September 2024 Newsletter 

How can pop culture help us speak more clearly about race and antisemitism?

Both Jews and non-Jews often strug­gle to explain how anti­semitism works in 21st-cen­tu­ry Amer­i­ca. In fact, many well-inten­tioned peo­ple lack the tools to notice anti­semitism at all. Likewise, many people struggle to explain how antisemitism can impact Jews with white skin (like the actor Seth Rogen) and Jews of color (like the rap superstar Drake) differently. But by illu­mi­nat­ing how Jew­ish pop cul­ture stars nav­i­gate these issues onscreen, we can often clarify how antisemitism shapes everyday per­cep­tions, bias­es, and behav­iors in real life.

Come learn about this timely topic with Jonathan Branfman (he/him), who will draw from his new book, Millennial Jewish Stars: Navigating Racial Antisemitism, Masculinity, and White Supremacy.

The Swig JSSJ Program is proud to co-sponsor this talk with JSSJ affiliated faculty member Stephen Zunes (he/him), USF professor of politics. Professor Zunes will share thoughts and reflections on the research he conducted over the past year as the Torgny Segerstedt Visiting Research Professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Journalist Asaf Elia-Shalev (he/him), author of the new book Israel's Black Panthers: The Radicals Who Punctured a Nation's Founding Myth, will share the powerful story of an activist movement that challenged racial inequities in Israel.

Elia-Shalev’s book tells the story of the young and impoverished Moroccan Israeli Jews who challenged their country's political status quo by rebelling against the ethnic hierarchy of Israeli life in the 1970s. Inspired by the American group of the same name, the Black Panthers mounted protests and a years-long political campaign for the rights of Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern ancestry, which still resonates today.

This event is part of our Open Doors Sukkot programming.

How does recognizing that there are people who don't fit binary gender identities change our understanding of ourselves, one another, and God? In this talk, poet, scholar, and activist Joy Ladin (she/her) will present selections from two newly published books — Once Out of Nature, writings about how gender is changing, and Family, her eleventh and most intimate poetry collection — that highlight what living between and beyond gender categories can teach us about becoming, loving, losing, mourning, and otherwise being human. 

This event is part of our Open Doors Sukkot programming.

Register now »

In this talk, Swig JSSJ Program Assistant Director Oren Kroll-Zeldin (he/him) will discuss his new book, Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine, which examines the experiences of young Jewish Americans who engage with the Palestine solidarity movement, thereby challenging the staunch pro-Israel stance of mainstream Jewish American institutions. Kroll-Zeldin argues that these young people perceive their commitment to ending the occupation and Israeli apartheid as a Jewish value, deeply rooted in the changing dynamics of Jewish life in the twenty-first century.

Kroll-Zeldin will be in conversation with new JSSJ team member Rabbi Chel Mandell (they/them), who is part of the generation featured in the book and a participant in numerous Bay Area Jewish activist communities.

We will build our sukkah this year on Welch Field (between St. Ignatius Church and Kalmanovitz Hall). Everyone is invited to spend time in the sukkah throughout the week-long Sukkot holiday, held this year in October. All are welcome to hang out, eat lunch or dinner with friends, or use this temporary structure as a place to relax and recharge. In addition, we will be hosting special events and programs in the sukkah throughout the week. For more information, contact Rabbi Camille Shira Angel or stop by University Ministry.

Join Or Shalom Jewish Community and the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice for an Erev Sukkot gathering. In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, we will be learning about and discussing how we can be good guests on indigenous land, and how the Jewish tradition beckons us forth to the work of solidarity with indigenous peoples. We will gather, celebrate the festival, learn, and most of all, eat!

Join us for lunch in the sukkah featuring food made with love by the students in Community Garden Outreach. Bring your friends and fill your bellies and souls. The food is free, and donations are gladly accepted. Lunch will start at noon and will last until the food runs out.

The interfaith team invites people of all faiths or none to gather in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice’s Open Doors Sukkah on Welch Field. Together, we will gather as a community to pray for peace during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. We seek to embody the joyous and community-oriented aspects of Sukkot as we congregate together and celebrate the start of the fall harvest. 

The JFCS Holocaust Center is now accepting applications for the Pell and Manovill University Fellowships! Through these paid fellowships, which provide undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to become essential members of the Holocaust Center staff, individuals mentor teens, work with Holocaust and genocide survivors, and facilitate virtual programming for students and adults. They also support the Holocaust Center’s work in confronting antisemitism through education and public policy. Virtual programming has expanded the Holocaust Center’s reach beyond California and the United States.

Each fellowship is a paid position, with a commitment of approximately 10 hours/week, from October through June. Fellows may receive course credit upon completion. The application period for the 2024–25 fellowship is now open. Undergraduate and graduate students interested in becoming a Pell or Manovill University fellow should fill out an official inquiry form.

Your generous support of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice will help us engage students in both theoretical and practical approaches of social justice and activism rooted in the Jewish traditions.