College Commons

Understanding bible translations as a key to Jewish history. Leonard J. Greenspoon holds the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University, where he is also Professor of Theology and of Classical & Near Eastern Studies. Greenspoon is the editor of the 32-volume (and counting) Studies in Jewish Civilization series. He has also written five other books, in addition to his most recent one on Jewish Bible translations. Additionally, he has served on translation committees for five versions. In 2018, Greenspoon was the recipient of a Festschrift: Found in Translation: Essays on Jewish Bible Translation in Honor of Leonard J. Greenspoon. At the 2019 annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, he was the featured scholar honored in a section titled “Wisdom of the Ages.” For 2020, Greenspoon was named researcher of the year at Creighton. Examining a wide range of translations over twenty-four centuries, "Jewish Bible Translations: Personalities, Passions,

Psychedelics as a key to exploring Jewish mystical experiences. Rabbi Zac Kamenetz is a community leader and aspiring psychedelic-assisted therapist based in Berkeley,CA. He holds an MA in Biblical literature and languages from UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union and received rabbinic ordination in 2012. A sought-after educator and qualified MBSR instructor, Zac’s work has been centered on seeking answers to life’s essential questions within the Jewish tradition and embodied spiritual practice. As the founder and CEO of Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support, Zac is pioneering a movement to integrate safe and intentional psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition, advocate for individuals and communities to heal individual and inherited trauma and inspire a Jewish religious and creative renaissance in the 21st century.

Leading diverse progressive Judaism around the globe. Born in Buenos Aires in 1962, Rabbi Bergman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Pharmaceutics from the University of Buenos Aires, and three Master’s degrees: in Education from The Hebrew University, in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Jerusalem, and in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary, Jerusalem. He was ordained at the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary of Buenos Aires in 1992, and HUC-JIR in Jerusalem in 1993. He is a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbi (CCAR) and a graduate of the Jewish Agency’s Jerusalem Fellows program. Founder of the Arlene Fern Community School in Buenos Aires, Rabbi Bergman is well-known for his innovative and inspirational socio-educational and religious projects with Fundación Judaica. He serves as Rabbi at Templo Libertad, Argentina’s first Synagogue. Rabbi Bergman began his career as a community leader at Emanu El, epicenter of Argentina’s

The Jewish Labor Committee’s rescue of European Jews and labor leaders in World War II. Catherine Collomp is Emerita professor at Université de Paris (formerly Université Paris-Diderot), France. A specialist of American history, she has taught at Université Paris XII Créteil (1985-1998) and Université Paris-Diderot ( 1998- 2008) where she specialized in American social and political history, with a special interest in labor and immigration history. Currently involved in projects to study Jewish-American responses to fascism and Nazism, her book "Rescue, Relief and Resistance: The Jewish Labor Committee’s Anti-Nazi operations, 1934-1945" was published in April 2021.

The history of coercive persuasion, from Pavlov to social media. Dr. Joel E. Dimsdale, M.D attended Carleton College and then Stanford University, where he obtained a MA in Sociology and an MD degree. He obtained psychiatric training at MGH and was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School from 1976-1985, when he moved to University of California, San Diego, where he is now Regent Edward A. Dickson Emeritus Professor and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus. His clinical subspecialty is consultation psychiatry. He is a former career awardee of the American Heart Association and is past-president of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research, the American Psychosomatic Society, and the Society of Behavioral Medicine. He is editor-in-chief emeritus of Psychosomatic Medicine and is a previous guest editor of Circulation and former editor-at-large of Journal Psychosomatic Research. He has been a consultant to the President’s Commission on Mental Health, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academi

A modern-day Yiddish folktale in an alternative Jewish world, with much to consider for our own. The Lost Shtetl, winner of The Jewish Book Council's Miller Fam­i­ly Book Club Award. A remarkable debut novel—written with the fearless imagination of Michael Chabon and the piercing humor of Gary Shteyngart—about a small Jewish village in the Polish forest that is so secluded no one knows it exists . . . until now. What if there was a town that history missed? For decades, the tiny Jewish shtetl of Kreskol existed in happy isolation, virtually untouched and unchanged. Spared by the Holocaust and the Cold War, its residents enjoyed remarkable peace. It missed out on cars, and electricity, and the internet, and indoor plumbing. But when a marriage dispute spins out of control, the whole town comes crashing into the twenty-first century. Pesha Lindauer, who has just suffered an ugly, acrimonious divorce, suddenly disappears. A day later, her husband goes after her, setting off a panic among the town elders. Th

The unique power of children's books in presenting diverse stories. "Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail," winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Children's Picture Book. Welcoming Elijah by celebrated author Lesléa Newman, unites a young boy and a stray kitten in a warm, lyrical story about Passover, family, and friendship. Lesléa (pronounced “Lez-LEE-uh”) Newman is the author of 75 books for readers of all ages, including A Letter to Harvey Milk; October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; I Carry My Mother; The Boy Who Cried Fabulous; Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed; and Heather Has Two Mommies. She has received many literary awards, including creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, the Massachusetts Book Award, the Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award, the Highlights for Children Fiction Writing Award, a Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fiction

Reconstructing the tragic story of a medieval noblewoman who leaves her home and family for the love of a Jewish boy. The Convert, Finalist (Sephardic Culture), The National Jewish Book Award (2020) In this dazzling work of historical fiction, the Man Booker International–long-listed author of War and Turpentine reconstructs the tragic story of a medieval noblewoman who leaves her home and family for the love of a Jewish boy. In eleventh-century France, Vigdis Adelaïs, a young woman from a prosperous Christian family, falls in love with David Todros, a rabbi’s son and yeshiva student. To be together, the couple must flee their city, and Vigdis must renounce her life of privilege and comfort. Pursued by her father’s knights and in constant danger of betrayal, the lovers embark on a dangerous journey to the south of France, only to find their brief happiness destroyed by the vicious wave of anti-Semitism sweeping through Europe with the onset of the First Crusade. What begins as a story of forbidden love

Remarkable stories of Jewish women through the objects of their lives. The Art of the Jew­ish Fam­i­ly: A His­to­ry of Women in Ear­ly New York in Five Objects (Bard Grad­u­ate Cen­ter), winner of The National Jewish Book Award in three dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories: the Ger­rard and Ella Berman Memo­r­i­al Award for His­to­ry, the Amer­i­can Jew­ish Stud­ies Cel­e­brate 350 Award, and the Women Stud­ies Bar­bara Dobkin Award. In The Art of the Jewish Family, Laura Arnold Leibman examines five objects owned by a diverse group of Jewish women who all lived in New York in the years between 1750 and 1850: a letter from impoverished Hannah Louzada seeking assistance; a set of silver cups owned by Reyna Levy Moses; an ivory miniature owned by Sarah Brandon Moses, who was born enslaved and became one of the wealthiest Jewish women in New York; a book created by Sarah Ann Hays Mordecai; and a family silhouette owned by Rebbetzin Jane Symons Isaacs. These objects offer intimate and tangible views into the lives of Jewis

Piecing together family secrets & stories of bravery in Nazi Germany. "When Time Stopped: A Memoir of My Father's War and What Remains," winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Autobiography and Memoir. In this remarkably moving memoir Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: years spent hiding in plain sight in war-torn Berlin, the annihilation of dozens of family members in the Holocaust, and the courageous choice to build anew. Ariana Neumann was born and grew up in Venezuela. She has a BA in History and French Literature from Tufts University, an MA in Spanish and Latin American Literature from New York University and a PgDIP in Psychology of Religion from University of London. She previously was involved in publishing, worked as a foreign correspondent for Venezuela’s The Daily Journal and her writing has appeared in a variety of publications including The European, the Jewish Book Council and The New York Times. She currently lives in London with her husband, three c

What can Hebrew's usage in Jewish summer camps teach us about the American Jewish experience? "Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps" Winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity Each summer, tens of thousands of American Jews attend residential camps, where they may see Hebrew signs, sing and dance to Hebrew songs, and hear a camp-specific hybrid language register called Camp Hebraized English, as in: “Let’s hear some ruach (spirit) in this chadar ochel (dining hall)!” Using historical and sociolinguistic methods, this book explains how camp directors and staff came to infuse Hebrew in creative ways and how their rationales and practices have evolved from the early 20th century to today. Some Jewish leaders worry that Camp Hebraized English impedes Hebrew acquisition, while others recognize its power to strengthen campers’ bonds with Israel, Judaism, and the Jewish people. Hebrew Infusion explores these conflicting ideologies, showing ho

Surprising statistics and lively analysis of the 2020 Pew Study results. Sarah Bunin Benor is Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles) and Adjunct Professor in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Linguistics in 2004. Her books include Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers University Press, 2012) and Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps (Rutgers University Press, 2020). Dr. Benor is founding co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Languages and creator of the Jewish Language Website and the Jewish English Lexicon. Bruce A. Phillips is Professor of Sociology and Jewish Communal Studies at Hebrew Union College, and University Fellow at Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. He is one of the leading researchers in the demography and sociology of A

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award, author Colum McCann discusses the power of storytelling as a bridge of humanity across seemingly intractable conflict. Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, several European awards, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over 40 languages. He is the co-founder of the non-profit global story exchange organisation, Narrative 4, and he lives in New York with his wife, Allison, and their family. Photo by Richard Gilligan

Meet one of the protagonists of Colum McCann’s NY Times best-selling non-fiction novel, "Apeirogon," who transformed his daughter’s tragic death into a quest for peace in Israel and Palestine. Rami Elhanan is a peace activist and 7th generation Jerusalemite on his mother's side. His father was an Auschwitz survivor. He is a Graphic designer and fought 3 wars as an IDF soldier. He identifies himself as a Jew, an Israeli, and before everything else a human being. On the first day of the school year in 1997, Rami’s daughter, Smadar, was killed by two Palestinian suicide bombers who murdered 5 people that day. Soon after, Rami joined the Parents Circle, and speaks before Israeli, Palestinian and International audiences. Rami was the Israeli Co-director of the Parents Circle – Families Forum until Aug 2020 when he retired.

Unexpected dimensions of historical Jewish culture and civilization. Alison L. Joseph is Senior Editor of The Posen Library of Jewish Civilization and Culture. She brings her academic expertise in Hebrew Bible and ancient Judaism to the management of the ancient volumes of The Posen Library. Drawing from years of university teaching, research and publication in Jewish Studies, and her own public-facing digital scholarship, Dr. Joseph works on the Posen Digital Library to bring the content of the anthology alive in digital format. Dr. Joseph earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.A. in Jewish Studies from Emory University. Her first book Portrait of the Kings: The Davidic Prototype in Deuteronomistic Poetics, received the 2016 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise. She is also co-editor of Reading Other Peoples’ Texts: Social Identity and the Reception of Authoritative Traditions (T & T Clark, 2020). Her research interests include gender

HUC-JIR alumnus Keith Thomas discusses his debut feature film—Hasidic horror flick, "The Vigil." Writer/Director Keith Thomas worked in clinical research at several western teaching hospitals before embarking on a career as a novelist and screenwriter. He has published The Clarity (2018) and Dahlia Black (2019), both with Simon & Schuster, and developed numerous book, film, and TV projects with creators like James Patterson. He lives in Colorado. The Vigil is his feature debut.

A deep dive into structural racism and inequality in South Africa and Brazil—with lessons for and from the United States. Ignacio Cano got his joint Ph.D. in sociology and social psychology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) in 1991. From 1991 to 1993 he worked with UNHCR, focussing on refugees and war-stricken populations in El Salvador. He was also a member of the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador. Cano later developed post-doctoral research at the universities of Surrey (UK), Michigan, Arizona (USA) and Lancaster (UK), centered on research methodology and program evaluation. From 1996 onwards, he worked in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on topics related to violence, human rights, public security and education in an NGO called ISER. In 2000, Cano joined the department of social sciences of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, where he is now a full professor of sociology. He is a founder of the Laboratory for the Analysis of Violence (LAV) of the same university. Over the last 20

Engaging community members, artists and youth to create civic beauty. Tamara Harkavy is the founder and former CEO and Artistic Director of ArtWorks where for 25 years she  oversaw its growth from a small non-profit to Cincinnati’s largest public art program, creating a model for transforming people and places through investments in creativity.  Under Harkavy’s direction, ArtWorks has employed more than 3,600 youth and 3,200 creative professionals, and the organization has completed more than 12,500 public and private art projects including 190 permanent outdoor murals, contributing to the region’s global reputation as an arts destination and an urban, outdoor gallery.    Harkavy founded ArtWorks to address a lack of employment opportunities for teens and to recognize the lasting contributions that artists can make to an urban place. Through ArtWorks, youth gain professional workplace readiness skills, and professional artists benefit by opportunities to advance their careers. The organization works through

Reactivity to press & social media exacerbating and distorting Jewish community conflicts on campus. Tilly Shames is the Executive Director of University of Michigan Hillel. Tilly has worked with Hillels in Toronto and Michigan for 16 years in various positions, including Director of Israel Affairs and Associate Director, before becoming Executive Director at the University of Michigan in 2012. Tilly is passionate about youth engagement, community-building, pluralism, women’s advancement, and social justice. She holds a master's degree in International Affairs and a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and Political Science. She is a Wexner Field Fellow Alum and is on the Steering Committee of the Safety, Respect, Equity initiative. Kendall Coden is a 2019 graduate of the University of Michigan. She served as the treasurer of the Michigan Hillel Governing Board in 2018 and as the Chair of the Governing Board in 2019. In her role as Chair, Kendall focused largely on building relationships with othe

The challenge of growth, spurred by what we’re missing. Author, Joseph A. Edelheit served as a rabbi in Reform synagogues for thirty years, earned a doctorate in Christian theology, and retired as an Emeritus Professor of Religious and Jewish Studies. He has served as a prison chaplain, on a Presidential Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS, created a multi-faith orphanage in rural India for children with HIV/AIDS, and removed five swastikas constructed into the original 1931 facade of a Catholic cathedral in rural Minnesota. He currently lives in Rio de Janeiro where he writes, volunteers as a rabbi, and enjoys teaching his grandchildren English.