Katherine Aaron-Beller

Dr. Katherine Aron-Beller grew up in London and attended Manchester University where she obtained her first and second degrees in History. After moving to Israel in 1993, she completed a Ph.D. at Haifa University in Jewish History in 2002. Her area of academic specialization is trials of Jews before the Italian Inquisition in the early modern period. Dr. Aron-Beller worked for several years as the head of the Photographic Archive in the Judaica and Jewish Ethnography Wing of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem before serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History and Judaic Studies departments of the George Washington University between 2007-8. She is currently teaching in the Masters Program of the Rothberg International School in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as in Tel Aviv University. Some of the courses she has taught include: Jews in the Renaissance; Popes, Jews and Blood from Medieval to Modern Times; A Survey of Medieval Jewish History and Jews in Christian Lands to 1800. Dr Beller's first book Jews on Trial: The Papal Inquisition in Modena 1598-1638 was published in 2011 and she subsequently co-edited a book on the Italian Inquisition with Christopher Black. She is also the author of many articles. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her monograph, Christian Images and Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation 500-1700. Dr. Aron-Beller lives in Jerusalem, is married and has three children.