Joel Braunstein wins the Jill Stacey Harris undergraduate essay prize
May 28, 2025
The Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies is pleased to award this year’s Jill Stacey Harris Prize in Jewish Studies to Joel Braunstein. Braunstein submitted his paper “The ‘Golden Age’ of Judaism Through the Lens of al-Andalusian Poetry” to Prof. Jonathan Brack's course “Jews and Muslims: Intertwined Worlds”.
Braunstein's essay stood out for its outstanding combination of historical depth, literary insight, and analytical clarity. Elegantly argued and thoroughly researched, it situates Hebrew poetry within the broader dynamics of Jewish-Muslim cultural exchange in medieval al-Andalus.
The Jill Stacey Harris Prize in Jewish Studies has been awarded annually since 1991 for the best undergraduate essay in the field of Jewish Studies. Student papers are nominated by the faculty in Jewish Studies and an independent committee evaluates and judges the nominated submissions.