Warm Welcomes

What better way to warm up the Winter season than with some welcomes and thank yous to four new members of the CJS team:

Aviv Segev is our new Hebrew lecturer, helping us provide DU students with a range of Hebrew learning opportunities,

Kerri Crosby is our new Assistant to the Director, helping us implement new systems and communications strategies,

Mackenzie Berg is our new Program Development Coordinator, helping us create innovative new student and community programs, and

Dyana Furmanksy is our new Stewardship and Communications Coordinator, helping us with community relationship-building opportunities across town.

Welcome all!

In-Depth Learning with World-Renowned Scholars

Winter holds a number of exciting learning and community-building opportunities at the Center. At the cutting edge of Judaic Studies education, our own team of expert faculty are offering Winter courses in a wide range of areas, including Jewish culture, history, religion, literature and philosophy.

We are also hosting four special events this quarter as part of our exciting year-long celebration of 150 years of Jewish life in Colorado, a year of events we call: “Pioneering Jews: Cowboys, Rebels and Trailblazers.”

Celebrating pioneering adventures in Jewish food (from matzoh balls to delis!), visiting scholar Dr. Jenna Joselit  will lead us in two separate days of captivating conversation (one at the East Side Kosher Deli, and one at Temple Emanuel). Celebrating the pioneering spirit of a Jewish medical trailblazer, Dr. Jeanne Abrams will present the 11th Annual Livingston Memorial Lecture: 'Miracle Man: Dr. Charles Spivak -- The Life and Times of a Jewish Immigrant Physician and the American Tuberculosis Movement.’ And celebrating the pioneering spirit of Jewish poets, visiting scholar and poet Dr. Shahar Bram will lead us on a journey of “Jewish Rebel Poetry.”

As usual, most of our events are free and open to the public; visit our webpage for times, dates and RSVP information.

We look forward to learning with you this winter!

Fun with Hamantaschen, Fun with Latkes! (All Around…Fun!)

This year (Feb. 28), CJS is excited to team up with our friends at Buntport Theater to start a new Denver tradition: an annual ‘Hamantasch-Latke Debate’ (look that up on Wikipedia for more info!). Stay tuned for more details – it will be a Purim extravaganza you won’t want to miss! (Yes, costumes and libations are involved…)

Social Action Initiatives

As always, our Holocaust Awareness Institute is doing an amazing job of providing high-level Holocaust education and social action opportunities across the Rocky Mountain region. This year, we are teaming up with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to put together a very intense, very large scale Teacher Training workshop in Denver in February – if you are a middle or high school teacher, get in touch with us to learn more. Also, this year, our annual Fred Marcus Holocaust Memorial Lecture features Dr. Ann Weiss, an amazing woman who has spent 20 years researching Holocaust photos – but not the kind we normally think of: instead of photos of death, Ann brings to Denver in March her photos of life, a study of hundreds and hundreds of nearly-lost photos that Jews had with them in their suitcases when they were transported to camps – photos of mothers and their children, of lovers, of families, of joy and life. In our efforts to widen our impact and stir community-wide conversations about social justice, this year, in addition to the 500 attendees we normally expect, we will be actively working to invite 250 middle and high school students and their parents and teachers, as well as 100 local college students to the event, and members of the local Religious Advisory Council and members of their religious organizations.

Additionally, this year, CJS begins work on some new campus-wide social action initiatives, as well as global-learning opportunities; we will update you in the coming months. And, we continue to make exciting progress on our Holocaust Project: the establishment of a new Endowed Chair of Holocaust Studies as well as the creation of a new Holocaust Memorial Social Action site on our campus. 

Our goal, as always, is to encourage awareness, to foster intercultural dialogue, and to raise social conscience. We look forward to seeing you this Winter!

Happy Holiday Wishes to you during this season of lights,

Sarah Pessin

Director, Center for Judaic Studies