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Move over, Rabbis for Obama. A handful of local professors is also getting in on the campaign action.

More than 180 Jewish studies scholars — including 10 from Northern California — have signed a petition sponsored by Jewish Alliance for Change, a New York-based organization that has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Professors from Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis — as well as faculty members and independent scholars throughout the United States or living in Israel, Canada and Great Britain — have added their names to a statement. It reads in part: “We support Barack Obama for president because we believe he is the best person to lead our country through these difficult times.”

It goes on to state that Obama “embodies the Jewish hope for a society in which race, ethnicity and religion are not barriers to achievement, a dream shared by African Americans.”

Local professors who have signed on include David Biale and Diane L. Wolf from U.C. Davis; Daniel Boyarin and Ronald Hendel from U.C. Berkeley; Nathaniel Deutsch from U.C. Santa Cruz; Tom Zakim from Sonoma State University; and Amir Eshel, John Felstiner, Vered Shemtov and Steven J. Zipperstein from Stanford.

Biale, a professor of Jewish history, got involved in an effort to erase what he says are misconceptions about Obama. He cited as an example those who falsely believe Obama is a Muslim, or those believing his position on Israel would be harmful to the Jewish state.

“We are sort of invoking whatever authority we have with respect to our Jewish understanding of history and contemporary life to argue that Obama would, in fact, be good for the Jews,” Biale said. “I believe that very strongly, both because of his policies and what he represents.

“Obama makes an incredible statement about the pluralistic nature of society, and that is good for the Jews.”