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Year-End Wrap-Up
A summary of highlights and accomplishments within our Judaic Studies community
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Letter from the Chair
As I write these words, firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in the country just a few hours to our south, and it has only been a few weeks since the record-breaking heat wave that struck the Pacific Northwest in late June. An academic year that began with terrible wildfires that filled our skies with smoke ends with more fire and fiery heat, and in between we struggled to cope with an historic pandemic that has at times raged out of control. What a year it’s been.
Even in these trying circumstances, our students have soldiered on, enduring a year of remote learning, remote activities, and remote work. We are immensely proud of them, and especially of our most recent graduates: Flora Brooke, LaWana Garduno, John Hanley, Graham Steele, and Grace Wolfe. They fill us with hope for the future. Even as we bid farewell to our graduates, our student community continues to grow: in the past year, we have welcomed four new Judaic Studies majors, and another will be joining us in September.
Other highlights of the 2020-21 academic year include our Gus and Libby Solomon Memorial Lecture, featuring Ken Mehlman, and our Levy Event on fantasy in Jewish literature and culture. Please see below for recaps of these exciting programs.
We are now preparing for our return to in-person teaching in the fall. Make sure to acquaint yourself with our lineup of courses for Fall term! A bit farther down the road, in Spring term of 2022 we will welcome our Israel Institute Artist-in-Residence, noted Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann. Tomer will teach a course on Israeli film and contribute to our department’s public programs. We are very excited about Tomer’s residency.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Brian Romer to our Advisory Committee. Brian, who has had a long career in academic publishing, is an active member of the Jewish community and is passionate about what we do in Judaic Studies. He is especially interested in mentoring current students and alums. We are delighted to have him on board.
Some thank-yous are also in order. First of all, a huge thanks to Leatrice Kaplan, who has stepped down from the Judaic Studies Advisory Committee after many years of service. We are profoundly grateful to Leatrice for her sage advice, her steadfast support, and her ready wit.
I also want to extend our sincere thanks to Joseph Rosenthal of the Bay Area for donating to the PSU Library Special Collections a second set of leaves from the very rare fifteenth-century Nuremberg Chronicle. For more on the Chronicle, which includes an infamous illustration of Jews being burned at the stake after their condemnation for the alleged crime of host desecration, please view this video, created by Kylee Bolinger, a student in German and History.
Please read on to find out what some of our alums are up to these days and for faculty updates, as well as a retrospective of our year.
I wish you an enjoyable and productive summer. Be well and stay in touch!
Natan M. Meir
Academic Director and Lorry I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies
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Left to right: Flora Brooke, Prof. Meir, Graham Steele, Grace Wolf
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| Graduates!
Judaic Studies minted five new graduates June 2021.
All five minored in Judaic Studies and majored in History:
Flora Brooke
LaWana Garduno
John Hanley
Graham Steele
Grace Wolfe
Mazel tov to all!
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Alum News
Here’s what some of our alums have been up to:
Alex Mansfield (‘20) is teaching at various synagogue religious schools in Portland, working as Religious Enrichment Specialist at the MJCC day camp, and recently founded Adir Learning, a Jewish educational consultancy.
Megan Olsen (‘20) is beginning a Masters program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Kean University in New Jersey.
Beryl Bessemer (‘16) is now working as the Online Fundraising and Engagement Manager for 70 Faces Media, the largest Jewish media organization in North America.
Tanya Huyard (‘16) has begun an internship at Israel Story, a podcast that is often called the Israeli version of “This American Life.”
Read more student and alum stories: https://www.pdx.edu/judaic-studies/stories
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Natan Meir, Lorry I. Lokey Professor of Judaic Studies, was interviewed on "Live from NYPL" by Jonathan Stevenson, a Senior Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Natan discussed his book Stepchildren of the Shtetl, published in July 2020. Read the full story on our Judaic Studies blog. Watch the recording on the NYPL Youtube channel.
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Nina Spiegel, Rabbi Joshua Stampfer Associate Professor of Israel Studies, has a chapter appearing in Fall 2021 in the Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance in Contemporary Perspective entitled "Mapping a Mizrahi Presence in Israeli Concert Dance: Representations and Receptions of Yemenite Jewish Life on Stage from 1920 to the Present."
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Loren Spielman, Associate Professor of Classical and Rabbinic Judaism, is the author of Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World, published September 2020 by Mohr Siebeck. Read the full story.
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Michael Weingrad, Professor of Judaic Studies, is launching a new initiative to reach out to high school students. The Perelandra Scholars Program debuts Fall 2021 and allows 11th and 12th graders to earn college credit while engaging in civic discourse on big ideas in philosophy, politics, religion and literature.
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Moshe Rachmuth, Senior Instructor of Modern Hebrew, returns from sabbatical this Fall and will be gathering a new cohort of first year Hebrew language students.
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The 16th Annual Gus and Libby Solomon Memorial Lecture with guest speaker Ken Mehlman on:
“A Historic Time in America: How Citizens, Politicians, and Investors Can Together Build a Better World”
On February 4, 2021, we enjoyed a stimulating discussion on the state of today’s political world and environment with Ken Mehlman. Heartfelt thanks to Dick Solomon and Alyce Flitcraft for their sponsorship of this annual event. Learn more: https://www.pdx.edu/judaic-studies/2021-solomon-lecture
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The Lorry I. Lokey Program
Fantasy Literature and the Holocaust: A Conversation with Special Guest Ruth Franklin
On May 6, 2021 we were treated to an intriguing conversation between PSU Professor Michael Weingrad and special guest Ruth Franklin. They discussed aspects of Holocaust portrayal in fantasy literature. Learn more:
The Fifth Annual Levy Event
Everybody Reads:
"The Last Unicorn"
In spring we invited you to read "The Last Unicorn," Peter S. Beagle’s fantasy classic, and attend a worldwide discussion of the book on May 9, guided by our scholar panelists and held on Zoom. Learn more about the event:
https://www.pdx.edu/judaic-studies/2021-levy-event
These events were presented by the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University with the generous support of Lorry I. Lokey, the Lawrence Levy and Pamela Lindholm-Levy Judaic Studies Programming Fund, and a grant from the Jerry & Helen Stern Grandchildren's Fund at the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation. Cosponsored by the PSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the PSU English Department.
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Connect, Engage, Support
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We are The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University
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Portland State University | Judaic Studies PO Box 751 | Portland, OR 97207-0751 US
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