A Turkish Jew in Nazi Germany: A family’s incredible story of survival, and a museum in a suitcase
While researching Jewish refugees of Nazi Germany, graduate fellow Joana Bürger uncovered the incredible story of a Sephardi-Catholic-German-Turkish family's survival during the Holocaust.
VIDEO | 10th Annual Ladino Day — The Past, Present, and Future of Ladino
On the tenth anniversary of Ladino Day, UW's Sephardic Studies Program presents four experts from different generations, all working to revitalize Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), the traditional language of Sephardic Jews.
Expanding what it meant to be Jewish in East Germany as the Berlin Wall fell
Ph.D. candidate Katja Schatte explains how ideas of Jewishness gradually expanded in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) starting in the mid-1980s.
Arts & Culture
Documenta fifteen: Art and antisemitism in Germany today
An international art festival in Germany sparked a national controversy about antisemitism in 2022, but the conversation largely left out the voices of actual German Jews, writes graduate fellow Martin H. Schwartz.
Your favorite Hollywood actor probably has ties to the Yiddish theater, thanks to Stella Adler and her renowned acting method
Stella Adler, famous mid-century actress and one of the United States' foremost acting instructors, had deep ties to the Yiddish theater scene in New York City. Graduate fellow Amna Farooqi explains.
Muestros Artistas [Our Artists]: Bringing Sephardic Art and Community Together at the UW
Author Hannah S. Pressman reflects on her experience attending the inaugural 'Muestros Artistas' [Our Artists] Sephardic Arts Symposium and speaking with artists and others who were involved.
Hebrew & Israel Studies
Nearly one hundred years ago a group of American Jews hatched a plan to end the kibbutz. Today it looks like their plan might have worked
As kibbutzim (Jewish collective farms) began to form in British Palestine in the early 1900s, American Jewish businessmen worked hard to promote an alternate model of private homeownership — one that has largely won out today, writes graduate fellow Jake Beckert.
“It must start with us”: The grassroots struggle for peace amid violence in Israel-Palestine
Amid recurring violence, Israeli and Palestinian grassroots groups are bridging divides and engaging in "constructive resistance" against the status quo to work towards a more peaceful future, writes graduate fellow Kara Atkinson.
What is an ostracon? How the “scrap paper of the ancient world” offers glimpses of life in biblical times
Pieces of broken pottery ("ostraca") were commonly used to write letters, receipts, and notes in the ancient world, and these fragments show how biblical writings connect to real-world concerns of the time, writes graduate fellow Corinna Nichols.
Personal History
What I learned from majoring in Jewish Studies and studying abroad in Israel and London
Senior Lily Rosencrantz reflects on what she learned in her time with Jewish Studies, both at the University of Washington and abroad.
Learning Ladino, a Language I Already Knew
Graduate Fellow Oscar Aguirre-Mandujano specializes in Ottoman Turkish history, but his Jewish Studies research project has led him to a rare Ladino manuscript.
What a year in Israel taught me about community
Finding a truly international community was why opportunity grant winner Marissa Gaston decided to spend a whole year studying abroad in Israel.
Jewish History & Thought
Liberal Jews and the American eugenics movement: A forgotten history
Before eugenics became infamous, the movement to select and control human reproduction "to suppress defective classes" was popular among American liberals and progressives — including Jews. Graduate fellow Ari Forsyth explains.
Antisemitism, Jewish Studies, and university campus conflict
Dr. Gilah Kletenik and Dr. Devin Naar discussed the past, present and future of Jewish Studies with Dr. Daniel Heller in "Today's Campus Conflicts and the Future of Jewish Studies," a conversation on March 11, 2025.
A Jewish, feminist, Ottoman gynecologist: A portrait of a physician from 19th-century Ottoman Istanbul
Graduate fellow Büsra Demirkol tells the story of the Romanian Jewish doctor who chose to live in Ottoman Istanbul and became a prominent member of its Jewish medical community — and an outspoken feminist.
Sephardic Studies
Native New Yorkers Jack Zaraya and Wendy Sabin create new fund to support the Sephardic Studies Program at the UW
Jack Zaraya and Wendy Sabin, longtime residents of New York City, have created an endowed fund to support Sephardic Studies and honor the memory of Danny and Lily Zaraya.
The building of the UW’s Sephardic Studies Program, from “Safeway archives” to one of the world’s largest Sephardic digital collections and more
In a panel on March 11, 2025, speakers discussed the history of the Sephardic Studies Program at the University of Washington as part of the Stroum Center's 50th anniversary celebration.
Familiar refranes: Faculty member Canan Bolel on Ladino and bestselling author Leigh Bardugo’s latest novel, “The Familiar”
Student Gabriela Payumo explains how faculty member Canan Bolel's collaboration with fantasy author Leigh Bardugo led her to new insights into the Ladino language.
Digital Jewish Studies
PODCAST | Interview with author Leigh Bardugo on “The Familiar” — Ladino Day 2024
Bestselling fantasy author Leigh Bardugo ("Shadow and Bone") discusses her new novel, “The Familiar,” with faculty member Canan Bolel as part of Ladino Day 2024 at the University of Washington.
PODCAST | Jewish Questions, Episode 5: Before Zionism — Liora Halpern
Present-day discussions of anti-Semitism often involve Israel and the Zionist movement… but before the 20th century, Jews’ and Jewish scholars’ understandings of anti-Semitism were completely connected with Europe and Christianity. In the last episode of our series, guest Liora R. Halperin looks at how 19th-century Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine were influenced by the anti-Semitism they experienced in the Russian Empire
PODCAST | Jewish Questions, Episode 4: Jewish Anti-Semitism? — Devin Naar
Can Jews be anti-Semitic against other Jews? In this episode, guest Devin E. Naar looks at the history of Jewish prejudice against other Jews in the United States, from the very first American Jewish settlers in the 1600s to twentieth-century efforts to exclude Jews from the Muslim world from Jewish institutions — as American Jews struggled to hold on to their “precarious whiteness.”
Videos
VIDEO | Stroum Lectures 2023 Pt. 2 — Between Me and the Other World: A Tikkun
In a multi-faceted performance, Anthony Russell and accordionist Dmitri Gaskin explore W.E.B. DuBois' provocative question, "How does it feel to be a problem?" refracted through the texts and musical idioms of the African American South and Jewish Eastern Europe.
VIDEO | Stroum Lectures 2023 Pt. 1 — “Melodeklamatsiye”: A Yiddish Performance Genre ?
Anthony Russell and accompanist Dmitri Gaskin perform a combination of oration and art music that investigates disparate elements—Black religiosity, the music of Chopin, queerness, the ambiguities of diaspora—through the mediums of Jewishness and sound.
VIDEO | Inaugural “Muestros Artistas” Sephardic Arts Symposium
UW's Sephardic Studies Program and Stroum Center for Jewish Studies showcases six Sephardic artists from different creative backgrounds, and explores what exactly makes Sephardic art "Sephardic".