2/12 STUDENT EVENT | Crossroads: Exploring Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Semitic Sentiment
2020-02-12 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | The HUB
Learn and talk about the relationship between anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment from historical and contemporary perspectives, with a particular focus on Jewish and Latinx immigration.
UW professors Devin Naar, Kathie Friedman and Angelina Godoy will speak on a panel to their area of expertise, followed by Q&A.
Doors open for registration, check-in, and food (vegetarian) at 5PM.
You must register to attend this free event! https://tinyurl.com/CrossroadsUW
You can also learn more on our Facebook event page.
This event is intended for current undergraduate and graduate students. A limited number of seats are available for members of the general public, as well.
Organized by the Antisemitism Working Group RSO, a student organization at the University of Washington.

2/27 STUDENT EVENT | Visit to the Holocaust Center for Humanity
2020-02-27 15:00 - 17:00 | Holocaust Center for Humanity, 2045 2nd Avenue, Seattle, WA, United States
Undergrad and grad students are invited to join SCJS student engagement director Lauren Kurland for a guided tour of the Holocaust Center for Humanity in downtown Seattle.
Meet at 2:30 pm on the UW campus, or at the Center (2045 2nd Ave) at 3:00 pm.
We will watch a film, explore the permanent exhibit, and meet with Legacy Speaker Ron Friedman.
The tour will end by 5:00 pm.
Limit for the tour is 50 students.
Note that weapons of any kind are not allowed inside the building, including pocket knives and pepper spray. Please leave large bags and backpacks at home; otherwise, bags may be safely stored in our atrium, and/or are subject to search before bringing into the main building.
Attendees are invited for dinner at a local restaurant and reflection on the experience afterward. Note: Limit for dinner is 15 students.
No cost. Thanks to the SAMIS Foundation for underwriting the cost of the museum admission.
RSVP required. When you RSVP, please indicate: 1) where you will meet us (UW light rail or at the museum) 2) if you will be joining for dinner afterward

STUDENT EVENT: Jewish Studies Virtual Coffee Hour
2020-04-30 14:30 - 15:15, 2020-05-04 11:30 - 12:15, 2020-05-12 14:00 - 14:45 | RSVP for Zoom link
Undergrads are invited to grab a cup of coffee or tea and join student engagement director Lauren Kurland and other students involved with the Stroum Center to hang out, get to know each other a little better, and hopefully laugh a little! Attendance limited to 5 students so we can all “see” each other and interact. Note, this coffee “hour” is only 45 minutes. Multiple coffee hours will be offered this spring to accommodate schedules.

2/2 STUDENT EVENT | Ancient Perspectives on Same-Sex Relationships
2021-02-02 14:00 - 15:00
NOTE: DATE CHANGE!
How has the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as related in the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible shaped the ways Jews, Muslims and Christians thought and continue to think about same sex relationships?
Join Stroum Center Cole Fellow Brendan Goldman to explore this question through close readings of the story in the Qur’an and Hebrew Bible. We will examine how premodern and current interpretations of this story have shaped conceptions of homosexuality and the boundaries of acceptable sexual behaviors.
Goldman will teach Queer Premodernity (JEW ST 489/HSTCMP 490) in Spring 2021, so this is a great opportunity to experience his teaching style and subject matter.
Open to undergrads and graduate students only.
RSVP for Zoom link.

12/8 STUDENT EVENT | Narrating Migration Stories: Podcasting Sephardic Jewish Journeys
2021-12-08 17:00 - 18:00
Scholar and co-creator of the well-known Ottoman History Podcast Chris Gratien and retired journalist Sam Negri discuss their approach to telling the stories of marginalized migrants to the United States, focusing on the story of Negri’s father, Sephardic Jew Leo Negri, who came to the United States undocumented in the early 1900s along with thousands of other Sephardim (Jews expelled from modern-day Spain in 1492 who sought refuge throughout the Ottoman Empire).
Watch the conversation now:

About this talk
In the early twentieth century, tens of thousands of Sephardic Jews migrated to the United States from the borders of the collapsing Ottoman Empire. In addition to navigating inter-Jewish communal relationships with fellow Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews were also subject to racially biased immigration quotas that were becoming ever more restrictive during the 1920s.
Falsified papers were often the only way for many Sepharadim to gain entry to the United States — a route taken by Istanbul-born Leo Negri, whose fraudulent passport listed his country of origin as Cuba.
How can the podcast medium be leveraged to share the complex stories of Ottoman migrants to the United States? How can Negri’s story help us understand the stories of thousands of other Ottoman migrants like him, many of whom faced deportation threats and racism in their new American neighborhoods?
Join Chris Gratien, Assistant Professor of History, University of Virginia, co-creator of the Ottoman History Podcast, and Sam Negri, a retired journalist and Leo Negri’s son, for a conversation about this understudied moment in Jewish, Ottoman, and American history.
About the speakers
Chris Gratien is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Virginia. He teaches courses on environmental history and the modern Middle East, with a research focus on the late Ottoman Empire. He is the co-creator of the Ottoman History Podcast and recently contributed a chapter to “Sephardic Trajectories: Archives, Objects, and the Ottoman Jewish Past in the United States” (Koç University Press, 2021) that was co-authored with Sam Negri.
Sam Negri is a retired journalist based in Arizona. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications. His father, Leo Negri, was an Istanbul-born Jew who immigrated to the United States in the early twentieth century.

2/8 EVENT | The Detention of Uyghur Muslims in China
2022-02-08 12:30 - 13:30
In this event, UW alum Darren Byler, Ph.D., will draw on his research, fieldwork, and first-hand experiences to explain the scope and impact of China’s detainment of Uyghur Muslims in forced labor camps, in conversation with UW Professor Emerita Sandra Silberstein.
About the speakers

Darren Byler is Assistant Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University. His recent book, “Terror Capitalism: Uyghur Dispossession and Masculinity in a Chinese City” (Duke University Press, 2021) is based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in the Uyghur homeland in Chinese Central Asia, and examines the impact of detention and surveillance on Uhgyur and Han male migrants. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Washington.
Sandra Silberstein is Professor Emerita of English at the University of Washington, where she researches rhetoric in times of national crisis and discourses around terrorism; linguistic constructions of gender, race, ethnicity; critical applied linguistics and second language studies.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Human Rights, the China Studies Program, and the East Asia Resource Center at the University of Washington.

5/12 STUDENT EVENT| Post-Stroum Lecture Boba and Conversation
2022-05-12 20:15 - 21:00 | Private Location, 1400 NE Campus Parkway, Seattle, WA, 98102, United States

5/23 EVENT| An Evening with Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh
2022-05-23 19:00 - 20:30 | HUB 145, UW Campus, 4001 E Stevens Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States

1/31 STUDENT EVENT | Feasting with Faculty ft. Assistant Prof. Senderovich
2023-01-31 17:00 - 19:00 | Taste of India, 5517 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98115, United States
Join Sasha Senderovich, an Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures, for informal conversation over a free vegetarian dinner.
Open to undergraduate and graduate students only.
No cost. RSVP here!
This event is limited to 15 students.

4/19 | FREE FOOD! A "Grub n' gab" with Stroum Center leadership
2023-04-19 11:00 - 13:00 | Microsoft Cafe, 3785 Jefferson Rd NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, United States
Register Now >

Curious about Jewish Studies? Anytime from 11 AM — 1 PM on Wednesday, April 19, stop by the Microsoft Cafe on campus to learn more about the Stroum Center from our own leaders: Director Mika Ahuvia, and Interim Associate Director Brendan Goldman, who also serves as Program Manager. Plus, free food and drinks will be provided! This casual setting is a great way to:
• Explore the Stroum Center programs you may be curious about
• Get your questions answered on-the-spot
• Meet other undergraduate students with common interests or backgrounds
• Fuel up (coffee, please!) while talking with an engaging duo
• Get to know Mika and Brendan on a more personal level
So if you think you might come by, feel free to register here! Mika and Brendan look forward to meeting with students, both current and new.
About the leaders
Mika Ahuvia researches the formative history of Jewish and Christian communities in the ancient Mediterranean world. Specializing in Late Antique Jewish history, she works with rabbinic sources, liturgical poetry, magical texts, early mystical literature, and archaeological evidence.
Her book, “On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel: Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture,” investigates conceptions of angels in foundational Jewish texts and ritual sources, and uncovers how angels made their way into the practices and worldview of ancient Jews. As the Herbert L. and Lucia S. Pruzan Chair in Jewish Studies, Ahuvia teaches courses in Jewish Studies, comparative religion, and global studies in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. She is also the Director of the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies.

Brendan Goldman came to the Stroum Center from Princeton University, where he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Program in Judaic Studies, in addition to coordinating the Comparative Diplomatics Workshop and teaching at Northern State Prison in Newark, New Jersey. He received his Ph.D. in history from The Johns Hopkins University in 2018, and now serves as the Stroum Center’s Interim Associate Director and Program Manager.
His first book, “Camps of the Uncircumcised: The Cairo Geniza and Jewish Life in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem,” is under contract with University of Pennsylvania Press and will be published in 2021. His second book project, tentatively titled “A Disciplinary Society: Medieval Prisons through Jewish Eyes, 1000-1300,” examines how documents found in the Cairo Geniza, a synagogue storehouse preserving more than 40,000 medieval writings, can illuminate the ways in which state violence shaped the lives of everyday people during the Middle Ages.
The University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services, programs, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Dy at (206) 543-0138 or jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.

5/4 | Boba After Dark?(and after Stroum Lectures)
2023-05-04 20:45 - 22:30 | Boba Up, 4141 University Way NE # 103, Seattle, WA, 98105
Image by Freepik
Register Now >

Are you highly anticipating this year’s Stroum Lectures? Are you interested in meeting Anthony Russell in the flesh? Do you enjoy getting boba with friends? Are you an undergraduate or graduate student? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re in luck!
From 8:45 PM — 10:00 PM (or later) on Thursday, May 4, head over to Boba Up on “the Ave” for free boba and low-stakes face-time with the guests of honor. Right after his performance, you can:
• Meet Anthony and Dmitri — and learn their Boba orders!
• Ask questions about their careers, music, and lives
• Get to know them on a more personal level
• Mingle with other like-minded students from across the UW’s School of Music, German Department, Jewish Studies Center, History Department, and more.
If interested, please register here. Anthony and Dmitri look forward to mingling and kicking back with you all after the show!
About the Musicians

Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell is a performer, composer and arranger specializing in music in the Yiddish language. His work in traditional Ashkenazi Jewish musical forms led to a musical exploration of his own ethnic roots through the research, arrangement and performance of African American folk music, resulting in the EP Convergence (2018), a collaboration with klezmer consort Veretski Pass exploring the sounds and themes of one hundred years of African American and Ashkenazi Jewish music.
Inspired by an ethnographic trip to Belarus and Poland as a Wallis Annenberg Helix Fellow, Anthony formed a duo, Tsvey Brider (“Two Brothers”), with accordionist and pianist Dmitri Gaskin for the creation of new music set to modernist Yiddish poetry of the 20th century. Their new album, Kosmopolitn, is set for release this August on the Borscht Beat label.
A Hadar Rising Song Fellow (2021-22), Anthony is also an essayist on music and culture in a number of publications including Jewish Currents and Moment Magazine. Anthony lives in Atlanta, GA with his husband of seven years, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum.

Dmitri Gaskin is an accomplished accordion player, composer, and arranger specializing in Klezmer and Romanian folk music. He performs with several Klezmer bands throughout California, most notably with Saul Goodman’s Klezmer Band. Dmitri has also performed and taught at several music festivals, including KlezKalifornia.
Outside of klezmer music, Dmitri won the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award for a contemporary classical composition. He also formed Harmonikos, a performing collective of young composers and musicians.
Dmitri studied accordion with Josh Horowitz and Alan Bern. He lives in California with his wife and their three accordions.

The University of Washington is committed to providing access and accommodation in its services, programs, and activities. To make a request connected to a disability or health condition contact Grace Dy at (206) 543-0138 or jewishst@uw.edu at least 10 days before the event.

9/ 22 DAWG DAZE | Shared Spaces: The Making and Remaking of Black and Jewish Seattle
2023-09-22 12:00 - 15:00 | Outside Thomson Hall, King Ln NE, Seattle, WA, 98195, United States
The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies is proud to be collaborating with Black Heritage Society President Stephanie Johnson-Toliver and local Jewish historian Howard Droker to offer a walking tour of the Central District‘s historic Black and Jewish neighborhoods. On Friday, 9/22 at noon, this Dawg Daze event will take a group off campus to an area where immigrants and ethnic minorities lived, shaping the vibrant character of the district over the past century. While strolling through the neighborhood for approximately 2 miles, students will view some of the cultural hub’s most important houses of worship (like synagogues turned to churches and mosques) and shared gathering spaces. Come join us to discover Seattle through the eyes of two of its oldest ethnic communities.
RSVP

Co-sponsored by American Ethnic Studies.

We will meet outside of Thomson Hall at noon in front of the bust of David Thomson, where we will board a bus that will arrive in Seattle’s Central District around 12:30 pm.
Afterwards, we’ll finish the tour at Cafe Selam.

To learn more, check out some of our related journal articles and exhibits:

Uncovering the history of Seattle’s first settlers from the Ottoman Empire
Seattle Sephardic Legacies
Between Rhodes and Seattle: Three generations of Sephardic women in family letters
“Hidden manuscripts, come out!”: Seattle Sephardic Legacies highlights Ladino literature
