2025 Kunitz Award Winners: Sasha Lehrer and Ronnie Ottaway

by Sicily Lerner
May 08, 2025

Please join us in congratulating Sasha Lehrer and Ronnie Ottaway, the recipients of the 2025 Kunitz Award!

Sasha's paper was entitled "Time and Timelessness in Solomon Maimon’s Autobiography." The panel reviewing papers said that Sasha's paper is remarkable as she writes adeptly about Maimon’s different uses of temporal simultaneity and juxtaposition, on the one hand, and linear chronology, on the other, to emphasize continuities and discontinuities between different periods in his life and intellectual journey.

Sasha writes:

Taking Jewish Studies courses at UC Davis has enriched my college experience more than I ever could have expected. In the wake of the October 7th attacks in Israel, I felt a huge pull and sense of urgency to deepen my understanding and knowledge of different facets of the rich Jewish history and heritage that I am a part of. Pursuing a Jewish Studies minor felt like the perfect step for me, and it truly was. On an intellectual level, I felt more stimulated and connected to the material, instructors, and peers than in my other courses at UC Davis. On a personal level, these courses served as a positive outlet for cultural, historical, and spiritual exploration, which has built on the strong Jewish identity that I have cultivated over my life and will continue to prioritize. I am so grateful for the opportunity to study under the incredible faculty in the Jewish Studies department, and I can’t wait to further my knowledge in Jewish Studies moving forward. It has been such an honor, and I will cherish my time in Jewish Studies for the rest of my life!

Ronnie's paper was entitled "Combining Judaism and the Enlightenment." The panel wrote that they were impressed by the originality of his analysis of Mendelssohn’s usually explicit and Crantz’s often implicit characterizations of the capacity of Judaism and Christianity to meet the challenges of modernization. They noted as well the elegance of his writing.

Ronnie writes:

Taking Jewish Studies at UC Davis has enriched my knowledge of Jewish history in many ways. The evolution of human cultures is a subject I appreciate deeply, and by taking Jewish Studies I’ve gained a much more thorough understanding of historical context, different schools of thought, significant writers, and important events that are pertinent to Jewish history, just to name a few. The knowledge I’ve gained is priceless, not only for my understanding of history, but also for cultivating the way I will approach learning about any culture from now on.