Ben-Gurion University Honors IAS Director David Nirenberg

In a ceremony held yesterday, October 20, 2026, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev presented David Nirenberg, the Institute for Advanced Study’s Director and Leon Levy Professor, with an honorary doctorate. The degree was conferred during the university's International Board of Governors meeting in Israel.

Nirenberg is a historian of the ways in which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic societies have defined themselves in relation to one another. Ben-Gurion University honored him as "one of the foremost intellectuals of our time, and a dedicated mentor to historians in Israel and around the world." His scholarship, the university wrote, "has deepened our understanding of religious and cultural dynamics," and has "significantly shaped intellectual discourse in the fields of history, interreligious encounters, and Jewish studies."

The university also recognized Nirenberg's role in establishing the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters at Ben-Gurion, which it described as "invaluable in fostering critical academic dialogue." In extending the honor, Ben-Gurion University President Daniel A. Chamovitz wrote that Nirenberg's presence among the university's honorees "reflects our shared commitment to intellectual rigor, academic excellence, and the advancement of knowledge in service of society."

Nirenberg became the Institute's tenth Director in 2021. His books include Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages (1996), Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition (2013), Neighboring Faiths: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages and Today (2014), and, with his father Ricardo L. Nirenberg, Uncountable: A Philosophical History of Number and Humanity from Antiquity to the Present (2021).

Read more about the honorary doctorate on the Ben-Gurion website.