Center for Jewish Studies

03/12/2026

We're counting on YOU!

Please consider making a gift today to the Center for Jewish Studies during BIG GIVE. We need just 5 more donations to unlock our MATCH GIFT of $2,500!.

All gifts—no matter what size—help to sustain our mission of educating students and the larger community about the richness, depth, and diversity of Jewish history and culture.

We cannot do all we do without your ongoing support. Thank you for supporting Jewish Studies at Berkeley!

Make a Gift to CJS here: https://givingday.berkeley.edu/giving-day/108613/department/108755

03/11/2026

Make a BIG impact on Jewish Studies!!

This Thursday, March 12, please consider making a gift to the Center for Jewish Studies during the campus-wide BIG GIVE fundraising campaign. This year, we are grateful for a MATCH GIFT commitment — meaning your donations will go farther than ever! As soon as 15 donors give, our donor will give $2500.

Your gift to CJS insures a stellar educational program in Jewish Studies that fosters future generations of students and scholars knowledgeable about the many contributions that Jewish history, language, and culture have contributed to civilization. By giving to our Center’s pioneering Antisemitism Education Initiative (AEI), you support our ongoing efforts to combat antisemitism that are having a crucial impact at Berkeley and across the country.

We cannot do all that we do without your ongoing support! Please consider a gift to the CJS and the AEI during Big Give - THANK YOU!!!

Give here starting at 9:00pm PDT tonight: https://givingday.berkeley.edu/giving-day/108613/department/108755

09/10/2025

Get your tickets NOW for this delicious program!

Join the Center for Jewish Studies and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life for a conversation, cooking demo, and tasting with Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle, authors of "Sabor Judío: The Jewish-Mexican Cookbook."

Thursday, September 18, 2025 | 5:00-6:30 pm
In person at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA

Learn more and register here: https://magnes.berkeley.edu/program/diasporic-kitchens-jewish-mexican-recipes-and-stories/

07/22/2025

Yiddish Has Something for Everyone! Check out two of our Fall 2025 classes: Elementary Yiddish (Yiddish 101A) and "Jewish Humor" (Jewish Studies 120A.002 / Yiddish 107). Both classes are offered online and are open to students at other UC campuses.

For more information, check out our website at jewishstudies.berkeley.edu or contact us at: [email protected]

Yiddish has something for everyone!UC Berkeley lecturer Miriam Borden talks about two Fall 2025 offerings: Yiddish 101 "Elementary Yiddish" and Jewish Studie...

07/22/2025

Featured Fall 2025 Class:
Jewish Studies 120A.002 (Yiddish 107)
"Jewish Humor"
Instructor: Miriam Borden
CN # 33734
Meeting Time: Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00am-12:30pm
Location: Online
Units: 4

This course will trace the history of humor among Jews in Europe and beyond, from the earliest instance of Yiddish writing in 1272 to Yiddish on Duolingo in 2025. This inquiry will take us back to Eastern Europe, where Yiddish-speaking Jews evolved their own distinct concept of themselves and the world around them. We will also collect jokes and analyze a variety of humorous genres (short fiction, film, stand-up, jokes, music) using a variety of analytical perspectives (historical, psychological, ethnographic, q***r, and literary). We will examine how laughter has served in the Jewish tradition as both a coping mechanism and an instrument of self-defense.

- Meets Arts & Literature, L&S Breadth
- Counts towards the Jewish Studies Minor

https://classes.berkeley.edu/content/2025-fall-jewish-120a-002-lec-002

03/20/2025

Join us this evening at 5:00pm for a talk with Anna Shternshis (University of Toronto). Click here to register: https://forms.gle/vjSms1kbZmPzU9SX9

Thousands of Jews left Ukraine after the Russian invasion of 2022, seeking safety in places such as Israel, Canada, Austria, the United States, Poland, and other countries around the world. Similarly, thousands of Jews fled Russia, driven by a desire to avoid both complicity in the regime’s actions and the growing instability. Drawing on a two-year collaboration with Ukrainian refugees and Russian escapees who have been documenting their experiences since February 2022, this lecture explores how these individuals make sense of the war as it unfolds. Of particular interest is the role their Jewish identity plays in shaping their decisions to leave, their choice of destination, and their experiences of adaptation in new environments.

03/18/2025

Join us TONIGHT at 5pm PDT for a lecture, discussion, and exhibit in celebration of Naomi Seidman's new book: "Translating the Jewish Freud: Psychoanalysis in Hebrew and Yiddish."

The Viennese critic Karl Kraus declared that "psychoanalysis was the disease of assimilated German-speaking Jews; Eastern European Jews make do with diabetes." Drawing from her new book, in this lecture Naomi Seidman will trace what Freud meant for Yiddish-speaking Eastern European Jews, who in fact did catch the Freudian "disease" in the interwar period, when Freud was a regular staple of the Yiddish press and lecturers traveled through Poland satisfying the "Freud craze" that gripped Jewish society and beyond.

The lecture will be accompanied by remarks from Yael Segalovitz (HDI, Comparative Literature) and Roni Masel (Comparative Literature), as well as Naomi Seidman's small travelling exhibit of rare Hebrew and Yiddish books on psychoanalysis published between the 1920s to the 1940s.

To register to attend, in person or via livestream, click here:https://jewishstudies.berkeley.edu/news/psychoanalysis-diabetics-freud-popular-jewish-press

03/13/2025

Less than 8 hours to go!! Please support Jewish Studies at Berkeley and help us to meet our goal!! Every gift - large or small - helps us to build and maintain our vibrant program, educating students and the larger community about the richness, depth, and diversity of Jewish history and culture!!
Click here to make a gift to CJS: https://givingday.berkeley.edu/giving-day/90821/department/90964
⭐️⭐️ THANK YOU for your support!!! ⭐️⭐️

03/12/2025

BIG GIVE starts TONIGHT! Starting at 9:00pm Wednesday and continuing through 9:00pm Thursday, we invite Cal alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and community to rally together in a special Big Give to Support Jewish Studies at Berkeley!

Make a Gift Here: https://givingday.berkeley.edu/giving-day/90821/department/90964

Thank you for your continued support of the Center for Jewish Studies!!