Center for Jewish and Israeli Law Offers New Approach to Interdisciplinary Study

The Howard Wexler Brodie ’93 Center for Jewish and Israeli Law at Yale Law School, set to launch at the start of the 2024–2025 academic year, will support research in and engagement with Jewish law, Israeli law, and the intersection of the two fields. The new Center is named after Law School graduate Howard Wexler Brodie ’93. 

Led by Shibley Family Fund Professor of Law Yair Listokin ’05, the Center aims to be an interdisciplinary hub for Yale Law School’s offerings related to Jewish and Israeli law, including scholarship, research projects, events, and student reading groups.

Listokin, a scholar of law and economics, has long been fascinated by the history of this area of the law and has studied trends in Jewish law spanning more than 1,200 years.

“The study of both Jewish and Israeli law has a long tradition at Yale Law School,” Listokin said, citing as an example Professor Robert Cover’s pathbreaking 1983 article “Nomos and Narrative.” “This new center will reestablish the Law School as an intellectual leader in these fields while pioneering new research.”

In keeping with the Law School’s tradition of fostering new ideas in legal theory, the Center will apply novel thinking to age-old questions in each field. By using a social science methodology — as opposed to a law and humanities orientation that is the norm in studying Jewish and Israeli law — Listokin seeks to facilitate innovative ideas when considering trends in Jewish law and ancient legal questions in particular.

“I hope to bring my social science skills to bear through this work and promote new hypotheses and dynamic conversations,” Listokin said.

One project already underway in collaboration with computer scientists from Tel Aviv and Bar-Ilan Universities uses machine learning techniques. Listokin hopes to classify a dataset of hundreds of thousands of “responsa” — published rabbinical answers to questions of Jewish law — spanning more than 1,200 years of history. The project aims to identify trends in the evolution of Jewish Law over the millennia.  

To help move forward the work of the Center, Listokin has hired inaugural fellow Ben Ohavi, whose areas of interest include private law theory and philosophy of Jewish law. Ohavi is currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation at Hebrew University. In his dissertation, Ohavi explores various conceptions of private ownership in Talmudic law, using historical and contemporary property law theories. 

The Center joins a long tradition at Yale Law School of centers, programs, and workshops that cover a remarkable range of inquiry to enrich the School’s intellectual life through vibrant programming and critical scholarly work. Listokin said the Center plans to partner with other Law School centers and programs to engage across disciplines and with different perspectives as it relates to this area of the law

The Center’s launch is made possible thanks to the philanthropic commitment from Howard Wexler Brodie ’93, which signifies his strong belief in the importance of the new Center and Yale Law School’s enduring values. He hopes that others will join him in contributing to this new initiative. 

“I am deeply honored to support the establishment of the new Center for Jewish and Israeli Law at Yale Law School,” said Brodie. “This gift is a tribute to the rich tradition of Jewish and Israeli law scholarship at Yale. In light of the alarming rise of antisemitism on college campuses, it is more crucial than ever to foster an environment where understanding and scholarship can flourish. Yale Law School is instrumental in training future leaders, and I believe that dialogue and academic inquiry are vital tools in combating discrimination and promoting inclusivity. My hope is that the Center will inspire future generations to engage deeply with these important issues, driving forward both legal scholarship and the fight against intolerance.”

“I am grateful for Howard’s generosity and the unwavering support of the Brodie family,” said Dean Heather K. Gerken. “Yair Listokin is a remarkable scholar, and he brings enormous energy and expertise to these fields. I expect the Center to play an important role in fostering dialogue, debate, and understanding at Yale Law School as it pushes forward a new scholarly path.”

The recent gift naming the new Center adds to Howard Wexler Brodie’s ongoing support for his alma mater. His first gift to Yale Law School in 2022 helped recruit a fellow for the Center for the Study of Private Law. Subsequent gifts have supported important programming on academic freedom and reaching across divides. Brodie also serves as a member of the School’s Fund Board, where he is both an engaged fundraising volunteer and student mentor.