Dr. Katz is the Bhagawan Mahavir Professor of Jain Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University in Miami, where he is also Director of the Program in the Study of Spirituality. He came to FIU in 1994 and in 1995 became Founding Chair of its Department of Religious Studies.

Arguably the world's leading authority on Indian Jewish communities, he is a pioneer in the field of Indo-Judaic Studies and has been involved in Jewish-Hindu/Buddhist/Jain dialogues for three decades. His Who are the Jews of India? was a Finalist for the 2000 National Jewish Book Award in Sephardic Studies, and he has been awarded four Fulbright grants for research and teaching in South Asia. He edits an academic journal, the Journal of Indo-Judaic Studies.

He reads and/or speaks a number of Asian languages, as well as Hebrew-Aramaic, and has lived in South Asia for more than seven years, two of which with the U.S. Information Agency in Afghanistan in the early 1970's. He has published more than a dozen books, half about Buddhism or Hinduism, half on Indo-Judaic studies.

He was a member of the eight-person delegation of scholars and rabbis who met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet about Jewish survival in exile. He has received statewide and national acclaim and awards for classroom excellence and has lectured at major universities and institutes around the world.

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