Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

08/20/2026

Brandeis Students! Announcing the opening of Beginning Yiddish, YDSH 10a, M-Th, 9:05–9:55 am. Enroll in YDSH 10a now to start learning this fascinating language and the exciting story of the rich culture behind it.

Meet the instructor, Dr. Emma Breslow https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IrueMTJn3aN70X6phFLlB48T6kbV7UeG/view?usp=sharing

Brandeis University Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department

08/11/2026

This fall’s Brandeis University course, “America and its Jews at 250”, taught by 29 experts in their fields including Flora Cassen, Director of the Brandeis Center for Jewish Studies and HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, is open to the public with an online component. Sign up soon!

From my immigrant perspective, the openness to invention and new ideas is unique in the world. That pluralism is essential to protect.

08/09/2026

Congratulations to Janine Holc, Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland, on receiving a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to support her project exploring autograph albums created and exchanged by Jewish girls and women during the Holocaust (1940–1945), “Autograph Albums as Holocaust Objects”.

Holc is the award-winning author of “The Weavers of Trautenau: Jewish Female Forced Labor in the Holocaust” (HBI Series on Jewish Women, Brandeis University Press, 2023) about the forced labor and survival networks of 3000 Jewish girls and women in the Schmelt camps during the Holocaust. We were honored to speak with Holc, together with historian Joanna Michlic, about the "The Weavers" in the Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series. We look forward to more of Prof. Holc's important research.

Janine Holc (Loyola University Maryland) was awarded a $140,000 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) to support the project “Autograph Albums as Holocaust Objects.” Read more here.

08/07/2026

The HBI Research Awards support research or artistic projects in Jewish women’s and gender studies. Apply soon, application closes September 8.

📣 The 2027 HBI Research Awards application is now open! The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute awards grants each year to support research and artistic projects centered on Jewish women’s and gender studies. Awards are made to graduate students, early career, and established researchers.

🗓️ Apply by September 8, 2026

https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/programs/research/index.html

H-Judaic Association for Jewish Studies Association for Israel Studies

08/07/2026

HBI Research Associate Celene Ibrahim, PhD joins Reverend Gloria Hammond-White, Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church, and Rabbi Rachel Adelman of Hebrew College on Thursday, Sept. 17, 7 pm for this Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum conversation exploring the roles of women in religious texts as archetypes for faith, leadership, and bravery. Moderated by Diana Seave Greenwald, Gardner Museum exhibition curator, “The Book of Esther in the Age of Rembrandt”, on view now through January 2027.

https://www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/calling-esther-across-ages?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwThsBJwZG9mBWZkaWQWUL-Ok5hfIMUIcfweZQbwSa4LcIn8nmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR7RKOrp-84hGlB67VwtfOkCylmXUfLS0XzeADYMlrQKJafU9KGsJCMAqG_uZQ_aem_7dv_zme3J1i--ZiB-bQFIg

Who was Esther and what has been her legacy across time? Join us for a conversation with leading female religious leaders and scholars exploring the roles of women in religious texts as archetypes for faith, leadership, and bravery.

08/06/2026

New in the AJS Career Center: The 2027 Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Awards application is now open.

The Hadassah-Brandeis Institute/HBI awards grants each year to support research and artistic projects centered on Jewish women’s and gender studies. Awards are made to graduate students, early career, and established researchers.

Apply by September 8, 2026.

Find this and other Jewish Studies opportunities in the AJS Career Center: https://myajs.associationforjewishstudies.org/careers/jobs/search

08/06/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 HBI Gilda Slifka interns on last week's fantastic final presentations of their individual projects exploring an area of Jewish gender studies.

A sampling include: Julia Shadmon’s “‘A Citizen of the World’: Lebanese Jewish Women in between culture, borders, gender, and religion” with supervision by Brandeis University Prof. Yuval Evri; Ella Maurice’s “Motherhood on Their Own Terms: Jewish Female Aid-Giving in Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Childrearing in Concentration Camps during the Holocaust” with supervision by Gratz College Prof. and historian Joanna Michlic; and Isaac Kofsky’s “Dying with Dignity and Determination: An Analysis of Trans-Inclusive Death and Burial Liturgy” with supervision by Carleton University Prof. Deidre Butler.

It’s been a wonderful summer at HBI, we wish our interns much success in their future endeavors! More about the internship: https://bit.ly/HBISlifkaInternship

cc: Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department

07/20/2026

Congratulations to Tidhar Gutman, 2025 HBI intern and current doctoral fellow at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, Brandeis University on receiving the Harold Wechsler Award for Emerging Scholars from the Network for Research in Jewish Education!

During her HBI internship, Gutman collaborated with The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Assistant Professor Tanya Zion-Waldoks on the paper, “At the Head of the Circle: Women Facilitators and Forms of Authority in Pluralistic Jewish Learning” which was published in “Religions” earlier this year: https://doi.org/10.3390/rel17020270

07/20/2026

It's fall open enrollment for Brandeis University students! Register for HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe's "Jewish Feminisms" to examine the role of Jewish women in the broader feminist movement and the impact of feminist theory and activism on Jewish thought, law, ritual practice and communal norms in the 20th and 21st century. More ⬇️

👋 Brandeis University students! Professor Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, the Shulamit Reinharz Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute/HBI, is teaching Jewish Feminisms (NEJS 160A) in the fall on Tuesdays and Fridays, 11 am - 12:30 pm.

Jewish Feminisms examines the role of Jewish women in the broader feminist movement and the impact of feminist theory and activism on Jewish thought, law, ritual practice and communal norms in the 20th and 21st century. We will explore classic feminist critiques and transformations of traditional Judaism and examine contemporary controversies involving issues such as equality under Jewish ritual and family law, s*x segregation in public life, inclusion of Jewish People of Color and of LGBTQ Jews and antisemitism in the women's movement.

Early registration is open until May 10.

Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department

07/13/2026

What has America meant to Jews, and what have Jews meant to America? Only at Brandeis, only this year: you’re invited!

In this anniversary year, the Brandeis University Center for Jewish Studies has invited Brandeis faculty and distinguished guests from other institutions to explore these questions in a new semester-long course, America and Its Jews at 250. The course is open not only to Brandeis students, but to the public.

We invite you to join our faculty and students in person with the Brandeis University Center for Jewish Studies and the Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department or online with the Brandeis National Committee —for one class, several classes, or the entire semester.

HBI Director Lisa Fishbayn Joffe will be teaching Wednesday, Oct. 28 on Jewish Women’s Choices: Abortion and Agunah. View the link below for the entire syllabus.

Watch the trailer 🎬https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qrTjy8kH8OMwheneXxYVTM30-h7YbKCq/view?usp=sharing

Information and registration: https://www.brandeis.edu/jewish-studies/america-250/index.html