The Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies

08/09/2026

Today's the day! Our 2026-2027 Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies lecture series kicks off with Sarah Zager of St. Olaf College, who will share her research on virtue ethics and Jewish philosophy. The event begins at 6 PM EST and will last for an hour and YOU are invited! Head to http://tiny.utk.edu/zager26 to register; you can also find full information about the event, and the Emerging Voices series as a whole, at http://tiny.utk.edu/emergingvoices We hope to see you there!

We are grateful to acknowledge the support of our co-sponsors for this event: the University of Tennessee Department of Religious Studies, the Department of Philosophy, and the Center for Social Theory.

17/08/2026

Happy first day of school! As we hit the ground running for a new semester, it's time for one of the best parts of any new academic year: marking your calendars for the continuation of the Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies Lecture Series! Now in its third year, Emerging Voices is a series of Zoom talks bringing some of the most exciting, creative work in the study of Jews and Judaism to UT students, faculty, and community partners. As in previous years, we've got a very eclectic lineup planned, with talks ranging from contemporary moral philosophy and fiction to biblical literature, medieval Hebraism, and much much more. Each talk is entirely virtual and open to the public, so no matter who are and where you are, you are invited to the Emerging Voices series!

See links to register below, and feel free to email our Associate Chair Evan Goldstein at [email protected] with any questions.

https://judaic.utk.edu/lecture/emerging-voices.php

03/07/2026

As we head into a holiday long weekend, this Friday we'd like to share a great new resource from the Southern Jewish Historical Society on Southern Jews and 1776. However you're commemorating the anniversary occurring tomorrow, we hope you take the time to reflect on the history of this nation, and to recall that Jews, in and beyond the South, have been involved with every aspect of it in every possible way.

These sources give you a great window into that! Enjoy the weekend.

https://www.jewishsouth.org/1776?fbclid=IwY2xjawSzYsFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFJemp3Z0ZRNVlRTTl2WVVwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHt4jhhocgHl3QTPOLPFlTFW60DzvsMByVdZe2SlYmjrLC77_zLI1JFgudp2y_aem_gitwfHEZKyRSrtwxxdHWYA

By July 4, 1776, the port cities of Charleston and Savannah were both home to established Jewish communities, whose members participated in, and were profoundly shaped by, the Revolutionary War that followed. Below is a curated list of historic sites and primary sources relevant to understanding the...

26/06/2026

If you've been cheering for a team in the FIFA World Cup over the last few weeks, you've probably thought about global connections in the digital age. But did you know that it isn't only in the twenty-first century that commerce, religion, language, and culture has connected communities from very different parts of the world? Learn more by checking out this podcast interview with Pratima Gopalakrishnan, who delivered a talk in our Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies lecture series last spring. Dr. Gopalakrishnan shared her research on the Cairo Geniza, a vast set of documents that she uses to reconstruct the daily lives of Jewish merchants as they traveled back and forth across the Indian ocean. She helps us to think about the forms of global connection that characterized the lives of Jews long before the airplane or the smartphone, giving us insight into a fascinating history.

Check out the interview to learn more! https://soundcloud.com/user-856842937/pratima-gopalakrishnan

12/06/2026

A common story tells us that modernity is the end of religion, that religious traditions are less free and more exclusionary than secular forms of thought. The reality is more complex; if you want to alllll the ways, check out the courses offered by the University of Tennessee Department of Religious Studies! But you can also check out this podcast interview with Chumie Juni, whom we were honored to host in our Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies lecture series in Spring 2025. Dr. Juni shared her research into how ultra-Orthodox Jewish women navigate daily prayer obligations. As you'll hear in this interview, what she finds is that the lives of Jewish women, and their engagements with gendered forms of religious tradition, are more complex than common narratives would suggest. Check it out here:

Listen to Chumie Juni by UTKRELIGION on

05/06/2026

As we prepare to announce the 2026-2027 lineup for our Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies lectures, check out our conversation with the first speaker we hosted! in the series! Sari Fein, who will begin a fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin (aka the other UT) this fall, shared her research about biblical mothers and their afterlives. On this episode of the University of Tennessee Department of Religious Studies podcast, she tells us how she got interested in studying ancient Judaism, how we can learn about the experiences of those not centered in the Jewish textual tradition, and what some of her favorite biblical mothers are. Check it out and keep an eye out for the recording of her lecture, dropping soon on our new YouTube channel! 👀
https://soundcloud.com/user-856842937/sari-fein

29/05/2026

We are excited to share that the Fern and Manfred Steinfeld Program in Judaic Studies now has a YouTube channel! We'll be hosting recordings of much of our public programming there, in order to create a lasting archive of the rich conversations happening in the study of Jews and Judaism here at UT. Each Friday this summer, we'll be highlighting one of our recent events; we hope you'll follow along and check out what we've been up to lately!

We begin with Sam Shuman's talk in the Emerging Voices in Jewish Studies lecture series in October of 2025. Dr. Shuman shared their research into Reb Shayele, a Hungarian Hasidic rebbe from the early twentieth-century who has witnessed a recent, global resurgence in popularity amongst Hasidic communities. Using a wide variety of research methods, Dr. Shuman shows how Shayele has become a populist saint, invoked by Hasidim in the context of interactions with state authorities, and other instances where hospitality and sovereignty meet their limits. We hope you'll enjoy learning from this important, timely work!

This lecture focuses on an emergent, transnational Hasidic revival ...

15/05/2026

Congratulations to Gregory Kaplan, this year's winner of the Gilya Schmidt Award​! Dr. Kaplan's contributions to the study of religion and of Judaism reflect the legacy of Emerita Professor Dr. Gilya Schmidt's own excellent work. Learn more about Dr. Kaplan's scholarship here: https://loom.ly/sNWkj5I University of Tennessee College of Arts & Sciences

27/04/2026

Still looking for something to fill your fall course schedule? Jewish Studies has you covered. Whether you're interested in the ancient Near East or contemporary America, whether you want to watch movies or learn to read a whole new alphabet, we've got something for you. Check out our Fall 2026 course offerings, all still open for registration!

20/04/2026

Have you ever studied Jewish texts and wondered how closely they correspond to the lives of actual Jews? Or wanted to know how we would even go about learning what daily life was like thousands of years ago? This Thursday, Pratima Gopalakrishnan will help us think about these questions, in our final Emerging Voices lecture of the academic year. Dr. Gopalakrishnan will share her research on documents from the Cairo Geniza, and in so doing will help us think about the economic and social realities of medieval Jewish life.

As always, this event will take place at 6 PM EST on Zoom and it is open to ALL, so head over to the registration page to get full details and the link to register. We're grateful to have co-sponsorship from University of Tennessee Department of Religious Studies, History, Middle East Studies, and the Marco Institute. We hope to see you there! http://tiny.utk.edu/gopalakrishnan26