Elazar
Ben-Lulu

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Israel Institute Visiting Faculty Fellowship

Research Topic

Celebrations in LGBT Families: A Comparative Analysis of Reform Jewish Life-Cycle Rituals in the United States and Israel

Bio

Elazar Ben-Lulu is an anthropologist of religion and gender with particular interest in the intersection of LGBTQ identities and Judaism, and a member of the Azrieli Center for Israel Studies at The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. During his time at the Katz Center, Ben-Lulu will be studying Jewish life-cycle rituals in American and Israeli LGBT families in Reform congregations.

Ben-Lulu completed his PhD at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a dissertation titledGender, Prayer and Recognition in Israeli Reform Congregations.” He was previously a visiting scholar at Fordham University and a post-doctoral fellow at the Ben-Gurion Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Selected publications

  • 'Who Will Say Kaddish for Me?' The American Reform Jewish Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies (2020)
  • 'We are Already Dried Fruits': Women Celebrating a Tu BiSh'vat Seder in an Israeli Reform Congregation, Contemporary Jewry (2020)
  • “Let Us Bless the Twilight”: Intersectionality of Traditional Jewish Ritual and Queer Pride in a Reform Congregation in Israel,” Journal of Homosexuality (2018)
  • “Reform Israeli Female Rabbis Perform Community Leadership,” Journal of Religion & Society (2017)

Fellowship

2020–2021

Delving into some of the most pressing debates within US history and Jewish history, and examining vital questions shaping Jewish cultural studies, literary theory, and social scientific inquiry