Jewish Studies February 2026 Newsletter
Dear students, staff, and faculty:
We hope you’re settling into the spring semester and enjoying the spring-like weather while it lasts. If you’ve grown up on the Great Plains, you’re familiar with February’s “false spring.” For the rest—prepare yourselves; winter will return to the Hill!
We are excited to continue welcoming new students to the program. Please join us in welcoming our newest additions: Emma Bowen and Nina McNay (B.A.), and Gibson Hobbs and Dalton Hammon (minor). We are thrilled to have you join us.
Award Winners
The Fall 2025 Danciger Research Award and the Danciger Essay Contest have been awarded to the following students:
Derrick Schaefer is the recipient of the Fall 2025 Danciger Research Award for his truly original and excellent work with Dr. Bogi Perelmutter titled “Spatial Reasoning in Kabbalah.” Derrick also received second place in the Danciger Essay Contest for his essay on the same topic.
Adina Thompson is the first-place recipient of the Fall 2025 Danciger Essay Award for her essay titled “The Sound of Music and the Absence of the Austrian Jewish Story” written for Dr. Sam Cooper's Music in Jewish History course.
In addition to the Danciger Research and Essay Awards, we are pleased to announce a new award specifically for First-Year Seminar students.
Quinn McDonald was awarded the Fall 2025 First-Year Seminar Danciger Achievement Award in Jewish Studies for his podcast, “Safed and Kabbalah,” created for Dr. Rami Zeedan’s First-Year Seminar course.
Stay tuned for upcoming presentations by our winners and mazel tov to all!
Upcoming Event
On February 23rd from 4:00–5:30pm at The Max Kade Center for German-American Studies, Dr. Melissa Karp will present “At the Service of a Vile Power: Figuring Collaborators in Postwar France and Korea”. Dr. Karp is the Content Specialist for the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.
This lecture will explore the figure of the “collaborator” as a transnational and transmedial cultural imaginary. Beyond legal efforts to address histories of collaboration after World War II, the collaborator has emerged as a central character in narratives of wartime memory across novels, films, historiography, and museums. These representations continue to shape post-1945 nationalist projects in both expected and surprising ways.
We hope you can join us.
Sneak Peek at Fall Classes
- JWSH 107 Jews, Christians, Muslims (online) – Sam Brody
JWSH 124 Understanding the Bible – David Woodington
JWSH 176 First-Year Seminar: The Jewish American Story through Literature, Letters, and Latkes – Sam Cooper - JWSH 300 Topics in Jewish Studies:
- Kansas and the Midwestern Jewish Experience – Sam Cooper
- Language and Identity – R.B. Perelmutter
- JWSH 313 US & Israel Relations – Omri Senderowicz
JWSH 329 Israeli Palestinian Conflict - Omri Senderowicz
JWSH 330 Mystical Traditions in Judaism - Bogi Perelmutter
JWSH 341 Hitler and Nazi Germany – Shelly Cline
JWSH 380 Ethics and the Holocaust (online) – Shelly Cline
JWSH 410 Israel: From Idea to Statehood – Rami Zeedan
JWSH 420 Politics and Government in Israel – Rami Zeedan - HEBR 110, 210 & 300 Beginning, Intermediate, & Topics in Hebrew Language - Noa Savir
Are there specific topics or courses you would like Jewish Studies to offer? If so, please let us know—we welcome your ideas.
New and Noteworthy
Don’t miss Sam Cooper’s podcast, Sounding Jewish! The podcast explores Jewish history and identity through sound. In interviews with global musicologists, ethnomusicologists, and sound studies scholars, Dr. Cooper asks the question: What does Jewish identity sound like? Be sure to subscribe and listen—and share with friends.
We are so excited to launch the Jewish Studies Hebrew Language Table with our Hebrew Language Coordinator, Noa Savir. The first meeting will be on Monday, February 24th at 6PM in the Jewish Studies suite (4017 Wescoe). Practice Hebrew in a fun, relaxed atmosphere with casual conversations, new friends, board games, and snacks. All levels are welcome! Come chat, laugh, and enjoy the Hebrew language together!