Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture

The Pearlstine/Lipov Center wishes you a very happy Passover.

We're hiring! Come join the CofC Jewish Studies team!

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There are so many wonderful things going on in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston. We would appreciate your support!

We hope to see you at brunch!

In Myths, Legends, and Monuments: the Popular Legacy of Early Jewish American History, Michael Hoberman examines how the Jewish experiences of the American Revolution, slaveholding in the early republic and antebellum period, and westward migration have been imagined, commemorated, and frequently mythologized. Focusing on how historical relationships between Jews and Native Americans and Jews and Blacks are interpreted in light of current political developments, he suggests that the stories Americans tell about early American Jews help to shape their views about the racial and cultural complexities of the American present.

Dr. Michael Hoberman will be in Arnold Hall on Sunday, March 22nd at 10:00 AM. Free brunch will be served at 9:00 AM. ☕🥐

In person and online options available, register to receive the Zoom link. This event is free and open to the public.

Register: tinyurl.com/hoberman26

Sponsored by the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina.

We'd like to extend a hearty congratulations to Dr. Chad Gibbs, director of our sister center, the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies on the publication of his first book, Survival in Treblinka. It's a powerful book that explores the history of the uprising at Treblinka through the lens of geography, gender, and social networks. Mazl tov!

You can check out his book at the following link: https://history.wisc.edu/event/survival-at-treblinka-geography-gender-and-social-networks-of-jewish-resistance/

Congratulations to this year’s winners and finalists of the annual National Jewish Book Awards! Former center director Dr. Shari Rabin’s recent book, The Jewish South: An American History, is a finalist for Best Book in American Jewish History.

75th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award Winners Attend the 75th Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards Celebration

We hope to see you all later tonight!

Emma Mordecai was a complicated figure: both a staunch defender of Judaism, and an ardent Confederate nationalist and slaveowner. Her life, as vividly captured in her wartime diary, is a good example of the messiness of history and the ambiguous place of Jews in the antebellum and Civil War South.

Dr. Melissa Klapper, who wrote a book on Emma Mordecai, will be in Arnold Hall on Thursday, February 5 at 6:00 PM to share more about Mordecai’s unusual life. Snacks and drinks will be provided! 🍿☕

Register: tinyurl.com/klappers26

Sponsored by the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture and the JHSSC.

We hope you will join us next week for the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture’s first event of the semester.

Be sure to check out Dr. Chad Gibbs, Director of the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, powerful piece about Holocaust education in the post-witness era, and his work with students here at the College of Charleston.

Bearing witness after the witnesses are gone: How to bring Holocaust education home for a new generation Students respond to history that feels local and personal. There are ways to do that even as Holocaust survivors pass away, one professor writes.

CALL FOR PAPERS
"The Past, Present, and Future of Southern Jewish History"
50th Annual Conference of the Southern Jewish Historical Society
October 16-18, 2026
Atlanta, Georgia

The Southern Jewish Historical Society invites proposals for its 50th annual conference, to be held in Atlanta on October 16–18, 2026 in partnership with Emory University's Tam Institute for Jewish Studies. The theme of this conference is "The Past, Present and Future of Southern Jewish History."

2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Southern Jewish Historical Society. The organization's first conference, held in October 1976 in Richmond, Virginia, gathered scholars, community chroniclers, and others interested in the history of Jewish southerners. For the five decades since, the SJHS has distributed dozens of grants and scholarships supporting historical projects; published a peer-reviewed scholarly journal; and convened an annual conference in cities all around the South.

For the coming conference, we welcome proposals for panels, individual papers, roundtables, and lightning sessions that consider the history not only of our organization, but of southern Jewish history itself. How has our topic of collective examination and interest changed over time? How have methods for interpreting Jewish life in the region evolved over the past fifty years? And what directions might our field take in the future?

We also welcome presentations that explore broader themes of southern Jewish life, with particular interest in the history of Jewish life in Atlanta -- a major population center and economic hub for Jews in the South -- and in Georgia more broadly.

The proposal deadline is March 31, 2026. Graduate students, independent scholars, fiction writers, and artists are encouraged to apply. (A limited number of travel grants may be available for graduate students.)

Paper proposals: one-page abstract (250 words)
Panel or roundtable proposals: short (150 words) description, with individual paper abstracts attached for panels
All proposed presenters should also send a short CV or résumé (2 pages)

Please submit all materials via email to Dr. Marni Davis, conference program chair, at [email protected], with "SJHS 2026 Proposal" as the subject line. All questions and further queries can be sent to Dr. Davis as well.

This Call for Papers can also be accessed at

Upcoming Conference: “Atlanta: The Past, Present, and Future of Southern Jewish History | Southern Jewish Historical Society Flagship location (1924-1991) of Rich's Department Store, Broad and Alabama Streets, Atlanta. The Southern Jewish Historical Society will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an annual conference in Atlanta from October 16-18, 2026. There will also be an optional day trip (a tour of Jewish Atlanta) o...

Chanukah sameach!