Straus Center Welcomes Dr. Dara Horn as Distinguished Visiting Scholar

Dr. Dara Horn, Straus Center Visiting Scholar

Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought is proud to announce that Dr. Dara Horn will serve as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar during the 2019-2020 academic year. This fall, Dr. Horn will teach “When Bad Things Happen to Good People: Divine Justice and Human Creativity” at Stern College for Women. The course explores Jewish theodicy, which is the concept of divine providence coexisting with the presence of evil, through its expression in the works of Sholem Aleichem, Franz Kafka and S.Y. Agnon. In addition, Dr. Horn will mentor Straus Center students, contribute to Straus Center publications and participate in public events on behalf of the Center, including an S. Daniel Abraham Honors Program lecture “On Jewish Literature and Belief.” Dr. Horn received her PhD in comparative literature from Harvard University in 2006, studying Hebrew and Yiddish. In 2007, she was chosen by Granta as one of 20 “Best Young American Novelists.” She has published five acclaimed novels, all recipients of literary prizes. They include In the Image (National Jewish Book Award 2003 and Edward Lewis Wallant Award 2002); The World to Come (National Jewish Book Award for Fiction 2006, the Harold U. Ribalow Prize 2007, and San Francisco Chronicle's Best Books 2006); All Other Nights (Booklist's 25 Best Books of the Decade); A Guide for the Perplexed (Booklist‘s Best Books 2013); and Eternal Life (New York Times Notable Book 2018). In 2012, her nonfiction e-book The Rescuer, published by Tablet, became a Kindle bestseller. She has taught courses in Jewish literature and Israeli history at Sarah Lawrence College and City University of New York, is published frequently in the New York Times and Atlantic and was a Visiting Professor in Jewish Studies at Harvard, where she taught Yiddish and Hebrew literature. “I'm so excited to be teaching at YU,” said Dr. Horn. “After teaching at secular institutions in the past, it’s an honor to teach in a place whose approach to Jewish and Western civilization is so rigorous and rare. I’m looking forward to working with Stern students and the greater YU community—not just in teaching but in learning with everyone.” “The Straus Center is honored to welcome Dr. Horn,” said Dr. Stu Halpern, senior adviser to the provost and senior program officer of the Straus Center. “Her renowned eloquence both in the written and spoken word, as well as her dynamism, creativity, and humor will contribute greatly both in the classroom and beyond.”