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Jewish Culture & Society News

Midwest Yiddishfest
Midwest Yiddishfest
From November 14-16, Champaign-Urbana was host to the Midwest Yiddishfest, a three-day Yiddish culture and arts festival co-sponsored by the Program in Jewish Culture & Society and the C-U Jewish Federation. The program featured nine public programs that covered a broad array of subjects,...
Ayelet Tsabari
An Evening with Ayelet Tsabari, Author of Songs for the Brokenhearted
On October 28th, Israeli-Canadian author Ayelet Tsabari visited campus as part of her book tour for her debut novel, Songs for the Brokenhearted (2024). The event was supported by the Einhorn Fund, the Israel Studies Project, and the Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity. The novel...
Ronnie Grinberg
Write Like a Man: Ronnie Grinberg on Secular Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals
On September 8th, the Program in Jewish Culture & Society and the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies welcomed Ronnie Grinberg, associate professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and author of Write Like a Man: Jewish Masculinity and the New York Intellectuals (...
Diana Sacilowski

Alumni spotlight: Diana Sacilowski

Diana Sacilowski earned her Ph.D. in Slavic Languages & Literatures, along with graduate certificates in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies and Criticism and Interpretive Theory, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 2021. She is now a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures at the Ohio State University, where she teaches Polish language and various Slavic culture courses. Her major research interests involve 19th–21st century Polish culture with specialization in Polish-Jewish culture, Holocaust and memory...

Featured Courses: Spring 2026
HIST 269/ JS 269 / REL 269

Jewish History Since 1700

Traditional Jewish life has experienced significant changes since the 1700s. Once, a homogeneous community whose identity was mainly based on religious ties was replaced by modern Jewries with various identity markers. This course discusses the circumstances under which these processes developed, starting from Jewish emancipation in Western and Central Europe to the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel.
History of Antisemitism

History of Antisemitism

Studies the negative representations of Judaism and Jews from antiquity to the modern world. Topics include: Greco-Roman concepts of the Jewish religion; medieval Christian symbolization of the demonic Jew; Jews and negative attitudes to capitalism; blood purity and blood libel; the rise of racial prejudice in the modern nation state; totalitarianism and genocide; antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
REL 511

Graduate Seminar: Introduction to Jewish Studies

Intensive study of select topics or issues in the study of religion.