Steven Weitzman

Steven Weitzman is a scholar of biblical and Jewish studies. He applies insights from the study of religion, literary theory, anthropology, and other fields to understand the origins of Jewish culture, the formation of the Bible and other ancient texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the history of how the Bible has been reimagined in later cultural traditions. Among his recent projects is a collaboration with a Stanford geneticist that aims to bridge Jewish studies and population genetics.

As director of the Katz Center, Weitzman leads this distinguished research institute into its third decade of post-doctoral research on Jewish civilization in all its historical and cultural manifestations.

Weitzman received his Ph.D. from Harvard after completing his B.A. at UC Berkeley, and had previously spent several years teaching in the Department of Religious Studies at Indiana University, where he served as director of its Jewish Studies program for 6 years.

Weitzman’s latest book, The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age, was named the winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in the Education and Jewish Identity Category.