Meir M. Bar-Asher is a Max Schloessinger Professor of Islamic Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a member of the department of Arabic Language and Literature at this university. His research interests include Quran exegesis and religious communities in Islam (especially Twelver Shi’ism and Nusayri- ‘Alawi religion), as well as religious and historical contacts between Judaism and Islam.

Among his publications are Scriptures and Exegesis in Early Shi’ism (Leiden and Jerusalem, 1999) and The Nusayri- ‘Alawi Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy (Leiden, 2002 [with A. Kofsky]). He is the editor of several books, among which is Le Shi’isme Imamite: Quarante ans Après: Hommage à Etan Kohlberg (Turnhout, 2009 [with M.A. Amir-Moezzi and S. Hopkins]); Islam: History, Religion and Culture (Jerusalem, Magness Press, 2017 [with Meir Hatina]). His recent book is Les Juifs et le Coran (Paris: Albin Michel, 2019) and in an English version – The Jews and the Qur’an (Princeton University Press – forthcoming).

Dr. Sivan Lerer is the executive managerof the Chair in Baha'i Studies. She has been teaching courses on the history of the Baha'i faith at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for over a decade. Her PhD. thesis was written under the supervision of Prof. Moshe Sharon and dealt with the "dialogue" between the Sheikhi leader Karim Khan Karmani and the Bab.

Her research focuses on the early history of the Babi-Baha'i faith; Baha'i interpretations of various scriptures; the Baha'i faith as an "Abrahamic Religion"; and Baha'i scriptures in contact with various religious traditions.

As part of the "Digital Humanities" movement and the effort to make  academic knowledge and research more accessible to the general public, Sivan's students have written more than 80 articles on the Hebrew Wikipedia (and several in other languages) dealing with Baha'i subjects.

Sivan is also the executive editor of the Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam international journal published by the Max Schloessinger Memorial Foundation.
 

D Gershon Lewental is a cultural historian of the Middle East, focusing on how societies use religion, memory, and conflict to define and maintain their identities. He teaches in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, and in the Department of International & Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma (since 2012). He earned his bachelor of arts degree (magna cum laude) from Cornell University and his doctorate in Middle Eastern history from Brandeis University. His fields of specialisation include early Islamic history and historiography, Iranian history, the Bahaʾi faith, Ottoman Jewry, and Israeli society.