UF Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies

UF Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies The official page for the Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida. The Center also offers a major and a minor program.

Established in 1973, the Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies promotes academic study of Jewish culture, history, and politics for all students at the University of Florida. Students can take individual classes or certificate programs consisting of eighteen credit hours in a given area. The Center’s curriculum encourages critical thinking, textual analysis, research, oral argumentation, and wri

ting. The Center also has a number of scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as study abroad opportunities. Our courses of study provide excellent preparation not only for students interested in Jewish communal institutions. It also provides fine preparation for graduate study in a variety of disciplines, and for professional tracks such as journalism and law. Our faculty comes from history, political science, anthropology, sociology, film, literature, religion, and law. They are all active researchers and writers, and they produce everything from books to journal articles to documentary films to essays on issues of contemporary importance. The Center sponsors internationally known academic speakers as well as symposia and academic conferences. All events are free and open to the public, and events are often available on our YouTube Channel. Topics of discussion include the Hebrew Bible, Medieval Jewry, Modern Jewish history and literature, Holocaust studies, Israel studies, and American Jewish politics. The Center also co-sponsors the annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival which was established in 2011.

📣 Call for Papers: The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Bud Shorstein Center for...
05/29/2026

📣 Call for Papers: The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University, and the Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida are excited to announce a call for papers for an upcoming international conference:

After the Holocaust: Jewish Communities, Identities, and Intimacies in a Global Perspective



📅 February 15-17, 2027

📍University of Florida

📝 We welcome proposals from scholars working in history, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, religious studies, memory studies, and related fields. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

- Family formation, marriage, and kinship after the Holocaust
- Emotional lives of survivors: grief, hope, resilience, and belonging
- Community rebuilding in displaced persons camps and beyond
- Jewish life in Europe, the Americas, and the emerging State of Israel
- Transnational networks of aid, memory, and support
- Cultural, religious, and intellectual reconstruction
- Intimacy, and everyday life in postwar contexts
- Comparative and global perspectives on postwar Jewish experiences
- Children and youth after the Holocaust
- Migration, displacement, and the reconstruction of home
- Oral history, memory, and intergenerational transmission

Submission Deadline: August 1, 2026 to [email protected]


For further details kindly view the official Call for Papers:https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/sites/humanities_en.tau.ac.il/files/media_server/humanities/diaspora/Events/CFP%20-%20After%20the%20Holocaust_Feb%2015-17_2027.pdf

Contact Email: [email protected]

URL: https://en-humanities.tau.ac.il/diaspora/news/CFP_After%20the%20Holocaust

המרכז לחקר התפוצות ע"ש גולדשטיין-גורן

Congratulations to our Shorstein Center graduates! 🎉🌟🎓 Gil Nadler graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Ba...
05/01/2026

Congratulations to our Shorstein Center graduates! 🎉🌟

🎓 Gil Nadler graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Bachelor of Arts in Jewish Studies

🎓 Graycen Silver Schwartz graduates with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Women’s Studies with a Jewish Studies minor on the Pre-Law track

🎓 Presley Sachs graduates with a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a Jewish Studies minor

🎓 Aitana Ortega graduates with a Bachelor of Arts in French & Francophone Studies, International Studies, and a European Jewish Studies Certificate with a minor in Art History. Her Honors thesis is titled, “Beyond the Barbed Wire: Tracing the Life and Art of Lou Albert-Lasard 1910-1942." In the fall she will pursue a masters degree in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London alongside a graduate certificate in Holocaust Studies at UF

🎓 Rosalyn Dansoa Wiafe graduates with a Master of Arts in French & Francophone Studies. Her thesis is titled, “Memory and Inheritance: gender, Trauma, and Narrative in La Carte Postale by Anne Berest and Houris by Kamel Daoud.” She was awarded a full tuition scholarship and teaching assistanceship to pursue her PhD at Penn State in French & Francophone Studies

We are so proud of our students and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors!

On April 9–10, the Shorstein Center, in collaboration with the UF Center for European Studies, hosted a workshop titled ...
04/24/2026

On April 9–10, the Shorstein Center, in collaboration with the UF Center for European Studies, hosted a workshop titled "Affective Hostilities Towards Jews and Otherness: Past and Present." The workshop examined how affect—such as fear, resentment, and moral outrage—has shaped and sustained hostility toward Jews, situating it within broader patterns of exclusion and othering.

The keynote address was delivered by Jeffrey Kopstein (University of California, Irvine), titled “The Gateway and the Glue: Conspiracy, Antisemitism, and Hate Among University Students.” Faculty of the Bud Shorstein Center—Dr. Natalia Aleksiun, Dr. Norman Goda, Dr. Raanan Rein, and Dr. Gayle Zachmann—presented their research alongside an international cohort of scholars from University of Florida, Stetson University, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, University of Konstanz, University of Warsaw, and Södertörn University, creating a dynamic and globally engaged forum for interdisciplinary exchange.



Center for European Studies at the University of Florida

The latest episode of the Writing It! podcast features Temple University assistant professor of English, Laura McGrath, ...
04/22/2026

The latest episode of the Writing It! podcast features Temple University assistant professor of English, Laura McGrath, who shares her extensive knowledge about literary agents gleaned from research for her new book: Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of Contemporary American Literature, (Princeton University Press).

Tune in to learn about the crucial role of agent’s love for a project and interest in an author’s future works; the benefits of being a first-time author; the truth about author advances; why it’s not a great time for nonfiction, and why that might change; what the “comparable works” section of your book proposal can do for you; misconceptions about agents; and why it’s important to show that you will hustle for your own book.

Listen now at writingit.fireside.fm/74

Congratulations to Shorstein Center Visiting Scholar, Dr. Aviad Moreno, who was awarded the American Jewish Historical S...
04/20/2026

Congratulations to Shorstein Center Visiting Scholar, Dr. Aviad Moreno, who was awarded the American Jewish Historical Society’s Wasserman Prize for the best article published in American Jewish History.

Moreno received the prize together with his co-author, Roy Orel Shukrun (McGill University), for their article, “Rethinking Moroccan Transnationalism: Sephardism, Decolonization, and Activism between Israel and Montreal,” published in American Jewish History in the April/July 2023 issue.

The article poses a provocative question: what connection did French-Canadian nationalism in Quebec have with the Moroccan Jewish ethnic revival in 1970s Israel? It argues that transnational networks linking North African migrants across the Atlantic helped shape local histories of ethnic activism, Sephardic identity, and community formation.

Read the article here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/920593

That's a wrap on the 15th Annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival! 🎬Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make t...
04/20/2026

That's a wrap on the 15th Annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival! 🎬

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this festival a great success. We are grateful for the support of our partners at UF and throughout the Gainesville community:
Hippodrome Theatre
Jewish Council of North Central Florida
Congregation B'nai Israel - Gainesville FL Sisterhood
Temple Shir Shalom
Center for European Studies at the University of Florida
UF History Department
University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies
Diane and Howard Schilit Hillel at University of Florida
Chabad UF
Oak Hammock at the University of Florida

Join us Saturday night, April 18, as we close out the 15th Annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival with a screening of M...
04/17/2026

Join us Saturday night, April 18, as we close out the 15th Annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival with a screening of Mazel Tov.

Please note that the time of the screening has been changed to 8:00 PM.

For more information, visit mazeltovfilm.eventbrite.com

A real-life rescue explodes like a nerve-fraying thriller as a retired Israeli general and his wife race to the Gaza bor...
04/16/2026

A real-life rescue explodes like a nerve-fraying thriller as a retired Israeli general and his wife race to the Gaza border to save their family during the October 7 attacks. When gunfire engulfs Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Noam Tibon leaves Tel Aviv with only a pistol, decades of battlefield instincts, and a single objective: reach his son, daughter-in-law, and two young granddaughters trapped in their safe room. With communications cut and no rescue in sight, reflex and resolve are his only weapons. Firsthand testimony, reconstructed routes, and real-time security footage drive a breathless race against turmoil, time, and terror.

Join us tonight at 7:00 PM at the Hippodrome Cinema.

For more information, visit https://theroadbetweenus.eventbrite.com

Join us tonight at 7:00 PM at Oak Hammock for the screening of 'The Listener'.Psychiatrist Dori Laub, a Holocaust surviv...
04/15/2026

Join us tonight at 7:00 PM at Oak Hammock for the screening of 'The Listener'.

Psychiatrist Dori Laub, a Holocaust survivor, pioneered trauma testimony and the first videoarchive of Shoah accounts. His life journey shaped his unique listening method, which influenced documentation of communities impacted by human rights abuses worldwide. Today, his legacy inspires Edut 710’s documentation of October 7th Hamas massacre survivors.

This screening will be followed by a discussion led by Professor Jack Kugelmass.

The Shorstein Center has a great course lineup for Fall 2026. Our courses are interdisciplinary and many are crosslisted...
04/15/2026

The Shorstein Center has a great course lineup for Fall 2026. Our courses are interdisciplinary and many are crosslisted, making it easier than ever to find a course that fits your needs. Click through to see what we are offering and visit https://bit.ly/4cdRV6m for more information.

Want to know how a Jewish Studies major or minor can enhance your degree? Email our Undergraduate Coordinator Dr. Roy Holler to set up a meeting ([email protected]).

Address

PO Box 118020
Gainesville, FL
32611

Telephone

+13523929247

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