Columbia SIPA and IIJS is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet and East European Jewry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, who will join the faculty in July 2026. In addition to his teaching and other work for SIPA, Dekel-Chen will teach one course at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies (IIJS) for undergraduate students each academic year.
Dekel-Chen brings deep expertise in modern Jewish history, nonstate diplomacy, transnational philanthropy and advocacy, agrarian history, and migration. At SIPA, he will teach three new courses. The first will explore the intersection of Jewish legacies in Eastern Europe with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The second course will deal with Russia’s engagement in the Middle East since 1774. The third will approach modern Israeli history from multiple perspectives. As part of his work at SIPA, he will also lead workshops and roundtables through the Institute of Global Politics (IGP).
“The ongoing wars in Ukraine and in the Middle East warrant greater reflection in academia, particularly through the prism of how Russia sees the world, which is informed by its own historical narratives,” said Dekel-Chen. “I hope to bring a holistic perspective to these and other modern conflicts – one informed by my scholarship and my own ground-level experiences in these wars.”
Dekel-Chen served for many years as the academic chairman of the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry at Hebrew University. He has also served as chairman of the Russian Studies Department and of the Jewish History Department at Hebrew University. Jonathan has been a visiting professor and research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Columbia’s Harriman Institute, and at the Kennan Institute.
“Jonathan’s background and expertise are exactly what we need to help make sense of today’s conflicts, from Gaza to Ukraine,” said SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo. “We are incredibly fortunate to welcome him to SIPA, and I know our students will benefit enormously from his scholarly insights and unique perspective shaped by his own story.”