Greetings from the Director of the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies

We continue to offer an array of classes in Jewish Studies ranging from Biblical Hebrew and Modern Hebrew to classes on Judaism, the Holocaust, Biblical Archeology, Ancient Judaism, and Hebrew Bible. We were delighted to offer two different new courses on Israel this year, including a course on Israeli culture that rotates topics allowing students to take it more than once and a course on the history of Zionism. The course on Zionism requires students to do research projects which will be presented at UT’s annual Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA).

In addition to our student’s research, we are also able to offer our students the opportunity to be exposed to scholars and their research around the world. Despite the limitations presented by COVID-19, we have been able to continue offering a variety of programs to enrich the experiences of our students and community. This fall, we had Julia Belzer Watts from Georgetown University present on disability and the Talmud for the Abraham and Rebecca Solomon and Ida Schwartz Distinguished Lecture on Judaic Studies lecture. We also had a virtual play titled Borders, which explored a romantic relationship that crossed the Israeli-Lebanese border. 

Most ambitiously, we hosted a three-day Holocaust conference on campus which featured scholars from all around the world presenting in person and online. We were able to welcome conference attendees from across the world using the UT conference system. This spring, we also hosted the Karen and Pace Robinson lecture series on the history of Zionism and featured four virtual speakers.

I also have quite a bit of good news related to my academic successes. In addition to being named co-editor in chief of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s academic journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies along with my colleague and fellow Judaic Studies faculty member Daniel H. Magilow, we were also invited to sit on the Academic advisory council for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In other good news, I also received a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study at the Central European University in Budapest. I will be in residence there from January 2023 – June 2023. While in Budapest, I will continue a research project on a group of Hungarian and Polish boys who were held at Auschwitz in the fall and winter of 1944. I hope this research will result not only in a book, but a richer learning experience for my students.

Sincerly,
Helene Sinnreich
Director