EMU Center for Jewish Studies

08/31/2026

We at the EMU Center for Jewish Studies are excited to share our latest newsletter. I hope you can take a moment to read it and see what we have been up to this past year.

08/24/2026

In a first for the EMU Center for Jewish Studies, we are partnering with Zingerman's Roadhouse to host Professor Nora Rubel talk about her new book "Recipes for the Melting Pot." Get your tickets now.

Don’t miss this very special event at the Roadhouse with author and historian Nora Rubel, presented in collaboration with the EMU Center for Jewish Studies! Rubel is coming to Ann Arbor all the way…

08/24/2026

Check out the EMU Center for Jewish Studies' 2026-2027 calendar of programming. (The picture is of the book Nora Rubel will be talking about at the Zingerman's event in October.)

Tuesday, October 6, from 6:00 pm-8:00 pm, The Center for Jewish Studies in partnership with Zingerman’s Roadhouse will host a book event for Nora Rubel's newly published Recipes from the Melting Pot: The Lives of the Settlement Cook Book at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. This will be a ticketed event and more information about how to register will be coming soon.

Tuesday, October 13, from 6:00 pm-7:30 pm, the Center for Jewish Studies will host an event titled “A Conversation with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.” This event will be the Eighth Annual Art and Mary Schuman Lecture.

Tuesday, December 1, from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm, the Center for Jewish Studies will host Rabbi Josh Bennet and Rabbi Jen Lader from Temple Israel in West Bloomfield for a discussion (moderated by Marty Schichtman) titled “Rebuilding Temple Israel.”

Tuesday, January 19, from 7:00 pm-8:30 pm, journalist and podcaster Andrew Lapin will deliver the Fifth Annual Martin B. Shichtman Lecture on Father Coughlin and his legacy.

Monday, Feb 22, 7:00 pm-8:30 pm, Professor Britt Tevis will deliver a talk titled “Antisemitism and US History,” which will help us think about our present moment in a larger historical context.

Monday, March 15, 7:00 pm-8:30 pm, back by popular demand, journalist Dan Fellner will return to EMU to deliver a talk titled “The King was a Mensch: Elvis Presley’s Little Known Jewish Roots.”

05/29/2026

We hope you can join us!

You can register here: https://www.templebethemeth.org/event/congregational-experiences-with-zionism-and-anti-zionism.html

05/20/2026

Read about this lovely donation from the EMU Women's Lacrosse Team to the Center for Jewish Studies.

https://today.emich.edu/insideemu/posts/129

05/14/2026

Even though the semester has ended, our programming continues. The EMU Center for Jewish Studies is partnering with Temple Beth Emeth, Beth Israel Congregation, and the University of Michigan’s Program in Jewish Communal Leadership to bring you an event titled “Congregational Experiences with Zionism and Anti-Zionism” which will take place on June 7th, from 2:00 pm until 5:00 pm, at Temple Beth Emeth.

While there has long been disagreement about Israel within the Jewish community, scholars and journalists are talking about something new taking place in the wake of Oct 7th and the war in Gaza (and with Iran). Within Jewish communities across the United States, a huge fault line has emerged regarding the topic of Israel. Turmoil has erupted within families. Well known rabbis have expressed fear about talking about Israel because anything they might say will likely only further fray already fragile bonds within their communities.

“Congregational Experiences with Zionism and Anti-Zionism” is not seeking consensus around this issue but, instead, to create a space where the community—in all its diversity—might come together and think about how this conflict is affecting us. Given the highly polarizing nature of the issue, we feel it is important to create space to talk about it without seeking to resolve the very real differences and disagreements over it. In our extremely fraught and highly polarized moment, finding ways to be together and listen to one another across differences and disagreements is more important than ever.

The event will consist of three sessions. Karla Goldman (director of University of Michigan’s program in Jewish Communal Leadership), will moderate a discussion with the audience that will engage the diverse perspectives of those in attendance. Andrew Lapin will talk about the various stories on this topic that he has covered in his role as a journalist for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. There will also be a roundtable discussion with local clergy, where speakers will consider how this issue is manifesting locally. This discussion will be moderated by Bob Erlewine (The EMU Center for Jewish Studies), and the discussants will include Rabbi Josh Whinston (spiritual leader, Temple Beth Emeth), Rabbi Nadav Caine (spiritual leader, Beth Israel Congregation), and Rabbi Lisa Stella (senior rabbi, University of Michigan Hillel), where speakers will consider how this issue is manifesting locally.

You can register for the event here: https://www.templebethemeth.org/event/congregational-experiences-with-zionism-and-anti-zionism.html

We hope you can join us.

04/28/2026

Dear Friends of the EMU Center for Jewish Studies,

As we come to the end of the Winter Semester, I want to take a moment to reflect on the (academic) year and review what the Eastern Michigan University Center for Jewish Studies has been up to.

In terms of the curriculum and student life at EMU, the Center offers a minor in Jewish Studies, supports undergraduate and graduate research, and works with student groups. This year, for the first time, we launched the Elliot B. Glicksman Undergraduate Research Fellowship, which supports a student to undertake advanced undergraduate research and present their work at the EMU Undergraduate Research Symposium. We also held two coffee hours with Hillel at EMU in the Center for Jewish Studies space in Halle Library, we supported a bus tour of historic Detroit, which included key Jewish sites, and we arranged for students to attend two performances in Detroit, a play and a concert.

In terms of our public facing role in the community, the Center has held six events, including a screening of the documentary, “Nathan-ism,” with a talkback by the film’s director, Elon Golod; the travel journalist, Dan Fellner, talked about—and showed photos that he took himself—of Jewish life all around the world; Professor Samira Mehta discussed Jews of Color and highlighted how this term contains many different identities; journalist Mike Rothschild talked about conspiracy theories involving Jews, including Space lasers; and, most recently, Professor Rachel Harris spoke about how a group of Polish Holocaust survivors helped found the Israeli film industry. On April 13th, in partnership with Hillel at EMU and the Hillel Campus Alliance of Michigan, and with the Disability Resource Center and the Disability Revolution Club as co-sponsors, the Center brought comedian and advocate, Pamela Rae Schuller, who delivered a brilliant set consisting of comedy and storytelling about life, love, and disability.

In our time of surging antisemitism, when Jews are viewed more as figments of mythology or ideology than as actual people, having accessible and engaging programming that showcases the complexity and richness of Jewish history is urgent. Moreover, given the polarization of our present moment, it is so essential to have spaces where people can come together despite differences in their backgrounds, beliefs, and commitments, to listen to speakers together, to learn together, to be entertained together, and to laugh and cry together.

This past November, the EMU Center for Jewish Studies celebrated its 13th anniversary. It has been our great pleasure to be part of, and contribute to, the rich and vibrant community of Southeast Michigan and beyond. Thank you for engaging with us and all you do to help make fulfilling our educational mission possible. And stay tuned for more news about the coming year!

Sincerely,
Bob Erlewine

04/09/2026

Come out and join us to see Pamela Schuller at the EMU Student Center (Ballroom B) on Monday, April 13th at 7:00 pm. It is free and open to the public. You just need to preregister, which you can do here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VzTtYJfkbDLQV1fyp2sBMK1vbrdLdac77QF8Q9NtSdE/edit?ts=69b02695&fbclid=IwY2xjawRE9LdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsQ2hVajFWQ3gxY0dTRjZqc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHiEtWrJjmoEpVc59o1dS5v1xR6WgA-um9PFt-TREbO5bl76p9yKW1hX6jF1q_aem_7TR-LFfdN5iAuuN9u5irVQ

03/19/2026

Don't miss "An Evening of Comedy and Storytelling about Life, Love, and Disability" with Pamela Rae Schuller on Monday, April 13th at 7:00 pm in the EMU Student Center. This event is free and open to the public but we pre-registration is required. Register for the event here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VzTtYJfkbDLQV1fyp2sBMK1vbrdLdac77QF8Q9NtSdE/edit?ts=69b02695.
Hope to see you there!
,

03/12/2026