WINNIPEG — Justin Jaron Lewis, right, an academic from Queen’s University, has been hired as an assistant professor of Judaism at the University of Manitoba, which is reviving its department of Judaic studies.

Lewis is currently an assistant professor in the department of religious studies at Queen’s and has served as the director of Jewish studies there. He has been hired for a full-time, tenure-track appointment at U of M and arrives in Winnipeg this summer.

“I am very excited about coming to Winnipeg with my family,” Lewis told The CJN in a telephone interview.

Lewis received his rabbinic ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in New York in 2001. “The academy is a rabbinical school that is interdenominational. I studied with others who were Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, everything, all streams of Judaism… I define myself as Jewish, non-denominational,” he said.

Lewis, who is also a professional storyteller, has a special interest in chassidic studies. His book, Imagining Holiness: Classic Hasidic Tales, will be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press as part of the Studies in the History of Religion series

“I spent last Rosh Hashanah in Ukraine with my 12-year-old son, going to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav [in the town of Uman]. This was a major chassidic pilgrimage of 25,000 men and boys,” he said

Lewis, who is fluent in English, French, Hebrew, German and Yiddish, and speaks Yiddish to his two children at home, said he is “very excited about the rich history of Yiddish culture in Winnipeg.”

Assistant U of M professor Ben Baader, who teaches Jewish history there, said Lewis’ hiring is a very positive development for the university and the Jewish community here.

“I am very much looking forward to building the Jewish studies department with Dr. Lewis and [think] he will be a wonderful addition to our community.”

According to Baader, Lewis’ hiring is one that was very much needed, and he hopes it will breathe new life into Judaic studies on campus.  

“The position that Dr. Lewis will be filling is the position that was once occupied by the late Rabbi Moshe Stern before he became ill. The position has not been filled for many years, and there was an obvious gap that existed,” Baader said.

“There have been ongoing conversations in the department of religion to revive the Jewish studies program. The dean of arts, Richard Sigurdson, has been very supportive and last year the department of religion made the position in Judaics a hiring priority.”

Baader hopes that in the not-too-distant future another person will be hired by the university to join himself and Lewis in teaching Judaics.

“There is talk of creating a third position. With a third person, we would be able to run a Jewish studies program or perhaps a centre for [Jewish] research. This is in the works. The funding is still in the process,” he said.

“Since there haven’t been Jewish studies taught [at U of M] for years, we want people to know that there will be new classes offered in this area. We hope there will be an enthusiastic student response, and then we will be able to build a third position.”

This fall, Lewis will teach a class on rabbinical Judaism at U of M, and in the winter of 2009, he will teach a class on contemporary Judaism.

Lewis received his PhD in post-biblical Hebrew language and literature from the department of near and Middle Eastern civilizations at the University of Toronto in 2003. Until 2007, he was the rabbi of Congregation Iyr HaMelech, in Kingston, Ont., where he was responsible for adult education.

He is the author of Many Pious Women, an annotated translation of an early 16th-century Yiddish manuscript, which will be published by the Jewish Publication Society in Philadelphia.

In addition to teaching on campus, Lewis hopes to get involved in storytelling in Winnipeg.

“I like to tell chassidic stories, and my wife, Jane [Enkin], is a singer and storyteller who uses Jewish materials in her storytelling,” he said

“We’re also excited about the folk-music scene in Winnipeg. We’ve heard about the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which is very well-known.”