Topics
Topics
Theories of Race and Jewish Identity
The Diversity of the American Jewish Experience
Jewish Ethical Responses to the Problem of Racism
Theories of Race & Jewish Identity
Is Judaism a race? A religion? Who gets to decide?
Researcher: Dr. Jennifer Glaser
Dr. Jennifer Glaser
Dr. Jennifer Glaser is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
She is affiliate faculty in Judaic Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati, as well as the Training Core Co-Director for the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network, a collaborative project on reproductive rights and legislation in Ohio.
She is also the Book Review Editor of Studies in American Jewish Literature.

Dr. Jennifer Glaser
Dr. Jennifer Glaser is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Cincinnati.
She is affiliate faculty in Judaic Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati, as well as the Training Core Co-Director for the Ohio Policy Evaluation Network, a collaborative project on reproductive rights and legislation in Ohio.
She is also the Book Review Editor of Studies in American Jewish Literature.
How does the history of American racism reverberate in the cultures and hierarchies of the American Jewish community?
Researcher: Dr. Devin Naar
Dr. Devin Naar
Dr. Devin Naar is an associate professor of History and Jewish studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he serves as the chair of the Sephardic Studies Program.
He teaches courses on Sephardic history and culture; Jewish history; the history and memory of the Holocaust; race and migration from the Mediterranean to the Americas; and the "color line" in Seattle.

Dr. Devin Naar
Dr. Devin Naar is an associate professor of History and Jewish studies at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he serves as the chair of the Sephardic Studies Program.
He teaches courses on Sephardic history and culture; Jewish history; the history and memory of the Holocaust; race and migration from the Mediterranean to the Americas; and the "color line" in Seattle.
How do the categories of “race” and “religion” fall short when talking about Jews and other people?
Researcher: Dr. Shana Sippy
Dr. Shana Sippy
Shana Sippy is an Associate Professor of Religion at Centre College.
She is engaged in public scholarship as the Co-director of Religions Minnesota, a Research Associate in the Department of Religion at Carleton College, and a founding member of the Feminist Critical Hindu Studies Collective.
Her scholarship examines the articulation and politics of identity and focuses on the making of Jewish and Hindu selves and communities in modernity.

Dr. Shana Sippy
Shana Sippy is an Associate Professor of Religion at Centre College.
She is engaged in public scholarship as the Co-director of Religions Minnesota, a Research Associate in the Department of Religion at Carleton College, and a founding member of the Feminist Critical Hindu Studies Collective.
Her scholarship examines the articulation and politics of identity and focuses on the making of Jewish and Hindu selves and communities in modernity.
The Diversity of the American Jewish Experience
How might Jews in the U.S. celebrate Sigd while honoring the history and culture of the Beta Israel community?
Researchers: Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, PhD and Dr. Bezawit Abebe
Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, PhD
Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder is the Director of Education at Be'chol Lashon, an organization that celebrates and promotes the racial diversity of the Jewish people.
She was ordained at HUC, has a PhD in Jewish History, and is a frequent writer and teacher on Jewish topics.

Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, PhD
Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder is the Director of Education at Be'chol Lashon, an organization that celebrates and promotes the racial diversity of the Jewish people.
She was ordained at HUC, has a PhD in Jewish History, and is a frequent writer and teacher on Jewish topics.

Dr. Bezawit Abebe
Dr. Bezawit Abebe is a research fellow at Be’chol Lashon. She is a human rights activist, and before coming to America, lived in Israel.
She held various positions in legal and philanthropic organizations striving for integration, empowerment, and equality of the Ethiopian Israeli community.
She previously worked at Tebeka, advocating for the Ethiopian community’s human rights, and lectured on human rights extensively in Israel.

Dr. Bezawit Abebe
Dr. Bezawit Abebe is a research fellow at Be’chol Lashon. She is a human rights activist, and before coming to America, lived in Israel.
She held various positions in legal and philanthropic organizations striving for integration, empowerment, and equality of the Ethiopian Israeli community.
She previously worked at Tebeka, advocating for the Ethiopian community’s human rights, and lectured on human rights extensively in Israel.
How does research on the Syrian Sephardic Jewish community challenge conventional American ideas about race?
Researcher: Dr. Mijal Bitton
Dr. Mijal Bitton
Dr. Mijal Bitton is a sociologist of American Sephardic Jews, a Scholar-in-Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and the Rosh Kehilla of the Downtown Minyan.

Dr. Mijal Bitton
Dr. Mijal Bitton is a sociologist of American Sephardic Jews, a Scholar-in-Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and the Rosh Kehilla of the Downtown Minyan.
How might the Cuban Jewish story shape our attitudes to new immigrants today?
Researcher: Dr. Mark Goldberg
Dr. Mark Goldberg
Dr. Mark Goldberg is an Associate Professor of History and Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Houston. He researches and teaches courses on U.S. Latinx history, immigration, and the history of borders.

Dr. Mark Goldberg
Dr. Mark Goldberg is an Associate Professor of History and Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Houston. He researches and teaches courses on U.S. Latinx history, immigration, and the history of borders.
Jewish Ethical Responses to the Problem of Racism
What role do antisemitic conspiracy theories play in White nationalist thinking?
Researcher: Dr. Sophie Bjork-James
Dr. Sophie Bjork-James
Dr. Sophie Bjork-James is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University with more than 10 years of experience researching both the US-based Religious Right and the white nationalist movements.
Her work has been featured on NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio 4’s Today, and in the New York Times. She has published op-eds in the LA Times, Religious Dispatches, and the Conversation. She is a senior fellow with the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right.

Dr. Sophie Bjork-James
Dr. Sophie Bjork-James is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University with more than 10 years of experience researching both the US-based Religious Right and the white nationalist movements.
Her work has been featured on NBC Nightly News, NPR’s All Things Considered, BBC Radio 4’s Today, and in the New York Times. She has published op-eds in the LA Times, Religious Dispatches, and the Conversation. She is a senior fellow with the Centre for the Analysis of the Radical Right.
How do we reckon with the ways our holy texts both limit and countenance slavery?
Researcher: Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD
Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD
Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD serves as the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought at Emory’s Center for Ethics.
A Professor of Medicine and Director of the Food Studies and Ethics Initiative, he is a past president of the Society of Jewish Ethics, founder and co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Ethics, and author or editor of several books, including and Judaism, Race, and Ethics: Conversations and Questions (2020).

Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD
Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, PhD serves as the Raymond F. Schinazi Scholar in Bioethics and Jewish Thought at Emory’s Center for Ethics.
A Professor of Medicine and Director of the Food Studies and Ethics Initiative, he is a past president of the Society of Jewish Ethics, founder and co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Ethics, and author or editor of several books, including and Judaism, Race, and Ethics: Conversations and Questions (2020).
What kind of teshuvah, repentance, and repair, is appropriate for our communal role in colonizing America?
Researcher: Dr. Maxwell Greenberg
Dr. Maxwell Greenberg
Dr. Maxwell Greenberg is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
He received his PhD in Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA. He teaches, writes, and researches about race and religion in settler border contexts, with a focus on North America.

Dr. Maxwell Greenberg
Dr. Maxwell Greenberg is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
He received his PhD in Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA. He teaches, writes, and researches about race and religion in settler border contexts, with a focus on North America.
How do we prepare ourselves and our children to respond to racial harm?
Researcher: Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital
Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital
Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital is a diversity, inclusion, and racial equity (D.I.R.E ©) scholar-educator. She is a professor of psychology and the inaugural director of the Black Lumen Project, an equity initiative at Elon University.
Her research focuses on how systemic injustices and resulting psychosocial factors contribute to health inequities that impact racial and sexual minorities.
As a DIRE consultant and speaker, she works closely with Jewish communities and organizations throughout the US on how to begin having conversations about race, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital
Dr. Buffie Longmire-Avital is a diversity, inclusion, and racial equity (D.I.R.E ©) scholar-educator. She is a professor of psychology and the inaugural director of the Black Lumen Project, an equity initiative at Elon University.
Her research focuses on how systemic injustices and resulting psychosocial factors contribute to health inequities that impact racial and sexual minorities.
As a DIRE consultant and speaker, she works closely with Jewish communities and organizations throughout the US on how to begin having conversations about race, equity, and inclusion.
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