Updated 2/26/26
Go Big: Colby College’s Center for Small Town Jewish Life is making big strides and garnering some impressive funding as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. [1/22/26]
Mississippi Burning: Rabbi Lex Rofeberg reflects on his formative memories at the Jackson, Mississippi synagogue that was burned over the weekend. [1/13/26]
Jewish Omissions: Mireille Silcoff explores the ways recent films with Jewish central characters are favoring universality over the representation of Jewish experience, “leaving behind a peculiar Jew-shaped hole.” [1/8/26]
Cover Story: Nice to see Radical Jewish Politics: A Global Perspective in the Spine Magazine roundup of exemplar academic book covers. [1/2/26]
Mayor Mamdani: In the wake of Zohran Mamdani’s winning run to be the next NYC Mayor, many of his prominent Jewish critics have sought a more positive way forward. He met with rabbis this week and made inroads. And Rabbi Elliott Cosgrove gave a notable, reflective speech urging a less rigid way forward for Zionism. [12/12/25]
The Galveston Moment*: The Forward looks back at the role Galveston, Texas played in American Jewish history. For a brief moment, this Texas island town was known was “the Ellis Island of the West.”
*In the Berman Archive: We hold many documents related to the Gaveston Moment, including this account by Morris Waldman and this interview we conducted earlier this year with Rachel Cockerel, whose book Melting Point, tells the story of Jewish Galveston with the help of our archive. [12/2/25]
Faculty Disunion: Marc Dollinger, chair of Jewish Studies at SFSU, addresses the CSU faculty union’s anti-Jewish, alienating actions. [11/19/25]
Assembly Required: The Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly*is in full swing this week in Washington DC, where 2,000 Jewish communal leaders are meeting to discuss what’s next for Israel, Jewish safety, and deepening engagement.
*In the Berman Archive: We hold a lot of documents related to past annual gatherings like this account of the 1934 General Assembly in Chicago. A look forward from 1995: How has the Federation System met its own vision for itself? The Federation and Jewish Education from 1995—how are things looking 30 years later? Gender and Jewish Leadership — An assessment from 1995 and a baseline: how is the Jewish Federation System faring now? [11/17/25]
Benevolent Bagels: The birth of Boichik Bagels, reigning champ of Bay Area bagels [11/14/25]
Rabbis & Politics: Aaron Dorfman, Executive Director of a A More Perfect Union, writes about the complicated costs of rabbis making political endorsements: “Even though publicly supporting a particular candidate might feel urgent in the moment, endorsements cost us something essential. They oversimplify moral leadership. They divide communities. And they come with political pressures that erode trust and integrity.” [11/7/25]
Exit Strategy: The Heritage Foundation’s antisemitism effort is losing Jewish supporters and partner organizations because of its blatant alignment with antisemitic, white nationalist figures. [11/4/25]
HIAS, Now & Then: Beth Oppenheim, the new CEO of HIAS, was interviewed by eJewishPhilanthropy this week. HIAS has focused on helping refugees* around the world since 1881 and has struggled in recent years amidst an adverse funding and political environment.
*In the Berman Archive: In a 1915 edition of Jewish Charities, there’s an in-depth account of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America (now HIAS). 110 years ago, the organization was engaged in the work of helping Jewish immigrants amidst an ever shifting, tumultuous political backdrop. [10/30/25]
All Eyes on NYC: As we approach election day next week, the Jewish world is laser focused on the issues that matter most: whether or not the next mayor of New York City will be good for the Jews. This race has been covered from every conceivable angle by the press, Jewish and otherwise. Zohran Mamdani’s candidacy has elicited fawning, brow furrowing, fear, and letters. He’s against Zionism but for teaching about it in NYC schools and he has an excellent bagel order (poppy seed + scallion cream cheese). Happy voting, New York. [10/29/25]
The Jewish Museum* on 5th Avenue in New York City just unveiled its extensive renovations, giving the landmark museum a fresh take on its gallery space, featuring everything from abstract expressionist paintings to torah scrolls scorched in the Revolutionary War.
*In the Berman Archive: In 1991 Ruth Seldin wrote about the rise of the American Jewish museum. The piece quotes Joan Rosenbaum, then the director of the Jewish Museum of New York. [10/22/25]
Goodbye ROI: For 20 Years, the ROI fellowship was a landmark project by the Schusterman Family Foundation* supporting cohorts of American Jews pursuing social justice and entrepreneurial goals through grants, summits in Israel and an active network of fellows. The influential programming is coming to an end.
*In the Berman Archive: An article by Charles and Lynn Schusterman in Sh’ma about a transition the foundation was making in 1997, after 10 years in operation. [10/21/25]
Glass Half Full: Berman Archive Director Ari Y Kelman writes about antisemtism in ARC. He looks to past data about anti-Jewish sentiment to urge a shift in expectation around our present day responses to antisemitism. [10/6/25]
The Met Opera kicks off its new season with a production of Michael Chabon’s 2020 novel, The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the Pulitzer winning miracle of a novel rife with themes of Jewishness, American identity, comic books, and queer identity. [9/15/25]
Crisis of Interfaith: Interesting story in JTA about a rabbi who left the Conservative movement over the issue of interfaith marriage.
*In the Berman Archive: This 1993 issue of Sh’ma which was dedicated to the question of interfaith marriage. [8/11/25]
