THE NEWSLETTER of the JEWISH STUDIES PROGRAM @ UD Fall 2015

jspnews Fall 2015 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE JEWISH STUDIES PROGRAM @ UD From the Director during the month of October. The ability of the Jewish Stud- t is an honor to assume range of students, both to the 327) listened to a lecture by ies program to bring outside Idirectorship of the Jewish courses and the minor. Seth Katzen, CEO of the Jew- guests to the university is vital Studies Program following ish Federation of Delaware, to enriching the students’ un- The Jewish Studies Program the retirement of Jay Halio. who spoke about the current derstanding and broadening has and will continue to run The program has benefited landscape of American Jewish their perspectives. programs that highlight the tremendously from Jay’s philanthropy and civic life global and transnational I am very excited to lead leadership over the past four right here in Delaware. In nature of contemporary Jewish Studies as we work years. At the same time, there September, we presented the Jewish life. In December, we to expand the program and is still enormous potential work of American-Palestin- hosted Ukrainian scholar Sofia enrollment. Please read on for Jewish Studies to grow ian photographer Kholood Grachova, who lectured on to learn more about these at Delaware. In the past year Eid. Kholood’s photographs, the memory of the Holo- and other events sponsored alone, the number of students shown on this newsletter’s caust in post-Soviet Ukraine by Jewish Studies this past pursuing the Jewish Studies inside pages, tell the stories to students in Comparative semester, as well as our pro- Minor has more than doubled. of Israeli and Arab women in Genocide (HIST 250/JWST gram’s faculty, students, and The planned addition of Haifa, Israel. Her remarkable 250). In addition, students upcoming courses for Spring new courses, faculty and images of Jewish and Arab in the course on American 2016. programs promises to attract mothers and daughters Jewish History (HIST 327/JWST even greater interest, and will were displayed in the ISE Lab —Polly Zavadivker ensure that Jewish Studies continues to play an integral and innovative role in the in- Jewish Studies Program: Past and Future tellectual life of our university. or more than two noted scholar Lawrence ies was conceived as a secular Although our program curric- F decades, Jewish Studies Langer, who spoke about program devoted to provid- ulum is strong in the area of at the University of Delaware Yale’s archive of interviews ing studies on the history and modern Jewish culture, it can has had an important role of Holocaust survivors, and culture of Judaism through be enhanced by emerging to play on campus. Besides Abraham Foxman, then the the ages. We are a vital part areas of study, including gen- enlisting outstanding faculty Executive Director of the of the University’s efforts to der and women’s history, food from numerous departments, Anti-Defamation League, promote diversity of all kinds studies, material culture, and including English, History, who addressed anti-Semi- on campus. To this end, we museum studies. Our goal Political Science, Philosophy, tism in the modern world. continue to cooperate with is to continue making new and Psychology, it has While these speakers enrich similar programs and depart- connections across depart- brought distinguished the curriculum, the heart of ments, such as Islamic Studies ments on campus, in order speakers to the university. the Jewish Studies program and African-American Studies. to strengthen the interdisci- Throughout the years, guests was and remains the courses Our courses are designed to plinary nature of the program, have included the author offered every semester. appeal to students regardless as well as attract a broader Philip Roth, who read from his of their religious affiliations, From the outset, Jewish Stud- then recent book Patrimony, if any. To this end, we have introduced several new My firm belief is that Jewish Eid Photography Exhibit Opens courses while continuing to Studies at Delaware will maintain most of the courses and must continue to grow, n September 21, 2015, that have proved successful particularly at a time when O an exhibit by Kholood from the beginning, such as anti-Semitism is spreading Eid opened in the ISE Lab on the Introduction to Jewish among those who have campus. Titled Intersecting Philosophy, Modern Jewish distorted or little knowledge Parallels: The Identities of Arab and American Literature, and of Judaism. The same is true and Jewish Women in Haifa, Arab-Israeli politics. Our pop- about studies involving Israeli Israel, the exhibition featured fession. While these factors ular courses on the Holocaust, history and culture, which descriptions and photos of 6 vary for each woman, it is the taught jointly with the History seem to have a growing women, 3 mothers and their common threads throughout Department, have expanded interest among today’s daughters, going about their the photo series that shed so that we have been able to undergraduates. For better everyday lives in modern light on the lives of modern introduce Women and the or worse, articles on Israel hit Israel during the summer women in Israel. This exhibit Holocaust, and Comparative the pages of our newspapers of 2014. The collection of was sponsored by the Jewish Genocide, for example. almost daily and must be photographs emphasizes Studies Program, as well as seen in proper perspective. the complex ways women the Women and Gender Stud- We will continue to expand Eventually, the Jewish Studies construct identities, with the ies Department, UD Hillel, and our outreach beyond the program should evolve into a artist noting the following Center for Global and Area campus borders, not only regular department, through factors as most important in Studies. To view Kholood’s by bringing in speakers for outreach to the community shaping individual identities: photos and learn more about our spring lecture series, but and students, as Women’s nationality, gender, culture, the artist, please visit also by sending our growing Studies and African-American sexuality, religion and pro- kholoodeid.com. faculty out into the commu- Studies have done. We are nity. This will heighten our making good progress, thanks recognition both on and off to support from the dean of campus, and help to increase Arts and Sciences, our new student engagement with leadership, and growing num- our program. Our minors in bers of interested faculty. Jewish Studies, now with the option to focus on the —Jay l. Halio Hebrew language, are poised to attract more students and faculty. Lewis Recounts Holocaust Experiences to Class n May 13, 2015, the voice from a truck. That was rienced upon liberation by O students of Dr. Zavad- the last time he saw her or the American army in April of ivker’s Holocaust class, HIST/ any other family member. Mr. 1945. Mr. Lewis emphasized JWST 254, were privileged to Lewis went on to detail life in that his purpose in sharing meet and hear the stories of the work camps, describing his experiences is to remind Holocaust survivor Herbert hunger as a very, very painful students to never forget what Lewis, the grandfather of thing and noting that his happened, to encourage University of Delaware his family home in Poland by childhood came to an abrupt them to tell their children and student Jake Horowitz. Mr. Nazis at the age of 14. On that end at the hands of the Nazis. grandchildren his story, so Lewis shared his firsthand day, while being marched He also described being that the atrocities committed experiences, beginning with through his hometown with forced on a death march from by Nazi Germany are never a description of the day in the other prisoners, he briefly Buchenwald to Flossenbürg lost to history. 1941 when he was taken from saw his mother and heard her and the emotions he expe- Jewish Studies at UD Special Collections he Alfred Gratz family in chronological order, portray a T papers, part of the Special driven and successful Jewish fami- Collections at the University of ly able to thrive in the tumultuous Delaware Library, document two early years of the United States generations of a successful Jewish and through the nineteenth cen- family of Philadelphia through tury. Members of the Gratz family evidence of the family’s business were active in the Mikveh Israel and political affairs during the Synagogue, the oldest congre- nineteenth century. This small col- gation in America, fought during lection includes correspon- the War of 1812, and became vital dence, contracts, reports, philanthropists and and financial documents leaders in Philadel- relating to five family phia. Their legacy members spanning the is still evident today, years 1802 through 1894. as Gratz College, The collection includes founded posthu- papers pertaining to mously by Hyman three brothers— as a “college for the Hyman (1776 - 1857), education of Jews Simon (1773-1839), and residing in the city and Joseph (1785-1857), county of Philadelphia,” relative Henry S. Gratz (1859-1922), still bears their family and Simon’s grandson Alfred Gratz name. The Alfred Gratz family (1835-1938), the namesake of the papers, when looked at individ- collection. ually and as a whole, illustrate the important roles fulfilled by The documents, available for view Jews throughout the history of at Morris Library and presented Philadelphia and America. Student Spotlight: Nicole Golomb icole Golomb, also known shares her perspective on being I had some of the greatest experi- N as Nikki, is a University of a Jewish Studies minor, how ences of my life. Delaware Honors student and a the minor has helped shape her With my Jewish Studies Minor, member of the class of 2017.

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