Volume 4, 2022-2023

Jewish Studies Program, Volume 4, 2022-23

From the Director

Dr. Rachel Kranson

As we head into early spring, it is our pleasure to share with you some of the exciting work that Pitt’s Jewish Studies program has accomplished over the last academic year and beyond. We will also keep you up to date with our ongoing and upcoming programs as we continue to delve into the study of Jewish history, religion, and culture. 

While I am on leave this semester conducting research at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute for the study of Jews and gender, our program continues to thrive under the leadership of Interim Director Dr. Frayda Cohen. Our undergraduate courses include hands-on explorations into the history of Jewish books and considerations of health and illness in Israeli society. Eminent scholars are sharing their research on Jewish thought and climate change, bioethics and the Holocaust, and transgender empowerment in Israel. We will also be hosting an afternoon of performance and discussion of Mizrachi women’s music. Whether you are a student, a scholar, an alum, an engaged member of our community, or any combination thereof, we cannot wait to see you in a seminar room, at a lecture, at a performance, or on a Zoom screen!

In the future, our program will meet the complexities of the moment by encouraging research and education on the issue of antisemitism. The inaugural Fine Fellowship for the study of 10/27 will bring scholars to Pittsburgh to work with archival materials related to the synagogue attack. We will also be reviving Antisemitism Then and Now, a team-taught course that the Jewish Studies program sponsored in the spring semester of 2019. This time around, we will record the lectures so that students can continue to learn from the breadth of knowledge that scholars in Pittsburgh have on this troubling subject.

Looking back over the last academic year, it is gratifying to recall the successes of Pitt’s Jewish Studies program. Hundreds of students took our classes; our faculty generated fascinating research from depictions of Jews in horror film to the experiences of Holocaust survivors in Latin America; our certificate students studied Hebrew abroad and created documentary films; and we hosted a hugely successful series of virtual, in-person, and hybrid events. Endowed grants for research, programming and course development provided by the Arlyn Gilboa Foundation have ensured that our students and our faculty can continue to discover and explore the rich field of Jewish Studies.

We could not do all this work without the generous support we receive from our friends and alumni. Your contributions fund student and faculty research opportunities, new course development, visiting speakers, and many other crucial components of Pitt’s program in Jewish Studies. If you wish to join this effort, you can donate through PittGiving, or reach out directly about opportunities to help the program grow and thrive.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me and let me know about the topics that most fascinate you. If you tell me which aspects of Jewish history, religion, and culture you have always wanted to learn more about, we will try our hardest to make that scholarship accessible. The best way to reach me is via email: Kranson@pitt.edu. Whether virtually or in person, I look forward to learning with you!

Dr. Rachel Kranson
Director, Jewish Studies
University of Pittsburgh

By the Numbers, 2022-23

  • 683 - Students taught
  • 26 - Classes offered
  • 14 - Events hosted
  • 7 - Internships or Independent Studies held 

Spotlights

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: ANDREW COLE 

Andrew Cole

Through the Undergraduate Academic Internship (RELGST 1900), I had the pleasure to spend summer 2023 working under the supervision of Dr. Deane Root, former professor of musicology at the University of Pittsburgh, and secretary of the Israel Heritage Room Classroom Committee. During my internship I studied archival documents related to the Israel Heritage Classroom at the Cathedral of Learning. The Israel Heritage Classroom of today is the physical culmination of years’ worth of thought, discussion, disagreement, and cooperation within the Jewish community and between the Israel Room Committee (IRC) and Pitt.

In a series of informal discussions known as “rump sessions,” a group of key faculty members throughout the 70s and 80s expressed their beliefs of what the room should be by raising important questions. Should it be a “Jewish” room or an “Israel” room? What tenets are central to Judaism that should be expressed in the architecture? What time period should the room be based on? Due to the sheer volume of correspondence between the chairman of the Nationality Rooms Program and members of the Israel Room Committee, it is evident the chairman advocated strongly on behalf of an Israel Room.

Throughout the discussions, along with contributions and opinions from Jewish leaders in their respective fields (such as an exemplary essay by Rabbi Solomon Freehof, and a visit from renowned architect Louis Kahn), the committee landed on the concept of an ancient study hall from the 3rd century CE, dated sometime after the fall of the Second Temple. Dr. Root and I were both eager to find written expressions of the far-reaching vision of some of the members, in the form of essays or correspondence centering a Torah-based approach to the room. What we discovered were hundreds of documents that hold the essence of the special significance of the Israel Heritage Room, with no shortage of discussion over design minutiae and the philosophies guiding it.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: JESSE KIMBALL

Jesse Kimball

From Left: Jesse Kimball and two friends hike Masada in Israel.

Studying neuroscience, I never thought study abroad experiences would be an option for me. I had no idea how learning in another country would benefit my education. At the time I was looking for summer experiences, I was starting to consider doing the Jewish Studies certificate at Pitt. When I realized I could go to Israel to learn Hebrew, I jumped at the opportunity. As a non-Jewish person, from a small town in the Midwest, I have had a lot to learn about Jewish history and culture. As incredible as my classes at Pitt have been, it was only in Israel that I saw all the gaps in my knowledge.

My summer program was an immersive language experience, but I was also immersed in global Jewish culture. I was able to engage with people from Israel, as well as people from all over the United States, Europe, and Asia. Everybody had their own perspectives on Judaism, and their own ways of practicing. Each Shabbat dinner we had together was unique, from a kosher dinner we spent all day preparing to simply eating pizza in a park. Everyone held different opinions on what was ok to eat, whether I could turn the lights off, and how many prayers we should say.

Despite all the differences between participants in my program, in nationality, religion, and traditions, we were unified by the shared goal of learning Hebrew, and the experience of being in Israel together with minimal support systems. We all learned a lot from each other, and I feel that this was a vital experience for me as a student of Jewish Studies. It is of the utmost importance that the perspectives and experiences of real people are at the forefront of my ongoing research project about how religion and culture in Israel effects health/perceived health of people living there. I conducted interviews with people while I was in Israel and am now following up with them to see how their opinions may have changed following October 7. I hope to continue engaging with more people internationally.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: MELANIE SILVER, (A&S ’23)

Melanie Silver

When I took Dr. Rachel Kranson’s “Jews in the City” class, I completed a project for ‘Religyinz’ – an online exhibit that highlights landmarks in Pittsburgh that connect to the religious communities in the city. My project focused on Sophie Masloff Way, a street named after Jewish Mayor Sophie Masloff. When I first started the project, I did not know about Jewish Mayor Sophie Masloff, her legacy, or the honorary street right outside PNC Park named for her. When I visited her street sign for the project, I had trouble finding it because the sign was small and almost tucked away by a tree!

Two years after I turned in my Religyinz project, I was back at the landmark I had written about. I took a picture with it while all dressed up for my senior formal, which took place at PNC Park. I brought my friends slightly out of the way so they could see the street sign, and I shared the story of Sophie Masloff many times.

Program Highlights

HILLMAN LIBRARY HOSTS PRESSED EXHIBIT OF IMAGES FROM JEWISH DAILY FORWARD

By Eve Wider, Director of the Millstein Library, Liaison for Jewish Studies, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Read a reprinted article (PDF) about the exhibit that was originally published in AJL News and Reviews in July 2023.

CLASS VISIT TO THE TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE

By: Samantha Goldberg, (A&S ’23)

The Tree of Life synagogue has become embedded in our collective memory as a symbol of antisemitism and gun violence, but also, as a beautiful story of community restoration and the strength of the Jewish people after such tragedy. 

Led by Professor Jonathan Zisook, my class and I had the opportunity to visit the synagogue on the 5th anniversary of the shooting that claimed 11 members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. Prior to our visit, we read the writings of community members who were present on the day of the massacre or connected to the victims/ tragedy in some way. We then took this experience outside of the classroom and boarded a bus to make our way to Squirrel Hill.  It was my first time visiting the Tree of Life synagogue and needless to say, it was an emotional experience. We spent time taking in the artwork surrounding the barriers, depicting symbols of peace and love and perseverance. We walked through the memorial garden and saw the shell of the synagogue that had been so full of life.   

While this experience was difficult, it was also extremely empowering. Our group was fortunate enough to run into a group of volunteers from the congregation that were and are an active part of the Tree of Life community.  We had the opportunity to hear their stories and connections to the synagogue both before and after the shooting.  They spoke not of the harsh tragedy, but only of the mission and actions in the past five years to rebuild the community and maintain the rich and beautiful history of the Tree of Life synagogue and Squirrel Hill. 

Over the past five years, the Tree of Life shooting hung heavy in my heart as a moment of destruction of the Jewish community – my community.  However, this visit helped put some pieces back together as I saw the warmth, beauty and strength of the same community that was rocked by hate.

HOW LEARNING HEBREW CONNECTED ME TO MY FAMILY HISTORY

By: Lianne Baruch, (A&S ’23)

After I left Israel at four years old, I slowly started to feel less connected to where I came from. The Hebrew I spoke at home became more broken and I was afraid I would be unable to communicate with my grandparents. It was frustrating to only have elementary words to describe my young adult thoughts and consequently, I did not feel connected to my relatives.  After graduating high school, I was eager to take college Hebrew classes.  Although I packed my schedule with science classes, for the first five semesters, I made sure I was always able to include Professor Haya Feig’s Hebrew class as well.

While I had always understood spoken Hebrew well, I never knew how to read and write in Hebrew. Taking Hebrew classes at Pitt allowed me to recover something that felt like it was fading and lost in my childhood and turn it into something I can extend into my future life. I started to learn the Hebrew alphabet enough to read and write. I realized that what I could communicate lagged what could be communicated to me. Learning how to write the different verb conjugations and sentence structure made me very impressed with those who learn languages from scratch.  Before, what I could say in Hebrew felt fluent, but it was limited to what I heard from my parents at home. Speaking at a higher level required more thought and practice, but with time everything began to click. Learning Hebrew has shown me how big of a difference there is between understanding a language and speaking in a language. By the end of Hebrew 5, I was able to have more engaging conversations with my grandparents over the phone and my grandma was thrilled to receive my WhatsApp messages in Hebrew.

Bettering my Hebrew speaking skills was something I expected to get out of the Jewish Studies certificate, but I did not expect to also learn so much about my family’s history. I used the information I learned in classes to dig up what my parents forgot they knew. For example, I always knew three of my grandparents were born in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s, but I never understood how they got there before Israel became a country. I became more interested in Ladino, a language my grandparents still speak. Although Hebrew is so commonly spoken in Israel now, I never thought about how it would not have been my great grandparents’ first language. When I was little, I would hear my paternal grandparents sometimes talking in what I thought was regular Spanish. I thought it was just their funny way of gossiping so that others could not understand them. I didn’t realize that they were speaking Ladino until later.

While my grandparents are most comfortable speaking in Hebrew, when my grandma was younger, she had to learn Ladino to better communicate with her mother and grandmother. My grandmothers’s father moved from Bhagdad to Palestine and her mother moved from Istanbul. My great-grandfather had to learn Ladino so that they could date. My grandfather’s parents were from Thessaloniki and knew Ladino as well, which is how my grandparents can communicate with each other in another language. Before taking Dr. Rachel Kranson’s Gender and Jewish History class, I didn’t understand much about Jewish immigration before Israel became a state.

Taking Jewish Studies courses at Pitt has taught me so much about Hebrew and Jewish history, leading me to feel more connected to my own Jewish story. Through all the Hebrew classes I was given a consistent and effective practice for learning the language, which in turn, allowed me to stay connected to my relatives and discover more about my family’s history. 

Faculty Scholarship and Activities

Dr. Benjamin Gordon, Associate Professor and Rosenberg-Perlow Fellow in Religious Studies, contributed an article on “The Archaeology of the Second Temple Period in Judea: New Discoveries and Research” in Jewish Studies on Premodern Periods, edited by Carl S. Ehrlich and Sara R. Horowitz (Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter 2023), pp. 123–148. In November 2022, Gordon gave a paper called “Pious Euergetism of Foreigners and the Jerusalem Temple in the Late Hellenistic Period” for the Economics in the Biblical World Program Unit at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Denver. The paper has been submitted for publication in a Biblische Notizen theme issue on “Empire and Regency in Early Judaism.” In June 2023, he presented a paper called “Woodland Judaism: Tree Veneration and the Sacred Grove in Ancient Jewish Practice” at the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religion meeting at St. Andrews, Scotland, and is currently adapting the paper into a chapter for the conference volume.

Dr. Rachel Kranson, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Jewish Studies, delivered the 2023 Rothschild Memorial Lecture at the Tam Institute of Jewish Studies at Emory University. Dr. Kranson’s presentation, “Religious Misconceptions: American Jews, Abortion, and the First Amendment,” centered her current research on American Jews and reproductive politics. She presented various chapters of this work at major conferences, including the Biennial Scholar’s Conference of the American Jewish Historical Conference in May 2022 and the Association for Jewish Studies conference in December 2023. This semester, Dr. Kranson continues to research Jewish engagement in the politics of abortion as a scholar-in-residence at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.

Dr. Adam Lowenstein, Professor in Film and Media Studies, was awarded two fellowships to support research related to his current book project, tentatively titled The Jewish Horror Film: Taboo and Redemption.  He received a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in the field of Film, Video and New Media Studies for 2023-2024. He also received a Frankel Institute Fellowship from the Jean and Samuel Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan for the fall 2023 semester. At the Frankel Institute, Lowenstein joined a distinguished group of fellows from a wide variety of fields and a number of different countries to collaborate on the theme of “Jewish Visual Culture.”  Scholars, artists, and filmmakers working in the disciplines of history, art history, museum studies, photography studies, film studies, American studies, and Jewish studies all shared their work in progress and participated in special events and discussions dedicated to exploring the meanings and possibilities of Jewish visual culture.

Dr. Jan Musekamp, Associate Professor in History, has a book coming out in March 2024: Shifting Lines, Entangled Borderlands: Mobilities and Migration along the Prussian Eastern Railroad. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2024 (March).

Dr. Adam Shear, Associate Professor and Department Chair in Religious Studies, worked on a project that won a Digital Innovation Award from the Renaissance Society of America. Footprints, a database that tracks the circulation of early modern Hebrew and Jewish books, was recognized for its excellence in supporting the study of the Renaissance. The open-source and open-access tool follows texts from their origins in the printing house to the present-day. Shear also presented at two conferences: “Categorizing Jewish Books in the Sixteenth Century:  Subjects, Materials, and Other Categorization Schemes,” presented at the Association of Jewish Studies in Boston on December 2022 and “Books and Languages” at a conference on “New Directions in North American Scholarship on Early Modern Jewish History” at New York University in May 2023.

Dr. Jonathan Zisook, Visiting Lecturer in Sociology, had two articles published “The Politics of Holocaust Memory in Central and Eastern Europe: Contemporary Poland a Comparative Case Study,” Studies in Contemporary Jewry 33 (2023): 24-46, and “Dead Jews Are Not A Metaphor,” Sociological Forum 37, no. 4 (December 2022): 1203-1206. He also reviewed two publications: Jan Grabowski and Barbara Engelking (eds.), Night Without End: The Fate of Jews in German Occupied Poland (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2022), Religious Studies Review 49, no. 2 (June 2023), and Marcelo Dimenstein and Ewa Tartakowsky (eds.), Jewish Europe Today: Between Memory and Everyday Life (Cracow: Austeria, 2020), Religious Studies Review 48, no. 4 (December 2022).

Course Spotlight

BODY SIZE AROUND THE GLOBE

Taught by Dr. Hilla Nehushtan

In spring 2023 I was privileged to teach the first class on Body Size Around the Globe. The course introduced students to basic terms within the critical research of body size, such as fat stigma, BMI, and the 'obesity epidemic,' and traced the intersections between gender ideologies, cultural contexts, medical perspectives, and religious beliefs. We discussed the ideal body in Israeli society as it was constructed by the ethos of muscular pioneers working the land, and traced the impact of this ideal on the development of eating disorders in Israel. We delved into the intersection of Judaism with body size and how it affected Jewish assimilation into American society.

Our conversations examined the following questions: How do social and medical perspectives construct ideals of appropriate weight and body size? How do people of various gender, racial, and sexual identities experience living in bigger bodies, and how does this depend on national, religious, and cultural contexts? At the end of the course, students presented their research on issues they were passionate about, such as body size in professional dancing, body size and bodybuilding, body size in the drag community; resisting beauty ideals through knitting; the problems with Ozempic, and more. I was thrilled to learn from students' notes and discussions as much as they were enthusiastic about learning the many meanings of body size around the world.

Lecture Recaps: 2022-23

Thank you to Mira Katz (A&S ’23) for these event summaries.

FINDING MY WAY THROUGH THE WOODS

Finding My Way Through the Woods Flyer

Oct. 25, 2022

The lecture “Finding my Way Through the Woods: Family, Migration, and Gender in Sephardi and Mizrachi Food Cultures,” highlighted Dr. Michal Nachman’s research on food, Mizrachi and Sephardic culture, and how these subjects intersect with gender. Nahman began venturing out of academia to the woodlands in the United Kingdom to learn about the ethos of sustainable living. At the woodland space called Cherrywood, she found her place as the outdoor cook, where she made flatbreads, stews, salads, and pastries for up to 30 people. After she left Cherrywood, Nachman was still interested in analyzing food and wanted to delve further into that interest.

In 2020 Nachman started the Mizrachi Food Project which entailed three parts: cooking with Mizrachi and Sephardic Jews through a lens of feminist ideology, exploring her personal family migration and food history, and gathering data on antisemitism and Islamophobia. Her project concluded with a solidarity feast called “What Does Home Taste Like?”

In her research, Nachman interviewed a wide variety of people and found that her interviews challenged a narrow view of Jewishness. Specifically, Nachman talked about Gondi, a chickpea meatball soup, a specialty of Jews and Muslims of middle eastern descent. She explained how this food highlights the interconnectedness of multiple religions and cultures.

TRANS TALMUD

Trans Talmud Flyer

Nov. 3, 2022

 This lecture spotlighted Dr. Max Strassfeld’s book Trans Talmud. Strassfeld, a professor at the University of Arizona, teaches Jewish Studies, Rabbinical Literature and Transgender Studies. Strassfeld explained that rabbinic literature includes passages regarding medical advice, prohibitions about ritual, and philosophical interpretations of the Torah. Strassfeld’s work mines this literature for what it says about eunuchs and androgynes, gender categories in the Talmud that do not line up with either male or female.

In this talk, Strassfeld made it clear that the rabbis of the Talmud organized sex and gender differently than we do today. If sex and gender were defined differently in the past, it proves that a gender-binary cannot be the only way to organize society.

In a presentation rich with theory, text, and even a bit of creative writing, Strassfeld showed how “transing” the Talmud can be both a disciplinary tool as well as a pathway towards liberation. 

Past Events

Below are some of our past events. If you missed them, don't despair. Instead, get in touch with us to hear about the exciting events coming your way in 2024-25!​

Staff and Faculty

  • Rachel Kranson (Director of Jewish Studies, Associate Professor of Religious Studies)
  • Frayda Cohen (Interim Director of Jewish Studies Spring 2023, Senior Lecturer and Assiant Director, Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies Program)
  • Christopher Drew Armstrong (Associate Professor and Director of Architectural Studies, History of Art and Architecture)
  • Jeff Aziz (Senior Lecturer and Advisor, English)
  • Brock Bahler (Lecturer II, Religious Studies)
  • Barbara Burstin (Part-Time Instructor, History)
  • Amy-Diana Colin (Associate Professor, German)
  • Vivian Curran (Distinguished Professor, Law)
  • Haya Feig (Lecturer II, Religious Studies)
  • Benjamin Gordon (Associate Professor and Perlow-Rosenberg Fellow, Religious Studies)
  • Laura Gotkowitz (Associate Professor, History)
  • Keila Grinberg (Professor, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies)
  • Lina Insana (Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, French and Italian)
  • Hannah Johnson (Associate Professor, English)
  • Alissa Klots (Assistant Professor, History)
  • Adam Lowenstein (Professor, Film and Media Studies)
  • Jan Musekamp (Associate Professor, History)
  • Calum Matheson (Associate Professor, Communication)
  • Hilla Nehushtan (Visiting Lecturer/Israel Institute Fellow, Jewish Studies)
  • Irina Reyn (Associate Professor, English)
  • Adam Shear (Associate Professor and Department Chair, Religious Studies)
  • Oscar Swan (Professor and Advisor, Slavic)
  • Richard Weisberg (Visiting Professor, School of Law)
  • Johnathan Zisook (Visiting Lecturer, Sociology)

Special Thanks

The Jewish Studies program extends its gratitude to Madison Jackson for editing this newsletter. 

Support Jewish Studies at Pitt!

The Jewish Studies Program is the central hub of Jewish Studies in Pittsburgh. Support our students, faculty, events, and development by contributing today. Visit PittGiving to make a donation. Email Rachel Kranson at kranson@pitt.edu for more information.

Up Next

Register to attend the virtual lecture “Transgender Health in Israel” featuring Nina Halevy: an educator, activist, and member of the GilaProject for Trans Empowerment in Israel (NGO). The event will be held Thursday, April 11, at 9:30 a.m. ET on Zoom.

REGISTER

Transgender Health in Israel Flyer