Dr. Amit Levy

Historian of Knowledge and Migration

About Me

I am a cultural and intellectual historian specializing in modern Middle Eastern, European, and Jewish history, imperial history, and the global history of knowledge. My research examines how ideas, scholarly practices, and institutions migrate across borders and take shape in imperial and colonial contexts, offering multifocal perspectives on modern intellectual and institutional change. I am an Assistant Professor (Senior Lecturer) in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University.

My first book, A New Orient: From German Scholarship to Middle Eastern Studies in Israel (Brandeis University Press, 2024), explores the migration of German academic traditions into new political and cultural settings. The book, which grew out of my doctoral dissertation, was honored with the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award from the Association for Jewish Studies. A Hebrew edition was published by Magnes Press in 2024 and received the Ish-Shalom Award from Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.

Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award Winner

A New Orient

From German Scholarship to Middle Eastern Studies in Israel

Published by Brandeis University Press (2024)

This book traces the impact of German-Jewish émigré scholars on the establishment of Middle Eastern studies in Mandatory Palestine and Israel, revealing the complex negotiation between the traditions of German philology and the emerging political realities of the Middle East.

Order from Brandeis UP
Cover of A New Orient: From German Scholarship to Middle Eastern Studies in Israel

Media & Conversations

The Tel Aviv Review (TLV1)

"How do you say Orientalism in Hebrew?" — An interview with Dr. Amit Levy on the intellectual roots of Israeli Middle Eastern Studies.

Conversation with Arie Dubnov

Tauber Institute Author Conversations: A deep dive into the migration of knowledge and German-Jewish heritage.

Review by Sabine Mangold-Will

Revue d’histoire des sciences humaines (2026). "A study well worth reading... calmly and quietly dispels long-held images."

Review by Nora Derbal

Die Welt des Islams (2026). "Amit Levy’s carefully crafted A New Orient makes a powerful intervention... The book is a treasure trove."

Critical Praise

"An engaging story of German Jewish Orientalists... Levy explores the dilemmas faced by these scholars and the tensions between European traditions and Middle Eastern reality."

Hillel Cohen — Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"A fine model for how to write a fair-minded history of academic institutions in the post-colonial world."

Suzanne L. Marchand — Louisiana State University

"Levy deserves special praise for providing a nuanced history that will be received with great interest... for anyone interested in Orientalism."

Zvi Ben-Dor Benite — New York University

Publications

Books Articles & Chapters Other Contributions Magazines & Blogs Book Reviews

Books

2024

A New Orient: From German Scholarship to Middle Eastern Studies in Israel

Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press. (Revised and updated English edition).

Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award (AJS)
Reviewed by Sabine Mangold-Will for Revue d’histoire des sciences humaines 47 (2026): 241–44.
Reviewed by Nora Derbal for Die Welt des Islams (2026).
Publisher Page Review (Mangold-Will) Review (Derbal)
2024

A New Orient: From German Orientalism to Israeli Mizrahanut

Jerusalem: The Hebrew University Magnes Press (Hebrew).

M. Ish-Shalom Award (Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi) Honorable Mention, Am Ve’Olam Award Honorable Mention, Zalman Shazar Award
Reviewed by Gil Eyal for Israeli Sociology 26, no. 1 (2025): 169–171 (Hebrew); Yoav Alon for Israel 34 (2025): 207–211 (Hebrew); Hanan Harif for The New East 64 (2025): 275–78 (Hebrew); Meir Hatina for Chidushim 27, no. 2 (2025): 247–52 (Hebrew).
Publisher Page

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles & Book Chapters

2026

‘To Know the Learned Arab’: Students from Mount Scopus at the American University of Beirut, 1934–1940

Zion 92: 67–89 (Hebrew).

2025

Whose Jewish History is it Anyway? Ideology and Practice in the Study of the Jewish Communities from the Islamic World in Nascent Israel

(co-authored with Hanan Harif). Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 24, no. 2: 368–92.

Read here (Open Access)
2025

‘Send my regards to those working on the al-Balādhurī manuscript’: The Study of Arabic and Islam in Interwar Jerusalem as Intellectual Common Ground

In Rachel Mairs et al. (eds.), Colonial Vocabularies: Teaching and Learning Arabic in Europe (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press), 159–86.

Read here (Open Access)
2024

Visualizing Farewell: A Jewish Soldier’s Return to Postwar Germany through Private Photography

Jewish Culture and History 25, no. 2: 233–54.

Read here
2024

‘A Complete, Multifaceted Discipline’: The Debate over the History of Jews in Muslim Lands and its Teaching

(co-authored with Hanan Harif). In Uzi Rebhun and Yfaat Weiss (eds.), The History of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: The Nation State and Higher Education (Jerusalem: Magnes Press), 687–718 (Hebrew).

2024

Rediscovering the Goldziher Legacy in Jerusalem: Religion, Language, and History in the Making of a Hebrew University

In H.J. Becker et al. (eds.), Building Bridges: Ignaz Goldziher and His Correspondents (Leiden: Brill), 139–64.

2023

Conflicting German Orientalism: Zionist Arabists and Arab Scholars, 1926–1938

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 50, no. 5: 1112–31.

Read here
2018

The Archive as Storyteller: Refractions of German-Jewish Oriental Studies Migration in Personal Archives

Jahrbuch des Dubnow-Instituts / Dubnow Institute Yearbook XVII: 425–46.

2016

A Man of Contention: Martin Plessner (1900–1973) and His Encounters with the Orient

Naharaim: Journal of German-Jewish Literature and Cultural History 10, no. 1: 79–100.

Read here
2016

‘The Sheik’: Understanding American Orientalism through Visual and Narrative Differences in Three Decades of Discussion

Slil: Online Journal for History, Film and Television 10: 39–57 (Hebrew).

Download PDF
2015

‘Ma’alesh, Nistader’: Arabic in the Folklore of the Palmach during the 1940s

Hayo Haya: Student History Journal 11: 46–66 (Hebrew).

Download PDF

Other Academic Contributions

2020

A Discipline in a Suitcase: The Scientific Nachlass of Josef Horovitz

In Elisabeth Gallas et al. (eds.), Contested Heritage: Jewish Cultural Property after 1945 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht), 117–27.

2018

Der wissenschaftliche Nachlass von Josef Horovitz

In: Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, Archives of German–Jewish Scholarship (2018).

2016

Israel. Orientalist Collections at the National Library of Israel

Geschichte der Germanistik 49/50: 147–48.

Magazines & Blogs

2024

Den Orient erforschen: Kontakte zwischen jĂŒdischen und arabischen Gelehrten in der Mandatszeit

JĂŒdische Geschichte & Kultur. Magazin des Dubnow-Instituts 8 (2024/2025): 28–29.

Online

German Heritage in Word Cards: The Concordance of Classical Arabic Poetry in Jerusalem

Mimeo: Blog der Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden am Dubnow-Institut.

Blog Post
Online

Envisioning a Hebrew University: IgnĂĄc Goldziher on the University in Jerusalem

Mimeo: Blog der Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden am Dubnow-Institut.

Blog Post
2018

Elyakim Gotthold Weil

Ad Acta: The Hebrew University, Jewish Scholars, and the Exile from Europe (with Tom Eshed).

Online

‘There is a need for a native quality Arabic speaker’: Isaac Shamosh, the First Oriental Lecturer in the School of Oriental Studies, 1936–1937

The Historical Archive of the Hebrew University Blog.

Blog Post

Book Reviews

2020

Review of Eyal Clyne, Orientalism, Zionism and Academic Practice: Middle East and Islam Studies in Israeli Universities

The New East 59: 207–210 (Hebrew).