Introduction to the Special Forum Reflecting on the Social Scientific Study of Jewry—and Beyond

This past summer the editor-in-chief of Contemporary Jewry, Harriet Hartman, called for papers for a special issue of Contemporary Jewry, Although the initial impetus for this call was in response to a sexual harassment charge, a charge admitted to by the offender, that call goes well beyond sexual harassment and misconduct. It asks us to rethink how gender, power, authority and voice influence the ways we produce (and reproduce) knowledge in our respective disciplines and how we conduct research and make policy decisions. In true feminist fashion as an answer to that call by the ad hoc editorial board for this forum, a collective voice representing all genders, tenured and untenured, academics and policy makers who are members or affiliates of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ).