Major scholarly fields of interest:
Jewish History, Israeli History, History of Zionism, Antisemitism, Holocaust Memory, Diplomacy, Citizenship.
Current Projects:
Knowledge Production on Antisemitism in Israel-Diaspora Relations, 1960-1988
This research project analyzes and theorizes, from a historical perspective, the debates between Israeli officials and leaders of Jewish diaspora organizations regarding who holds the responsibility to confront antisemitism and how this issue has shaped the history of Israel-diaspora relations. My goal is to analyze the role of knowledge production on antisemitism in these relations, examine the different approaches taken by Israel and various Jewish diaspora organizations, and explore the role of experts and expertise in these discussions. I aim to examine whether these debates between Israel and the Jewish diaspora shed light on how gaining Jewish political sovereignty may have altered the very meaning of antisemitism. I place special emphasis on Jacob Robinson’s biography and his vital role in early discussions on antisemitism, as a prominent figure in both Israel and the Jewish diaspora.
Education:
2019-2024: PhD Candidate, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2020: M.A., Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
2017: B.A., History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Post-Doctoral Research:
2024: Research fellow, Jacob Robinson Institute for the History of Individual and Collective Rights, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Publications:
Eshed, Tom (forthcoming). “Claiming the Dead: Israeli Postmortem Citizenship for Holocaust Victims, 1950-1955”, History & Memory.
Eshed, Tom (2021). "The Righteous Among the Nations and Israeli Foreign Relations", Politika (Hebrew). https://davis.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/davisinst/files/Tom_Eshed.pdf
Eshed, Tom (2022). “Review of Jeffrey Herf’s ‘Israel’s Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949”, George L. Mosse Program Blog.
https://mosseprogram.wisc.edu/2022/08/18/eshed/
Eshed, Tom (2021). “An Unprecedent Act of Homage: Hersch Lauterpacht and the Initiative to Posthumously Confer Israeli Citizenship upon Holocaust Victims during the 1950s”, Mimeo.
https://mimeo.dubnow.de/an-unprecedented-act-of-homage/