: Heroes, Images, Ideas, MA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2017-2018: Saint Petersburg: Texts, Images, History, MA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2017-2018: After the Revolution: Russian Literature in 20th century, BA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2016-2017: Nikolay Gogol:  A Strange Classic of Russian Literature, BA,
    Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2016-2017: Literary and Philosophical World of Leo Tolstoy, BA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2015-2016: From Moscow to Jerusalem: Post-Soviet Immigration to Israel in Film and Literature, MA, Russian Studies, The Hebrew University 
  • 2015-2016: Literary and Philosophical Worlds of Fyodor Dostoevsky, BA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2015-2016: Introduction to Russian Literature, BA, Comparative Literature, Tel Aviv University
  • 2014-2015: Individual and Family in Leo Tolstoy's Works, BA, Russian Studies, The Hebrew University
  • 2014-2015: The October Revolution in Film and Literature, BA, Russian Studies, The Hebrew University
  • 2013-2014: Introduction to Romantic Literature, BA, Liberal Arts and Sciences Dept., Sapir College
  • 2013-2014: Immigration in Israeli Literature, Hebrew Literature Dept., BA, The Hebrew University
  • 2013-2014: The Magic of Russia in Hebrew Literature, BA, Hebrew Literature Dept., The Hebrew University
  • 2012-2013: The Image of Jerusalem in Modern Hebrew Literature, Columbia University
  • 2012-2013: Immigration in Modern Jewish Literature, Columbia University
  • 2010-2012: Trends in Modern Historiography BA, School of History, The Hebrew University
  • 2011-2012: Y. H. Brenner: Writer, Critic, Journalist, BA, Hebrew Literature Dept., The Hebrew University
  • 2011-2012: Zionist Socialism: Ideology and Culture, MA, History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Jewry Dept., The Hebrew University
  • 2010-2011:  Literature and Immigration from Eastern Europe, BA, School of Literature, The Hebrew University