UM Frankel Center for Judaic Studies

05/01/2026

Please join the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies in congratulating our Graduate Student Award winners!

This year’s Marshall Weinberg prize, given annually to an outstanding graduate student who is engaged in writing a dissertation, was awarded to Martin Amesquita.

Denisa Glacova has been awarded the Marshall Weinberg Dissertation Writing Semester Fellowship for the Fall 2026 semester. This Fellowship includes tuition, stipend, and grad care for one semester.

Congratulations to our two recipients of the Michael S. Bernstein Dissertation Award: Morgan Carlton and Marina Mayorski.

04/17/2026

04/15/2026

Join us for two FREE film screenings in Rackham Amphitheater at 6:30 PM:

Sabbath Queen Film Screening & Panel Discussion on Monday, April 20

My One and Only Film Screening & Panel Discussion on Tuesday, April 21

Let us know you’re coming: https://myumi.ch/79GqE

This spring, the University of Michigan’s Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies is hosting a symposium on Judaism and Film. This global celebration of Jewish cinema is inspired by the new Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Film, edited by Olga Gershenson, co-head fellow for the 2025-26 Frankel Institute “Jews and Media” theme year.

The event reimagines Jewish film as a vibrant, multilayered phenomenon, stretching beyond Hollywood and Europe to encompass India, Ethiopia, Turkey, Mexico and beyond.

The story: https://www.thejewishnews.com/culture/arts/u-m-frankel-institute-symposium-explores-global-jewish-cinema/article_bd41f8e2-baf6-4a22-8b50-3edd5c4529eb.html

02/19/2026

Mazel Tov to Professor Mostafa Hussein, whose new book, "Hebrew Orientalism," has been named a finalist for the 75th National Jewish Book Awards!

02/05/2026

A recent public lecture by Frankel Institute Fellow Anna Narinskaya on the life and work of incarcerated director Zhenya Berkovich was featured in this great article from The Michigan Daily!

CREES hosted Anna Narinskaya on Zhenya Berkovich, Russian director and playwright sentenced to prison in 2024 for “justifying terrorism.”

01/07/2026

At the turn of the twentieth century, Yiddish advice columns did more than entertain. They helped new immigrants find their footing in a changing world.

Join us on Sunday, January 18 from 4:30 to 6 PM at The J for Scholars in Session with award winning author and Frankel Institute Fellow Ayelet Brinn, who will guide us through this remarkable chapter of Jewish American life.

This program is offered at no cost through SAJE.

Register today: jlive.app/events/13987

SAJE programming is endowed by a generous gift from Cis Maisel and supported by Carol & Ronald P. Fogel, Sheri & David Jaffa, and Elaine & Michael Serling through The J’s Pillar of Light Program. SAJE inspires meaningful connections and important conversations. This program is proudly supported by the Jean & Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan.

12/11/2025

The 2024-25 Frankel Institute Annual is now available online, featuring essays by every fellow from the "Jewish/Queer/Trans" cohort. Each perspective highlights a different intersection of Queer/Trans studies with studies of Jews, Jewishness, and Judaism.

Read it on Fulcrum here: https://www.fulcrum.org/epubs/fj236590d?locale=en

The Frankel Institute Annual is the culmination of the year’s theme. Each year, visiting Institute scholars contribute an essay on their research to the publication. You can explore Annuals from past Institute years on Fulcrum.

11/11/2025