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Jewish Culture & Society News

Dick Abrams Fellowship
Funding opportunities for undergraduate students
The Program in Jewish Culture & Society announces a call for applications for the Dick Abrams Scholarship, which provides two $1,300 stipends. The scholarship will be awarded to full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students in good academic standing enrolled at the...
Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students
The Program in Jewish Culture & Society announces a call for applications for the Gendell/Shiner Family Fellowship and the Dara Goldman Memorial Scholarship.
Applicants must be degree-seeking graduate students in good academic standing enrolled at the University of Illinois. The Gendell/Shiner Family Fellowship provides a stipend of $14,000 and a waiver of tuition and some fees. Preference will be given to students at the ABD level in either Jewish...
Hilit Surowitz-Israel
The Jewish Studies Podcast Project is out!
The Jewish Studies Podcast Project is out! We interview our faculty, visiting scholars, and guest lecturers about their new projects and recent books. Follow us on Spotify for a new episode every third Thursday of the month.The first episode is dedicated to Dara Goldman, May Her Memory Be a...
Aria Tsoulouhas

Alumni spotlight: Aria Tsoulouhas

Classics and Jewish Studies major, Aria Tsoulouhas, graduated from the University of Illinois is the spring of 2018. Aria was a winner of the Filler Award in 2017. She will be attending Yale Divinity School this fall to study Second-Temple Judaism.

Featured Courses: Spring 2026

JS 399

American Jewish History: The Case of Central Illinois

This second 8-week course offers an opportunity to learn the nuances of archival work using the collections available locally—the University of Illinois Library. Satisfies the requirements for the History major and minor: Upper-level courses and US history.
HIST 269/ JS 269 / REL 269

Jewish History Since 1700

Traditional Jewish life has experienced significant changes since the 1700s. Once, a homogeneous community whose identity was mainly based on religious ties was replaced by modern Jewries with various identity markers. This course discusses the circumstances under which these processes developed, starting from Jewish emancipation in Western and Central Europe to the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel.
History of Antisemitism

History of Antisemitism

Studies the negative representations of Judaism and Jews from antiquity to the modern world. Topics include: Greco-Roman concepts of the Jewish religion; medieval Christian symbolization of the demonic Jew; Jews and negative attitudes to capitalism; blood purity and blood libel; the rise of racial prejudice in the modern nation state; totalitarianism and genocide; antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
REL 511

Graduate Seminar: Introduction to Jewish Studies

Intensive study of select topics or issues in the study of religion.
HIST 456

Twentieth-Century Germany

The emphasis of this class is on what some observers refer to as the "German Century," the period between 1890 and 1990 when Germany emerged as the most modern, the most revolutionary, and the most belligerent nation-state in Europe. Germany was the site of extraordinary cultural innovation and often lethal political experimentation; it fought two world wars.