On November 7, 2019, Professor Atina Grossmann, historian from the Cooper Union, presented "Shelter from the Holocaust: German Jewish Refugees in Iran and India" for the UConn Center for Judaic Studies annual Kristallnacht remembrance lecture. The event was made possible in part by the Center for Judaic Studies Frances and Irving Seliger Memorial Endowment Fund. […]

Christine Buckley from UConn Today interviewed Dr. Avinoam Patt, Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, on the question of Jewish Humor. The phenomenon of many Jews being funny was explained by Patt through the position of the immigrant: As a coping strategy humor can bridge cultural differences and signal harmlessness […]

Talk by Prof. Johannes Heil: Patrologia Judaica? Exploring the pre-Rabbinic Western Jewish Textual Tradition Wednesday, November 20, 1:15-2:15 pm Humanitites Institute Conference Room 4th-Floor Babbidge Library This event is free and open to the public. Kosher lunch will be provided. About the talk: Professor Johannes Heil, President of the Hochschule für jüdische Studien Heidelberg (Academy […]

  Sondra Melzer: Reflections on the Work of Philip Roth November 21 12:30 pm MPR, UConn Stamford Philip Roth, 1933-2018, was an American novelist and short story writer. In her talk, Dr. Sondra Melzer will discuss Roth's focus on Jewish life throughout his storied career, the writings of which made him one of the most […]

Dr. Avinoam Patt to Lecture on Holocaust Remembrance in the Provost's Distinguished Speaker Series It is an honor to announce that our Director Avinoam Patt is invited to lecture at the Provost's Distinguished Speaker Series, which "provides an opportunity for our most recently-inducted Board of Trustees Distinguished Professors and Endowed Chairs to share advances in […]

This new exhibition from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford is on display at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center on the Storrs Campus between October 4 - 30, 2019. The exhibition is accessible Monday through Friday, between 8.30 am and 6 pm. About the exhibition: To celebrate the centennial anniversary of women's suffrage, […]

Shelter from the Holocaust: German Jewish Refugees in Iran and India Dr. Atina Grossmann Thursday, November 7, 2019 12:30 pm Dodd Center Konover Auditorium, Storrs About the Talk: This lecture examines the intensely ambivalent and paradoxical experiences, sensibilities, and emotions of bourgeois Jews who found refuge in the “Orient” of India and Iran after 1933. […]

Rokhl Oyerbakh: The Bridge Between Wartime and Postwar Testimony Sunday, November 3rd, and Monday, November 4th, 2019 Yale University, New Haven, CT   Center Director Avinoam Patt and affiliated faculty member Samuel Kassow will be participating in an upcoming conference at Yale University hosted by the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University […]

Do Americans Love or Hate the Jews? Intermarriage and Antisemitism in the 21st Century Dr. Bruce A. Phillips Thursday, October 17, 2019 5:30 pm Class of '47 Room, Babbidge Library About the talk: A variety of opinion polls show that Jews are widely accepted and even admired, a trend underscored by Jewish intermarriage rates. At […]

"Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America's Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe" -  presentation by Washington Holocaust Memorial Museum Historian Rebecca Erbelding Join us for this talk on October 29, 12:30 - 1:45pm, at the Class of '47 Room, Babbidge Library, Storrs Campus. The program is free and open to the public. Attendance […]

FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION Join Dr. Joel Blatt and Dr. Fred Roden in conversation with filmmaker Roland Tec, son of Professor Emerita Nechama Tec, as he discusses her Holocaust memoir, Dry Tears, recounts his work on the film adaptation of her resistance classic Defiance, and reflects on legacies in families of survivors. Read more about […]

The History of the Jewish Community in Rhodes, Greece: A Commemoration Sunday, October 13, 2019 1:00-4:00 pm Paideia Center, Storrs This joint event is hosted by the Paideia Center, UConn Global, and the UConn Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.   […]

Don’t miss the Center’s own writer-in-residence, Joan Seliger Sidney, Tuesday, October 1, at 7:00 pm at the UConn B&N in downtown Storrs Center where she will participate in the Roar Reading Series, presented by Elephant Rock Books! Joan Seliger Sidney is the author of Bereft and Blessed, Body of Diminishing Motion: Poems and a Memoir (an Eric Hoffer Finalist, […]

How did Jews study medicine and who were their patients? What were their career options? What did they think of the great medical debates of their time, and what kinds of tensions characterized their professional and personal lives? How did they respond to the great pandemic of 1347-1352 known as the Black Death? On Thursday, Sept. 26, […]

On Tuesday, November 12, UConn Professor Emerita Nehama Aschkenasy will give a talk on "National Identity and Private Histories: The Fiction and Lives of Aharon Appelfeld and Amos Oz." The talk will be held at the UConn Stamford campus in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) from 7:00-8:00 pm. Attendance qualifies for honors credit. The talk is […]

About the Book In Fighting for Dignity: Migrant Lives at Israel's Margins (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), Sarah S. Willen, Associate Professor of Anthropology at UConn, examines the impact of a mass deportation campaign targeting migrant workers in Israel. Drawing on nearly two decades of ethnographic engagement with migrants and human rights activists in Tel Aviv, […]

Prof. Avinoam Patt was featured this week in Connecticut's Jewish Ledger, launching the community learning program titled "ALEPH: Institute of Jewish Ideas." The first year's theme is "Home and Exile", which will be opened by Deborah Dash Moore's talk this Sunday. The overall purpose of the program is to bring together different members and organizations […]

On Tuesday, November 12, anthropologist and Senior Researcher of the Dangerous Speech Project (DSP) Cathy Buerger will present "Fear and Loathing in our Discourse: Dangerous Speech, Division, and What to Do about It." The talk will be held at the UConn Stamford campus in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) from 12:30-2:00 pm.   The talk is free […]

On Monday, September 9, UConn Stamford Professor Steven Wander will present "Flavius Josephus, Jewish Historian of the First Century, and his Influence on Imperial Roman and Early Medieval Art." The talk will be held at the UConn Stamford campus in the Multi-Purpose Room (MPR) from 5:00-6:00 pm.   The talk is free and open to the […]