Exceptional Opportunities & Engaging Programming
The Eastern Michigan University Center for Jewish Studies was formally introduced at a ceremony involving Senator Carl Levin on February 23, 2012. Since that time, the Center has grown and developed significantly. The Center for Jewish Studies provides exceptional curricular and travel opportunities for EMU students and offers accessible and engaging programming to enrich both the EMU and Southeast Michigan communities. The center operates with a combination of university and community support.
For EMU Students, the Center for Jewish Studies provides excellent educational opportunities including travel courses with excellent faculty to places like New York, Poland, and Israel; high quality programming that brings the richness of Jewish cultural, intellectual, and religious life to campus and the community; and a Jewish Studies minor.
The EMU Center for Jewish Studies brings a range of excellent programming—some cultural like musical acts or comedians, and others more academic—to the Southeast Michigan Community. All our programs, which are free and open to the public, aspire to be timely and relevant to contemporary discussions as well as accessible and engaging for non-academic audiences.
EMU Center for Jewish Studies Lecture Series
Jim Gerstein: "Making Sense of the Jewish Vote"
On September 30th, please join the EMU community and our guest, veteran Democratic pollster Jim Gerstein of GBAO Strategies, who will discuss Jewish voters' political beliefs and values as the 2024 election rapidly approaches.
EMU Student Center 300, 6:30 pm
EMU Student Center 300, 6:30 pm
Professor Barry L. Stiefel: "Difficult Memorials: Historic Synagogues From the Days of Slavery"
In this presentation, Professor Barry Stiefel discusses the important role memorials play for understanding ourselves and our history especially when they deal with subject matter that many would prefer to forget. Telling the story of the first and last synagogues built in the Americas using slave labor (Zur Israel in Dutch Recife built in 1640 and Beth Elohim in Charleston in 1840) and the story of their memorializations, Stiefel explores the challenges but also rewards of dealing with our difficult histories.
EMU Student Center 300, 7pm
EMU Student Center 300, 7pm
Professor Rachel B. Gross: "A Pickle Problem: The Deli Revival and American Jewish Religion"
In recent years, there has been a nostalgic revival of interest in the Jewish deli menu. As Prof. Rachel B. Gross explores in her book, Beyond the Synagogue: Jewish Nostalgia as Religious Practice, chefs and restaurateurs have deliberately made American Jewish food fit for the twenty-first century, emphasizing sustainability, local produce, and a longing for Eastern European family and communal histories.
By selling and consuming a revitalized deli cuisine, American Jews express their longing for authentic Jewish pasts, build community in the present, and pass on their values to future generations.
Participating in the deli revival provides an alternative, under-appreciated way of practicing American Jewish religion. This analysis of an Ashkenazi culinary revival also provides tools for identifying the challenges in embracing the diversity within American Judaism.
EMU Student Center 300, 7pm
By selling and consuming a revitalized deli cuisine, American Jews express their longing for authentic Jewish pasts, build community in the present, and pass on their values to future generations.
Participating in the deli revival provides an alternative, under-appreciated way of practicing American Jewish religion. This analysis of an Ashkenazi culinary revival also provides tools for identifying the challenges in embracing the diversity within American Judaism.
EMU Student Center 300, 7pm