Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

January 26 | February 23 | March 5 | April 16 | May 12
12:30-2 PM ET on Zoom

Learn more and register

This annual lecture series presents different experiences of Sephardi modernization across place and time. The 2026 series explores the concept of diaspora as a lens for understanding the modern and contemporary Sephardi world.  We will address the diversity of modern Sephardi Jewish experiences by considering diaspora as shaped by histories of migration and return, continuity and rupture, belonging and exclusion.

We will engage with the histories and experiences of Sephardi communities across imperial, colonial, and post-colonial landscapes in order to examine questions of multiple belongings, identity formation, and cultural transmission.

Organized by Angy Cohen (Spanish National Research Council) and Yuval Evri (Brandeis University). Sponsored by the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities at the University of Calgary.

Wednesday, March 11
12:30-1:30 PM
In person (Mandel Center, 3rd floor, Room 328)
and on Zoom

Discover a little-known piece of history with Jonathan D. Sarna, former director of the Schusterman Center, at our next Scholars Seminar. Mark Twain traveled to the Land of Israel in 1867; his Jewish son-in-law traveled there in 1929. Both trips proved tremendously impactful. Come and learn why! 

12:30-1 PM: Presentation by Jonathan D. Sarna
In person - Open to the Brandeis community
On Zoom - Open to all

1-1:30 PM: Discussion and Free Pizza Lunch
In person - Open to the Brandeis community. Please register before March 9.  

REGISTER BEFORE MARCH 9 TO ATTEND IN PERSON     REGISTER TO ATTEND VIA ZOOM 

Jonathan D. Sarna is University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History (emeritus) at Brandeis University. He also is the past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and Chief Historian of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Author or editor of more than forty books on American Jewish history and life, his "American Judaism: A History" won six awards including the 2004 Everett Jewish Book of the Year Award.

Thursday, March 19
12-2 PM
In person (Mandel Center, 3rd floor, Room 328)
and on Zoom

Join us to celebrate the release of "The Un-Chosen Body: Disability Culture in Israel" (Wayne State University Press) by Ilana Szobel! 

12-1 PM: Ilana Szobel in conversation with Julia Watts Belser, followed by a Q&A with the audience
In person - Open to the Brandeis community
On Zoom - Open to all

1-2 PM: Lunch and discussion with the author 
Open to the Brandeis community. Register before March 16 to participate. 

Register to attend in person      Register to attend on Zoom 

About the conversants: 

• Ilana Szobel is Professor of Modern Hebrew Literature and the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Chair in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University. She is also Core Faculty in the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and currently serves as the Interim Director of the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Her previous books include "A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch" (Brandeis University Press, 2013); "Flesh of My Flesh: Sexual Violence in Modern Hebrew Literature" (SUNY Press, 2021),  a finalist for the Concordia University Library–Azrieli Institute Award for Best Book in Israel Studies. Learn more.

• Julia Watts Belser is Professor of Jewish Studies and Disability Studies at Georgetown University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. She is a scholar, rabbi, and longtime advocate for disability and gender justice, whose work brings classical Jewish texts into conversation with disability studies, feminist and queer theory, and environmental justice. She directs the Disability and Climate Change Public Archive Project, an initiative that documents the insights of disabled activists, artists, and first responders on the frontlines of climate crisis. Learn more.

Image courtesy of Wayne State University Press.