• 2024-04-25 - THURSDAY, APRIL 25TH, 2024 Ruth Behar 4:00pm Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory, Urbana View on Map   EVENT DESCRIPTION In this presentation, Ruth Behar will discuss her recent turn from anthropology to writing coming-of-age novels. These works of historical fiction feature Jewish Cuban and Sephardic young girls seeking to...
  • 2024-04-04 - This event, part of the Greenfield Lynch Lecture Series, will take place April 4, 2024 at 5:30 PM in Levis Faculty Center 210.   Ben Lerner is the author of eight books of poetry and prose as well as several collaborations with visual artists. His new book of poetry, The Lights, was just published by FSG, and his most recent novel, The Topeka School, won the Los Angeles Times Book Award...
  • 2024-03-26 - This lecture will take place Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 4:00-5:30 PM in Levis Faculty Center 422.   The least known Jewish community in the ancient world is the network of Jews who populated the Arabian Peninsula during the years between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the rise of Islam during the 7th century C.E. Nonetheless, a significant amount of material written in...
  • 2024-01-08 - We have exciting events coming up in Spring 2024! Here's a selection of highlighted events, and please be sure to check our calendar and website for more! 
  • 2023-11-03 - On behalf of the Program in Jewish Culture & Society, I write to express our deepest collective concern to all those who have suffered by the appalling terrorist attacks by Hamas and the escalating war in Israel and Gaza. I would like to stress that there is no place for antisemitism, Islamophobia or hate for any faith at Illinois. A message of concern with respect and tolerance from...
  • 2023-10-23 - On Friday, November 3, 2023, the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies held a conference on Race, Migration, and Memory. Keynote speaker Shimon Attie talked about "Night Watch and Other Projects."  Please click here to view the recording.       
  • 2023-10-23 - “Arts of the Border: Kino-Aesthetics and the Movement of Refugees” The keynote lecture for the Race, Migration, and Memory Conference (Keynote Lecture: Nov. 2, 2023, 5pm, Levis Faculty Center 210) (Symposium: Nov. 3, 2023, 9AM- 5pm, Levis Faculty Center 210)   Refugees encounter borders in an immediate and embodied experience, yet this encounter is informed by and expressed through...
  • 2023-09-07 - Monday, October 2, 2023 | 10:00 AM-6:00 PM | Levis Faculty Center, Room 210 Hosted by the Department of Religion and Program in Jewish Culture & Society   Participants Mårten Björk | Oxford University; Lund University Rachel Havrelock | University of Illinois Chicago Martin Kavka | Florida State University Adam Kotsko | Northwestern University Seth Schein |...
  • 2023-08-07 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is delighted to announce our Fall 2023 Reception! Please join us on September 11 at 5:15pm in the Levis Faculty Center (Room 210) for a lecture by Dana Rabin. Light refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there!
  • 2023-07-10 - The Program in Jewish Culture and Society is pleased to announce a new endowed scholarship fund, the Richard Abrams Endowed Scholarship, which will be awarded to a full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate student. The scholarship is open to students taking Jewish Studies courses, with a preference for the Program’s minors and majors. Richard Abrams has long been invested in undergraduate education...
  • 2023-06-25 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is pleased to announce that Samantha Berkowitz has been awarded the Spring 2024 Ronald H. Filler Jewish Studies scholarship. Berkowitz is a rising junior majoring in Jewish Studies and minoring in Child Health and Wellness. While she is currently on track to graduate one year early thanks to her ambition and determination, Berkowitz intends to continue...
  • 2023-06-25 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is pleased to announce that Isabella Rose Birany has been awarded the Fall 2023 Ronald H. Filler Jewish Studies scholarship. Birany is from Carmel, Illinois, and is a rising junior minoring in Jewish Studies. After graduation, she plans to pursue a JD degree specializing in either criminal or constitutional and civil rights law. She hopes to spark...
  • 2023-01-31 - The Program in Jewish Culture and Society-affiliated faculty member Brett Kaplan held a screening of the remarkable film No. 4 Street of Our Lady with special guest producer and director Judy Maltz in conversation with our own George Gasyna after the screening.     
  • 2023-01-25 - The Program in Jewish Culture & Society is pleased to announce that Marie Jensen has been awarded the Spring 2023 Ronald H. Filler Jewish Studies scholarship. Jensen is from Grand Ridge, Illinois, and is a senior majoring in English and German with a minor in Jewish Studies. After graduation, she plans to pursue a Masters degree in German Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at UIUC. After...
  • 2022-11-18 - The Program in Jewish Culture and Society-affiliated faculty member Brett Kaplan spoke at an event to mark the launch of her new book Rare Stuff on October 27th. The talk took place at the Author's Corner of Illini Union bookstore, where Kaplan was introduced by Professor Eugene Avrutin before making acknowledgments and reading from the novel. The full video of Kaplan's reading and Q...