The American Academy for Jewish Research is pleased to announce the winner of its annual Salo Baron Prize for the best first book in Jewish studies published in calendar year 2024. The prize honors:

Simcha Gross, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press)

In the brilliant and important book Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press), Simcha Gross has completely revised our understanding of the Jews who lived in Sasanian Persia. Earlier generations of scholars, basing their work mostly on the Babylonian Talmud, had argued that the Jews, controlled by their own hierarchical self-governing structure and the exilarch, were isolated from the other populations of the Sasanian Empire and did not absorb any aspects of the larger culture in which they lived. Using Talmudic sources, alongside Syriac Christian sources, incantation bowls, and applying new understandings of the Sasanian empire itself, Gross has made a compelling case for the diverse nature of Jewish society, for its integration in Syriac Christian and Zoroastrian society, and the important interactions among the three communities. Moreover, he shows how the rabbis themselves sought to mitigate conflict with the Sasanian authorities and facilitate Jewish integration. Gross’s book is beautifully written, utterly clear, and masterful in its use of a wide array of sources. It draws on the work of other scholars who came before him to present his own reading of this very important Jewish community. Indeed, this magnificent and impressive book will become the standard work in the field for many decades to come.

Honorable Mention is awarded to:
Polly Zavadivker, A Nation of Refugees: Russia’s Jews in World War I, Oxford University Press.

The American Academy for Jewish Research (www.aajr.org) is the oldest professional organization of Judaica scholars in North America. Its membership consists of senior scholars whose work has made a major impact on their field.

The Baron Prize honors the memory of the distinguished historian Salo W. Baron, a long-time president of the AAJR, who taught at Columbia University for many decades.  It is one of the signal honors that can be bestowed on a young scholar in Jewish Studies and a sign of the excellence, vitality, and creativity of the field.