Jonathan Sarna

Jonathan D. Sarna holds the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professorship of American Jewish History in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and serves as director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. Sarna has had a significant impact on the field of American Jewish history and has been recognized by Forward as one of America's fifty most influential American Jews. He studied with Sydney Ahlstrom, a leading historian of American religious history, who influenced Sarna to examine American Jewish history through the lens of religious history, shaping his approach to the study of American Judaism.

Sarna is the author or editor of more than 30 books on American Jewish history and life and serves as chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History. His book, "American Judaism: A History," received the National Jewish Book Award, was named Publishers Weekly's Best Religion Book, and won multiple awards, including the Everett Jewish Book of the Year Award from the Jewish Book Council. The book is regarded as a definitive history of American Jewry.

One of Sarna's widely cited academic contributions is his scholarship on Ulysses S. Grant's relationship with American Jews. In "When General Grant Expelled the Jews," Sarna argues that Grant, who had issued an order expelling Jewish traders from his military command, later became a significant ally of Jews in American history. Another major work, "Lincoln and the Jews: A History," co-authored with Benjamin Shapell, explores Abraham Lincoln's relationship with American Jews and its impact on his presidency and policy decisions. Sarna also rediscovered Cora Wilburn, a 19th-century poet and author of the first American Jewish novel.

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Sarna is the only American Jewish historian to receive this distinction. He has received the Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award from the American Jewish Historical Society, the Lincoln Prize, the American Jewish Committee Akiba Award, and the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry's Marshall Sklare Award, as well as several honorary doctorates.

Sarna has taught and lectured on four continents, appeared in documentary films, and is regularly quoted in newspapers worldwide. His influence is evident among his former doctoral students, who are active scholars around the world. The Maimonides Fund and the American Jewish Historical Society hosted a symposium in his honor, highlighting the broad impact of his scholarship on both academic and Jewish communal life. After decades of service on the Brandeis faculty, Sarna's work continues to make American Jewish history accessible and relevant to both academic and general audiences.