Scienceמוריס (משה) רומני

Maurice Roumani

Maurice Roumani is a professor of politics and international relations at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the founder of its Elyachar Center for the study of Sephardi heritage.

Founding the Elyachar CenterResearch on Libyan JewryHolocaust policies in North Africa

Occupation: university teacher, political scientist, sociologist
Education: Brandeis University, University of Chicago

The story of Maurice Roumani's life

Roumani studied at the Hebrew school in Benghazi and at the Istituto De La Salle. In 1960 he received a scholarship to study at Brandeis University in the United States. As the political situation in Libya grew worse, his family joined him there.

He earned a B.A. at Brandeis and an M.A. at the University of Chicago, where he studied international relations and the Middle East with Hans Morgenthau and Leonard Binder. He then went on to SOAS at the University of London. His doctorate, supervised by P. J. Vatikiotis, dealt with how social groups were absorbed through the non-military roles of the Israeli army.

In 1977 he began teaching at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and in 1981 he founded the Elyachar Center there. He also taught at universities in the United States, Jerusalem and Rome, and held research posts at Harvard, the University of Maryland and Oxford.

His research covers Libyan Jewry, Jews of Arab countries, ethnic relations in Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflict and Holocaust policies in North Africa. He served as an adviser on religious affairs to the Foreign Ministry from 1994 to 1996.

Milestones in Maurice Roumani's life

1960
Received a scholarship to study at Brandeis University.
1975
Began a Jewish Agency mission to Jewish communities in Iran.
1977
Began teaching at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
1981
Founded the Elyachar Center for the Study of Sephardi Heritage.
1994
Became an adviser on religious affairs to the Foreign Ministry.
2000
Joined a European Community research project on European identity and religion.