Noteworthy News

Karten Memorial Lecture | Lucy S. Dawidowicz (1915-1990) and the Beginnings of Khurbn forshung (Holocaust Studies) in the United States This talk will explore the contribution of Lucy S. Dawidowicz (1915-1990), a postwar American Jewish public intellectual and historian, to the field of Holocaust historiography. Witness to the vital Jewish world of pre-war Vilna and to its destruction, Dawidowicz devoted her life to bringing this world to the attention of the American public. Her The War...

Professor Nancy Sinkoff's book, From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History, named as one of the top 26 books in Jewish History to read in 2022! BookAuthority website

Professor Jonathan Dekel-Chen received the 2021 Vernon Carstensen Memorial Award for the best article in Agricultural History in 2020 from the Agricultural History Society. “Putting Agricultural History to Work: Global Action Today from a Communal Past,” was the feature in a scholarly forum in the Agricultural History journal (Issue 94, no. 4 [Fall 2020]: 512-544).

Essays about the current situation in Israel, May 2021, written by Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the Allen and Joan Bildner Visiting Scholar at the Bildner Center, Spring 2021. For my children and the children of Gaza: A view from the Israeli border - May 13, 2021 Painful Truths, Rays of Hope: Shavuot 2021 - May 17, 2021

We mourn the passing of Herbert Littman (RC’52), an early and generous supporter of the Bildner Center. Herb and his brother Len provided an endowment gift to support our Holocaust Resource Center, which was dedicated in their honor in 2000. The Herbert and Leonard Littman Families Holocaust Resource Center has had a profound impact across New Jersey, teaching future generations about the Holocaust through its teacher training programs as well as by providing educational materials and...

Gregg Drinkwater's article, "Queer Healing: AIDS, Gay Synagogues, Lesbian Feminists, and the Origins of the Jewish Healing Movement," has been selected to receive the Wasserman Prize for the best article published in last year's volume of American Jewish History. The committee noted: "Gregg Drinkwater's article is an extraordinary, moving, and deftly constructed work of historical scholarship. Drawing on crucial interviews, a wide array of primary sources, and queer theory, the article...

Professor Nancy Sinkoff wins 2020 National Jewish Book Award in the category of biography Jew­ish Book Coun­cil announced the win­ners of the 2020 Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards, now in its sev­en­ti­eth year. The third annu­al Biog­ra­phy Award in Mem­o­ry of Sara Beren­son Stone is giv­en to From Left to Right: Lucy S. Daw­id­ow­icz, the New York Intel­lec­tu­als, and the Pol­i­tics of Jew­ish His­to­ry (Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty Press) by Nan­cy Sinkoff, which was also named a Natan Notable...

Moya Bedward (PhD candidate, History) has been awarded a New Directions in Jewish Studies Lectureship by UC-Davis for the 2020-21 academic year. In May 2020, Moya was the recipient of the Alexander and Ruth Seaman Award from the Department of Jewish Studies and the Bildner Center. Bedward also presented her research in the talk “ ‘I remember the Jews’: Memory, Dual Marginality, and Belonging as Haratin in 20th-century Morocco” for the Jewish studies department in October 2019.

We are please to share that three faculty members in the Department of Jewish Studies have been promoted to the rank of Professor! Nancy Sinkoff, Professor of Jewish Studies and History, Academic Director of the Bildner Center Paola Tartakoff, Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Chair of the Department of Jewish Studies Emma Wasserman, Professor of Religion, Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of Religion

Sponsored in part by The Herbert & Leonard Littman Families Holocaust Resource Center We Are Here: A Celebration of Resilience, Resistance and Hope was a 2020 streamed concert presented by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene and Museum of Jewish Heritage commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of WWII and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The 90-minute program featured performances from renowned artists like Renée Fleming and Adrien Brody to honor Holocaust resilience. Key Aspects of the...

Eagleton invites you to join a virtual celebration of Ruth B. Mandel's life and distinguished leadership. Please register to join us for an online memorial to honor Ruth on May 20th at 3:00 PM ET.

Congratulations to Professor Yael Zerubavel, recipient of the Association of Israel Studies Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019. Dr. Zerubavel is Professor Emerita in Jewish Studies and History, and Founding Director of the Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, 1996-2018. This award honors Yael Zerubavel’s lifetime of exceptional scholarship and academic achievement in the field of Israel Studies, and recognizes that her lasting and path-breaking contributions have significantly shaped the field...

Ruth B. Mandel 1938 - 2020 The Bildner Center mourns the passing of Ruth B. Mandel, Board of Governors Professor of Politics, along with the Rutgers community and with her family. When she was an infant, Ruth and her parents escaped Europe aboard the SS St. Louis, the infamous ship that was denied entry into Cuba and the United States in 1939 and was forced to turn back to Europe. Ruth devoted her life and scholarship to promoting democracy and empowering women in politics. She helped found...

Rutgers University has announced the cancellation of all events on university campuses effective Thursday, March 12 through Wednesday, April 15th. Bildner Center events scheduled during that time-frame are cancelled. We know the decision to cancel campus events was not made lightly but is the best option for ensuring the safety of community members. Fostering a healthy community in New Jersey is core to the mission of Rutgers University. While at this time we are not aware of any confirmed...

From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History, (Wayne State University Press, March 2020) is the first comprehensive biography of Dawidowicz (1915–1990), a pioneer historian in the field that is now called Holocaust studies. Dawidowicz was a household name in the postwar years, not only because of her scholarship but also due to her political views. Dawidowicz, like many other New York intellectuals, was a youthful communist, became an...

Rutgers alumni and friends met for a fascinating talk on ancient Jewish manuscripts. The Journey of an Ancient Hebrew Manuscript to the Library of Congress.

20th annual film festival was a huge success! Hope to see you next year! Missed this year? Click here to see what you missed.

Awarded to the Bildner Center's Spring 2020 program "Letters to Erich: Family Disruption and Holocaust Memory".