College of Charleston Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program

Genocide and Civil Rights Education Along the Freedom Trail: The Holocaust in Context Teacher Study Tour | Campus Kibitz Genocide and Civil Rights Education Along the Freedom Trail: The Holocaust in Context Teacher Study Tour The Holocaust did not happen in a vacuum. As we know, it grew from wider forces of hate both inside Germany and across the globe. While those facts may be easy to state, the more difficult work i...

Marine biology and Jewish studies double major Alli Fransblow is only entering her second year at the College, but she is already leaving her mark in academic and extracurricular communities and opportunities.

Through her involvement in both majors, CofC’s sailing program, volunteer work, internships, clubs, scholarships and interdisciplinary coursework, faculty and staff have taken notice of her enthusiasm. “Alli is an incredibly bright and curious student eager to learn not only from readings or lectures but from her fellow students as well,” says Max Daniel, public historian and Jewish Heritage collection coordinator. “Active in class and on campus, Alli embodies the academic and community-minded values of the Jewish Studies Program at CofC.”

Read more about Alli’s accomplishments and her plans to go abroad with JWST and a Seamester voyage: https://today.charleston.edu/2026/06/30/making-a-difference-above-and-below-the-surface/

We are pleased to welcome incoming Jewish Studies Program Interim Director, Dr. Ashley Walters, who will officially begin this role on July 1, 2026.

We extend our deepest thanks to our outgoing Interim Director, Dr. Beth Meyer-Bernstein, for her exceptional leadership over the past year. Her dedication, insight, and institutional knowledge have positioned Jewish Studies for continued success as we move into the next academic year.

A member of the Jewish Studies faculty since 2020, Dr. Walters has played a vital role in advancing the program’s academic and community initiatives. In addition to teaching courses in modern and American Jewish history, she serves as Director of the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture and Co-Director of the Perlmutter Fellows Program. Her scholarship and leadership embody the interdisciplinary and innovative spirit that defines Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston.

As we look ahead, we remain deeply committed to our mission of excellence in academics, student life, and community engagement. Under Dr. Walters’ leadership, the program will continue to offer meaningful opportunities for students to explore the Jewish experience through coursework, research, internships, study abroad, and campus programming.

We are grateful for the continued support of our community, whose partnership has guided the program through this transition. We look forward with excitement to the future of Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston.

We are excited to see the new book by Dr. Chad Gibbs, Director of the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, featured in the Times of Israel.

For eight decades, the experiences of women who resisted the N***s at the death camp Treblinka were almost entirely erased from Holocaust memory.

But in a seminal book published earlier this month, historian Chad S.A. Gibbs demonstrates that female prisoners played a pivotal role in resistance at Treblinka, the German-built extermination center in occupied Poland where 925,000 Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

In “Survival at Treblinka: Geography, Gender, and Social Networks in Jewish Resistance,” Gibbs zooms in on the “gendered geography” of Treblinka. He is especially interested in how groups of prisoners — including women — “carved out places of resistance” underneath the perpetrators’ noses.

Read more on The Times of Israel.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-treblinka-research-uncovers-forgotten-role-of-women-in-1943-death-camp-revolt/

We are sorry to see the Wentworth Garage go, but glad to welcome a safer building.

Demolition is underway at a dilapidated parking garage on Wentworth Street that had been closed for structural and safety issues for years. (Full story below.)

Jewish classical music series marks 28th year at Piccolo Spoleto - Charleston City Paper For nearly 16 years, Yuriy Bekker has walked into A World of Jewish Culture at Piccolo Spoleto with a program of music most Charleston audiences have never heard and left them wanting more.  The concertmaster and artistic director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra returns this month with another...

The music continues this afternoon with A World of Jewish Culture featuring The Kleztonians. Known for their high-energy performances, this talented ensemble blends Eastern European-inspired sounds with influences from jazz, hip-hop, progressive rock, and dance music for a truly unique experience.

Join us at 2 PM at Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (90 Hasell Street) and experience a performance that celebrates culture, tradition, and musical innovation as part of Piccolo Spoleto.

Get your tickets here:
https://tinyurl.com/2ac3n45z