Hadassah-Brandeis Institute

05/29/2026

Delighted to share this online talk presented by Sylvia Barack Fishman, PhD, HBI Founding Co-Director and the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Judaic Studies, Emerita, in the Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis. June 11th, 1-2 pm PST.

Professor Sylvia Barack Fishman is the Joseph and Esther Foster Professor of Judaic Studies, Emerita, in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University, and the Founding Co-Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.

She will draw on recent American and Israeli novels that portray what it's like to be a Jew in each country and changing relationships between Jews in America and Jews in Israel, as Jews in both countries feel threatened by unanticipated challenges.

Thanks to Congregation Or Tzion for co-sponsoring this class. Secure your spot today! https://www.valleybeitmidrash.org/class/whos-the-anomaly-american-jews-and-israel-israelis-in-contemporary-novels/

05/27/2026

Congratulations to Adam S. Ferziger, Bar-Ilan University professor and 2021 HBI Scholar in Residence, on receiving the Association for Israel Studies Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies for "Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism" (NYU Press, 2025). HBI is delighted to have supported Ferziger’s research on the role American women played in promoting the rise of a transnational community of moderate Jewish Orthodoxy during his HBI residency.

Co-Winner, 2026 Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies, given by the Association for Israel StudiesThe rise of moderate Orthodox Judaism in Israel and...

05/20/2026

HBI Research Associate Joanna Beata Michlic, PhD, internationally acclaimed social and cultural Holocaust historian and incoming Gratz College Associate Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights, reflects on how we tell more complex and historically honest stories about Jewish children’s survival during the Holocaust.

Too often, Michlic finds, rescue is remembered through simplified narratives of heroism alone, yet the lived experiences of Jewish children reveal a far more complicated reality—one involving courage, fear, dependency, emotional ambiguity, exploitation, mental, physical, and s*xual abuse and, importantly, children’s own agency in navigating impossible circumstances.

Joanna Beata Michlic is a social and cultural historian of the Holocaust and its aftermath. Her research focuses on Jewish childhood, rescue, and the long-term impact of genocide. Michlic is author…

05/14/2026

In advance of Brandeis University’s commencement this Sunday, HBI congratulates all the graduates of the class of 2026! We’re sending extra special congratulations to the wonderful graduating Brandeis students we’ve worked with over the past several years.

Congratulations!!

✨ Esther Bistricer, gallery docent, event staff, and recipient of the Commitment to Service, Bronze Level Medal

✨ Grace Mwiza Gondwe, gallery docent and event staff

✨ Tal Pemstein, gallery docent, WSRC Louise Weinberg Arts Intern, Kniznick Gallery, and recipient of the Commitment to Service, Bronze Level Medal and the Katharine A. Chernosky Memorial Award for Conscientious and Creative Living

✨ Casey Tan, gallery docent and event staff

We will miss you and wish you much success in all you do! Mazel tov!

05/14/2026

Wishing a special congratulations to Tamar Aizenberg, PhD, 2026 HBI Scholar in Residence, on receiving her doctoral degree from the Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department this coming Sunday at Brandeis University!

Aizenberg’s areas of research are Holocaust memory, German Studies, and oral history. She is the recipient of the Nahum and Anne Glatzer Endowed Prize in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies for outstanding achievement or thesis by a graduate student.

At HBI, Aizenberg finished her dissertation, an experiential history of the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and the grandchildren of Holocaust perpetrators, or the third generations, in Austria, Germany, and the United States.

Aizenberg recently presented her work, “Knowledge of the Same Abyss: The Third Generations and Holocaust Memory”, in the HBI Seminar Series. Focusing on how the gender of the grandparents, parents, and grandchildren influences the transmission of stories, Aizenberg explored the ways narratives about the Holocaust and the Third Reich are told, edited, or silenced within families. The recording is available to view here:
https://www.brandeis.edu/hbi/programs/residencies/current-scholars.html

✨Wishing Dr. Aizenberg much success!✨

05/05/2026

👋 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