Ari Gordon, a graduate student in the department of Near Eastern languages and civilizations at Penn Arts and Sciences, has been named director of US Muslim-Jewish Relations for American Jewish Committee (AJC).

Mr. Gordon defended his dissertation, “Sacred Orientation: the Qibla as Ritual, Metaphor, and Identity Marker in Early Islam,” in November 2018. The thesis explores geographic orientation for prayer in Islamic, Jewish and Christian practice as a symbol of collective belonging in the late antique and medieval worlds. His advisor was Joseph Lowry, associate professor of Near Eastern languages and civilizations. Mr. Gordon will graduate in the spring of 2019.

“Ari Gordon combines a historian’s view of Judaism and Islam with a modern passion for the American Muslim and Jewish contexts,” said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. “His return to AJC offers a bright future of continued stalwart leadership for our programs that advance and expand Muslim-Jewish understanding and cooperation in the US.”