On Thursday, September 20, from 9:30-4:00 pm, the UConn American Studies program will host a one-day conference on "The Forms of Authoritarianism" with keynote speaker Ben Kiernan of Yale University. The conference will be held at UConn Hartford in the Hartford Club, 46 Prospect Street, Hartford. This one-day conference brings together scholars and journalists at the […]

Please join us on Wednesday, November 7, when Professor Tom W. Smith will present "Antisemitism in Contemporary America." The program will be held at 5:00 pm in the Konover Auditorium at the Dodd Research Center. A reception will follow. The evening is made possible by the Center for Judaic Studies Irving Seliger Memorial Endowment Fund and […]

Please join us at the UConn Stamford Campus Art Gallery on Tuesday, November 6, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm when Dr. Joy Ladin will present "The Soul of the Stranger: A Special Lecture for Election Night." The evening will launch her latest book, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender […]

The Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at UConn will be hosting a performance of Savyon Liebrecht's play, The Strawberry Girl, followed by a dialogue led by the play's director, Guy Ben-Aharon. The show will take place on Monday, October 22 at 6PM in the Konover Auditorium at the Dodd Research Center on the […]

Professor James Loeffler will discuss his recently published book Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century (Yale University Press). The talk will be held on Monday, October 8, from 7:00-9:00 pm at the University of Hartford (200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford) in the Millie and Irving Bercowetz Research Library at the Maurice Greenberg […]

On Tuesday, October 9, Professor James Loeffler will discuss his recently published book Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth Century (Yale University Press). The talk will be held from 11:00 am - 12:15 pm, in the Visualization Studio (room 1101) located on level 1 of the Babbidge Library on the UConn Storrs campus. If […]

On Wednesday, October 3,  from 10 am - 2 pm, please join us for brief introductory workshops on Jewish and western spiritual practices as well as yoga and Zen meditation.  Drop in/drop out for a series of 5 short workshops with a lunch/information session at halftime. These workshops are free and open to the public and take […]

The UConn Library will be hosting a daylong event dedicated to Frederick Wiseman's 2017 documentary film Ex Libris: New York Public Library. A Panel presentation and reception will follow the screening of the film at the Spotlight Theater in Hartford. The program is free and open to the public. Winner of the International Federation of […]

The Center for Judaic Studies will be co-sponsoring a Community Teach-In on Monday, July 23, at 6:30 pm. “Responding to the Trauma of Children at Our Borders” will be held at B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom (180 Still Road, Bloomfield, on the corner of Mountain Road on the West Hartford/Bloomfield line). The program is free and open to […]

Many congratulations to our colleague Susan Einbinder whose book After the Black Death: Plague and Commemoration Among Iberian Jews was recently released. Professor Susan Einbinder (Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Comparative Literature) will be teaching "The Black Death" and "The Jewish Middle Ages" in the upcoming fall semester. A few seats are still open for both classes. This […]

American Jewish Year Book 2017 Now Available: Includes the Impact of the 2016 Presidential Campaign and the most Recent Population Statistics   The 2017 volume of the American Jewish Year Book, published by Springer and supported by the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut and the Miller Center for […]

The Center for Judaic Studies is proud to announce our 2018 undergraduate award winners for Hebrew and Judaic Studies. The awards were presented at the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages annual student award ceremony.  The Cohen Henes Award Carmi Mandelkern The Frances and Irving Seliger Memorial Award Jacqueline DeMuyt Maria Grishanina Amanda Jones Bryan […]

With the support of the Graduate School, the Center for Judaic Studies has awarded Center Graduate Assistant Adane Zawdu a predoctoral fellowship for his summer research. Congratulations, Adane! Adane, who teaches Ethiopian Jews in Ethiopia and Israel, was awarded the fellowship in recognition of his excellent work in Judaic Studies this year.  For the second consecutive year, […]

Congratulations to affiliated faculty member, Daniel Hershenzon (Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages) for receiving a 2018 NEH Grant. The grant was awarded for Daniel's project, "Jewish Manuscripts in the Early Modern Mediterranean: Between Piracy, Redemption, and the Spanish Inquisition." His research will lead to the publication of a book-length study of religious artifacts and piracy in the early […]

Many congratulations to Stuart Miller on being awarded a Humanities Institute faculty fellowship for the academic year 2018/19. During the fellowship, he will be working on a volume devoted to the dynamics of Jewish life in the centuries following the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E. titled From Temple to Home to Community: […]

Many congratulations to Jeffrey Shoulson on his appointment as Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Affairs. The appointment is testimony to his outstanding achievements as a scholar and administrator. We’re deeply grateful for his outstanding leadership of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life since his arrival at UConn in 2012, and we wish him […]

Come enjoy an evening of dance with Shamel Pitts, one of the most revered performers in the Tel Aviv-based Batsheva Dance Company! Shamel will speak about his experiences in Israel, then lead an interactive dance workshop in Gaga, the movement language developed by Batsheva choreographer Ohad Naharin, that highlights intimate physicality on groove and the […]

The March E-News has been released. Click the cover to find out more about upcoming events and events you may have missed!  

On April 26, at 7:00 pm, Dr. Susannah Heschel will present "Human Dignity in Judaism." In this talk, Heschel explores the themes of human rights and dignity within Jewish religious texts and how they relate to the modern human experience. The event takes place at Charter Oak Cultural Center (21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford) and […]