Elias Sacks

Elias Sacks publishes a new article in the Journal of Textual Reasoning

Maggie Rosenau — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:20:32 +0000

Elias Sacks publishes a new article in the Journal of Textual Reasoning Maggie Rosenau Tue, 06/09/2026 - 13:20

Elias Sacks published "Can God Reject the Jewish People?: Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, Supersessionism, and Modern Jewish Thought” in the Journal of Textual Reasoning. The article explores the first verse-by-verse Hebrew commentary on the gospels by a traditionalist Jew, asking what this text reveals about the history of Jewish thought and the future of Jewish-Christian relations.

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Under the leadership of Elias Sacks, a team from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder received a $299,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar program

Maggie Rosenau — Tue, 12 May 2026 16:10:18 +0000

Under the leadership of Elias Sacks, a team from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder received a $299,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar program Maggie Rosenau Tue, 05/12/2026 - 10:10

Under the leadership of Elias Sacks, a team from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder received a $299,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar program to support "Restoring Trust: Humanistic Perspectives on Academic Freedom, American Democracy and Higher Education Leadership." This three-year initiative was highlighted in Chancellor Justin Schwartz’s State of the Campus address and explores how administrators and humanities faculty can collaborate to foster free, open conversations on divisive issues and rebuild trust in higher education.

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Elias Sacks publishes five articles in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception

Maggie Rosenau — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:45:09 +0000

Elias Sacks publishes five articles in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Maggie Rosenau Wed, 07/30/2025 - 11:45

Elias Sacks recently published five articles in volume 23 of The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR), the first comprehensive research tool to fully explore the history of interpretation and reception of biblical themes, concepts, and figures in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, other religions, and the arts. His articles explore topics such as peace and peacemaking, Pentateuchal criticism, and peshat (the Bible's plain or straightforward sense). Sacks is also the modern Judaism editor for the EBR and recently served as the project's acting overall Judaism editor.

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Elias Sacks taught a four-session course on Modern Judaism for the Wexner Heritage Program

Maggie Rosenau — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 17:30:14 +0000

Elias Sacks taught a four-session course on Modern Judaism for the Wexner Heritage Program Maggie Rosenau Thu, 07/17/2025 - 11:30

Elias Sacks recently taught a four-session course on Modern Judaism for the Wexner Heritage Program, a multi-year educational experience focused on Jewish learning and leadership training for volunteer leaders in communities across North America. He taught for the program's Toronto cohort, exploring topics including the challenges of Jewish modernity, diverse visions of modernization across the globe, theological and philosophical responses to the Holocaust, and contemporary debates about gender, sexuality, and interfaith marriage.

This spring, Sacks also delivered invited presentations at the University of Maryland, Princeton University, the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and the University of Toronto.

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Elias Sacks to Produce First English Translation of Hebrew Philosophical Classic

Maggie Rosenau — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 21:01:53 +0000

Elias Sacks to Produce First English Translation of Hebrew Philosophical Classic Maggie Rosenau Wed, 02/05/2025 - 14:01

Elias Sacks has signed a contract with Yale University Press to produce the first English translation of The Guide of the Perplexed of the Time (Moreh Nevukei Ha-zeman), the unfinished Hebrew magnum opus of the Eastern European Jewish philosopher Nachman Krochmal (1785-1840). A businessperson and communal leader who taught himself German, French, Latin, Arabic, and Syriac, Krochmal is widely recognized as a key figure in Jewish encounters with historicism, biblical criticism, and German Idealism, and exercised considerable influence on the development of Jewish nationalism and the academic study of Judaism. Produced in collaboration with Lawrence Kaplan (McGill University), this translation will appear in the Yale Judaica Series, a joint initiative of the Program in Jewish Studies at Yale University and Yale University Press.

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Director Elias Sacks publishes a new book review in Modern Theology

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 18:07:15 +0000

Director Elias Sacks publishes a new book review in Modern Theology Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/20/2022 - 12:07

Director Elias Sacks' review of Randi Rashkover's book "Nature and Norm: Judaism, Christianity, and the Theopolitical Problem” has been published in Modern Theology.

You can access the review here.

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Announcement from Director Elias Sacks

Anonymous — Mon, 09 May 2022 16:48:03 +0000

Announcement from Director Elias Sacks Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/09/2022 - 10:48

To the Program in Jewish Studies Community:

I hope that this email finds you healthy and safe. As the 2021-2022 academic year comes to a close, I’m writing to share the news that, in January 2023, I'll be leaving the �鶹��Ѱ�� to become the Director of the Jewish Publication Society. As some of you may know, JPS is the nation’s oldest non-profit focused on promoting accessible scholarship on the Jewish tradition: JPS is responsible for the English translation of the Hebrew Bible used in most academic and Jewish communal contexts, as well as for publications ranging from translations of classical Jewish sources to anthologies for use in academic and non-academic settings to books on ancient, medieval, and modern Jewish life. As Director, I’ll be charged with working with JPS’s Board of Trustees, as well as with the academic and non-academic communities JPS serves, to craft the organization’s vision and agenda, and with spearheading the programmatic work involved in actualizing that vision and agenda. This will largely be a remote position, so my family and I will continue to make Denver our home (even as I travel more frequently to the east coast and elsewhere).

As excited as I am about this new role, this news is also bittersweet for me: I've loved the work I’ve been able to pursue and the community I've been able to help create here. However, the JPS position is one that will invite me to pursue, on a national and international stage, the work that I’ve treasured most during my time as Director of Jewish Studies: the work of building bridges between scholars and the broader public, of facilitating the emergence of new and diverse scholarly voices, and of creating partnerships with individuals, communities, and organizations across the US (and beyond). I won’t begin my new position until January 2023, so I’ll be at �鶹��Ѱ��throughout the summer and fall to work with my colleagues to facilitate a smooth transition — and even beyond January, I’ll be staying in Denver, so I’ll remain a resource for the program and the community.

We’ll share more information in the fall about who will succeed me as Director. In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude: to CU’s students, whose intellectual excitement, courage, and commitment amid unprecedented challenges have been nothing short of inspirational; to my faculty and staff colleagues in Boulder, whose passion, vision, wisdom, and integrity exemplify what a vibrant intellectual community can and should look like; and to all of you, within Colorado and beyond, whose love of learning, and belief in the value of higher education, are models for what our society needs, now more than ever. I’m so very honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to serve this community, and I’m looking forward to new opportunities to work, learn, and grow together.

With gratitude and admiration,

Elias Sacks
Director, Program in Jewish Studies
Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies
�鶹��Ѱ��
elias.sacks@colorado.edu

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A feature article on the new "Jews of Color: Histories and Futures" initiative appears in the Forward.

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 23:57:29 +0000

A feature article on the new "Jews of Color: Histories and Futures" initiative appears in the Forward. Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/24/2022 - 16:57

Read about the new Henry Luce Foundation supported initiative, “Jews of Color: Histories and Futures,” spearheaded by Samira K. Mehta:

"‘A chance to change the world’ — new initiative to elevate voices and experiences of Jews of Color"

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Meet the Incoming Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, Elias Sacks

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 18:54:30 +0000

Meet the Incoming Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, Elias Sacks Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/31/2019 - 11:54

We are excited to announce that Elias Sacks, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, will begin his term as Director of the Program in Jewish Studies on January 1, 2020. We would also like to thank Professor Beverly Weber for serving as Interim Director during the Fall 2019 semester and for all of the wonderful work she did for the Program. Professor Weber will resume her duties as the Progam’s Director of Graduate Studies in the Spring 2020 semester.

Meet Professor Elias Sacks

Elias Sacks is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies and joined the �鶹��Ѱ�� faculty in 2012. His research and teaching focus on Jewish thought, Jewish-Christian relations, philosophy of religion, religion and politics, and religious ethics, with a particular interest in the modern period. He is the author of Moses Mendelssohn’s Living Script: Philosophy, Practice, History, Judaism (Indiana University Press, 2017), as well as articles on medieval and modern thinkers such as Moses Maimonides, Baruch Spinoza, Nachman Krochmal, Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Jacob Taubes. Sacks also published some of the first English translations of Moses Mendelssohn’s Hebrew writings in Moses Mendelssohn: Writings on Judaism, Christianity, and the Bible (Brandeis University Press, 2011), which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He sits on the board of the Society of Jewish Ethics and is a past president of the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains Region of the American Academy of Religion / Society of Biblical Literature. Since arriving at CU, he has served as Associate Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, Associate Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and a member of the Center for Humanities and the Arts steering committee.

"I’m humbled and excited to take over as Director of Jewish Studies because I believe that what we do in this program stands at the heart of what a public university can and must do in the twenty-first century. By fostering the interdisciplinary exploration of global Jewish culture, history, religion, and thought, we provide students with the skills to become critical thinkers and engaged global citizens; we empower faculty to pose new questions and generate new knowledge; and we engage the broader public to wrestle with ethical, political, and religious questions central to contemporary life. I am deeply grateful for Beverly Weber’s dedicated service as Interim Director this past semester and for the leadership of our predecessors, Nan Goodman and David Shneer.”

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Elias Sacks' Visit to the University of Virginia

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 19:10:57 +0000

Elias Sacks' Visit to the University of Virginia Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/26/2019 - 12:10

Elias Sacks, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies and Incoming Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, recently visited the University of Virginia to lecture on Jewish thought and anti-intellectualism, give a colloquium on the Frankfurt School and critical theory, and lead discussions with undergraduate and graduate students. His visit was sponsored by the University of Virginia's Jewish Studies Program, Center for the Study of Religion, and Center for German Studies.

Learn More About Professor Elias Sacks

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Elias Sacks

Elias Sacks publishes a new article in the Journal of Textual Reasoning

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Under the leadership of Elias Sacks, a team from �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder received a $299,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar program

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Elias Sacks publishes five articles in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception

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Elias Sacks taught a four-session course on Modern Judaism for the Wexner Heritage Program

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Elias Sacks to Produce First English Translation of Hebrew Philosophical Classic

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Director Elias Sacks publishes a new book review in Modern Theology

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Announcement from Director Elias Sacks

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A feature article on the new "Jews of Color: Histories and Futures" initiative appears in the Forward.

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Meet the Incoming Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, Elias Sacks

Meet Professor Elias Sacks

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Elias Sacks' Visit to the University of Virginia

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Under the leadership of Elias Sacks, a team from �鶹��Ѱ��Boulder received a $299,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar program