It is hard to believe that it has been more than ten years since we first launched Nexus: Essays in German Jewish Studies. Nexus began as an outgrowth of the biennial German Jewish Studies Workshop, which we cofounded in 2009 in the hopes of fostering dialogue and growth in the nascent field of German Jewish Studies in North America. Since that time German Jewish Studies has become more mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic, and we are delighted to provide a meeting ground and publishing forum for dynamic research in the field. Nexus 6 showcases the breadth and vibrancy of German Jewish Studies scholarship in the rich essays, interviews, translations, and source material that comprise this volume.

It probably should come as no surprise that with any academic pursuit, particular institutional contexts matter. Where, why, and by whom is German Jewish Studies conducted and promoted? With this volume we are pleased to inaugurate a new section that we anticipate will become a standard feature of Nexus: “Contexts of German Jewish Studies.” The section is intended to shine a light on the ways in which local arrangements inform our practice and scholarship. We open with two thoughtful reflections on the significance of Jewish Studies at Notre Dame, the Catholic university that has graciously hosted and generously supported both the German Jewish Studies Workshop and Nexus since Bill Donahue joined the faculty in 2015. In an elegant address welcoming the German Jewish Studies Workshop to South Bend in 2017, John T. McGreevy, then Dean of the College of Arts and Letters and now Provost, outlines the history of Jewish Studies at Notre Dame and emphasizes its ongoing importance to the university as a Catholic institution. In his eloquent opening remarks to the Workshop two years later, Peter Holland, Associate Dean of the Arts in the College of Arts and Letters, reflects on his observations and experiences as a secular Jewish faculty member at Notre Dame. We are honored to include both speeches in this volume, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the University of Notre Dame for its ongoing support of Nexus and of the German Jewish Studies Workshop, in South Bend and at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, where the Workshop met for a special session in March 2018.