Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program

Sunday 9/10 at 10am: Author Daniel Wolff Presents - How to Become an American: A History of Immigration, Assimilation, and Loneliness

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Click here to register.

An odyssey from pre-Civil War Charleston to post-World War II Minneapolis through Jewish immigrants' eyes.

The histories of US immigrants do not always begin and end in Ellis Island and northeastern cities. Many arrived earlier and some migrated south and west, fanning out into their vast new country. They sought a renewed life, fresh prospects, and a safe harbor, despite a nation that was not always welcoming and not always tolerant. How to Become an American begins with an abandoned diary—and from there author Daniel Wolff examines the sweeping history of immigration into the United States through the experiences of one unnamed, seemingly unremarkable Jewish family, and, in the process, makes their lives remarkable. It is a deeply human odyssey that journeys from pre-Civil War Charleston, South Carolina, to post-World War II Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some ways, the family's journey parallels that of the nation, as it struggled to define itself through the Industrial Age. A persistent strain of loneliness permeates this story, and Wolff holds up this theme for contemplation. In a country that prides itself on being "a nation of immigrants," where "all men are created equal," why do we end up feeling alone in the land we love?

Daniel Wolff is an award-winning author of numerous books, including Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Calumet Massacre of 1913 and The Fight for Home: How (Parts of) New Orleans Came Back.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Brunch will be available beginning at 9am provided to in-person attendees. Sponsored by the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture, KKBE Sisterhood, The Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, Charleston Jewish Bookfest, and the Charleston JCC Foundation.

Thursday 9/14 at 4pm: Mosse, Zucker Goldberg Book Talk - Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms

Virtual event. Click here to register.

Singing like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms investigates the history of Black classical musicians in German-speaking Europe across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A study of musical interactions and transnational collaborations between Black performers and white Germans and Austrian listeners, the book explores the tension between the supposedly transcendental powers of classical music and the global conversations that developed about who could perform it. Singing like Germans reveals how listening to music is not a passive experience, but an active process where racial categories are constantly made and unmade.

Sponsored by the George L. Mosse Program in History at UW-Madison, Department of History at UW-Madison, European Studies at UW-Madison, and the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies.

Wednesday 9/20 at 6pm: An Update on Israel with Professors Yaron Ayalon and Joshua Shanes

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Click here to register.

Since January 2023, Israelis have taken to the streets every weekend in the hundreds of thousands to protest the government’s plans to overhaul the state’s judicial system, which its opponents claim is a judicial coup” that would weaken Israeli democracy. Jewish Studies Director Dr. Yaron Ayalon joins Dr. Joshua Shanes, Director of the Arnold Center for Israel Studies, in a conversation explaining the background to the protests, what might we expect moving forward, and what American Jews can do.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Sponsored by the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies.

Sunday 10/22 at 6pm: A Conversation with Sayed Kashua

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Click here to register.

Sayed Kashua is a prominent author and journalist, a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Kashua is known for his novels and Israeli TV series “Arab Labor,” “The Writer,” and “Madrasa.” His humorous columns in the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz were collated into a book titled Native: Dispatches from an Israeli-Palestinian Life. In a humorous, tongue-in-cheek style, Kashua addresses the problems faced by Arabs in Israel, caught between two worlds. His novels are: Second Person Singular, winner of the prestigious Berstein Prize; Let It Be Morning, shortlisted for the international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; and Dancing Arabs, which was adapted into the film "A Borrowed Identity". Kashua's work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Guardian, among other publications.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Sponsored by the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies.

Wednesday 10/25 at 6pm: The Arnold Nemirow Lecture Series - Women in Auschwitz with Professor Sarah Cushman

In-person only, no registration required.

While many have heard of Auschwitz and its genocidal sub-camp Birkenau, few know about the women’s section. Cushman offers an approach that integrates analyses of women prisoners, prisoner functionaries, and guards revealing a dynamic place where some sought to survive and others to thrive in a genocidal environment.

Dr. Sarah Cushman is Director of the Holocaust Educational Foundation and Senior Lecturer in History at Northwestern University. Her current research project Women in Auschwitz is under contract with Indiana University Press.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Sponsored by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies.

Thursday 11/2 through Sunday 11/5: 17th Annual Nuovo Cinema Italiano Film Festival with Charleston Jewish Filmfest

More details coming soon. Click here for more information.

Sponsored by Charleston Jewish Filmfest, the Charleston JCC Foundation, the Stanley Farbstein Endowment, the School of Languages Cultures, and World Affairs, the Department of French, Francophone, and Italian Studies, and the Consulate General of Italy.

Sunday 11/5 at 10am: Lushington Lost and Found: Charleston’s Quaker Commander Comes Home

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Click here to register.

In 1936, the Gibbes Museum held “An Exhibition of Miniatures Owned in South Carolina and Miniatures of South Carolinians Owned Elsewhere.” One of those on exhibit was a two-sided miniature featuring Richard and Charity Lushington which was “Lent by the Misses Oemler, Savannah, GA.” For nearly a century, the Lushingtons remained in Savannah unknown to those who held them, but now they have returned home to Charleston.

Join George H. McDaniel, historian at SC Battleground Preservation Trust, and Ashley Walters, director of the Pearlstein/Lipov Center for the Study of Southern Jewish Culture, as they discuss the significance of Richard Lushington to Charleston’s history, his connection to Jewish history through his unique militia unit, and the world of Revolutionary Charles Town which brought them all together.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Brunch will be available beginning at 9am provided to in-person attendees. Sponsored by the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture.

Wednesday 11/8 at 7:30pm: Rabbinic Conversations: Jewish Views on Reproductive Rights

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Click here to register.

Few topics are so wrought emotionally - and so religiously charged - as the right of women to control their own bodies and healthcare. With the Dodds decision that overturned Roe v Wade and has allowed states to restrict or totally ban access to abortions, religious conversations about reproductive care have become prominent once again.

How do Jewish traditions and texts speak to these questions? What is the legal and spiritual status of a fetus? Does the period of gestation matter? Who does Judaism empower to make the ultimate choices, and to what extent does the tradition want to influence secular law over others?

Rabbis from each of the three largest denominations, Rabbi Stephanie Alexander (KKBE – Reform), Rabbi Evan Ravski (Emanu-El – Conservative), and Rabbi Elli Fischer (Orthodox), will discuss this difficult topic from their own denominational perspective.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Sponsored by the Stanley and Charlot Karesh Family Fund.

Thursday 11/9 at 6pm: Charleston Jewish Filmfest Presents “Sabotage”

In-person only. Click here to register.

This dramatic unknown story of the women's underground operation in Auschwitz-Birkenau is told through the eyes of Anna Wajcblum Heilman, the sister of the youngest member of the women’s resistance. Professor Chad Gibbs will highlight a facet of Holocaust history on the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Location TBA. Sponsored by Charleston Jewish Filmfest, the Charleston JCC Foundation, the Stanley Farbstein Endowment, and the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies.

Wednesday 11/15 at 7pm: “Israelism” Screening and Conversation

In-person only. Click here to register.

When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns.

They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.

Join Professor Joshua Shanes for a conversation with the film's star following the screening.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Sponsored by the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies.

Wednesday 11/28 at 7:30pm: Stand Up Comedy with Yossi Tarablus

In-person only. Click here to register.

For years, Israel’s thriving stand-up comedy scene was accessible only to Hebrew speakers. This fall, we bring you a glimpse of that scene as we host Yossi Tarablus, an Israeli stand-up comedian who also performs in English.

Location TBA. Sponsored by the Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies.

Sunday 12/10 at 4:00 pm: Chanukah in the Square

In person only.

Family-friendly, fun, and free. Join us for Charleston's annual Chanukah in the Square extravaganza. We are thrilled to return to Marion Square for the annual Chanukah in the Square celebration. Please plan on being there with your neighbors, friends, and family. Bring an appetite and your Chanukah spirit. We will supply the hot food, the live music, and the festive atmosphere! There will be no shortage of treats for everyone.Featurin live music, latkes, donuts, hot pretzels, hotdogs, burgers, kettle corn, chicken soup, soft drinks, chanukah treats and giveaways, kids crafts, giant menorah lighting, and children's entertainment. We will continue the tradition of lighting the menorah candles as a community. We can't wait to see you there!

Sponsored by the Chabad of Charleston - Center for Jewish Life, the City of Charleston, and the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program.

Sunday 2/4 at 10am: Rachel Barnett and Lyssa Harves Book Talk: Kugels and Collards

Hybrid with both in-person and online options. Registration coming soon.

Join us in Arnold Hall located at 96 Wentworth Street. Brunch will be available beginning at 9am provided to in-person attendees. Sponsored by the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture, the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina and the Charleston JCC Foundation.

A World of Jewish Culture: Sunday 6/02

These events are in-person only.

Save the date for A World of Jewish Culture. More details coming soon.

The Jewish Studies Program prepares its line of events one semester in advance, in January-February for Fall, and in September-October for Spring. Ideas for speakers and performers are discussed at a Programming Committee meeting that is composed of Jewish Studies faculty and staff, and members of the Charleston Jewish Community. The Programming Committee welcomes proposals and ideas for events, as well as feedback from the community about upcoming and past events. Feel free to submit your ideas here, or contact Associate Director for Community Relations Kim Browdy.

Here's our Spring 22 Newsletter:

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Past newsletters:

Fall 2021 newsletter

Spring 2021 newsletter

Fall 2020 newsletter

Access Full List of CofC Events here.