2020-2021 Jewish Studies Student Association officers:
President, Levi Gettleman
Vice President, Josie Epstein
Programming Director, Adina Malmon
Engagement Director, Lauren Appel
The JSSA promotes interaction between students and faculty while providing social and cultural extracurricular learning related to Jewish Studies.
Spring 2021
Spring into Spring Semester with JSSA! Happy spring semester! On Friday, January 29th, stop by our zoom room between 4-5pm to say hello to the JSSA officers and all of your Jewish studies friends, play a mixer or two, and hear about all of the exciting JSSA happenings in the spring semester! Register here: https://iu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkfuitrzwpG9JIH2HMgnkZRtPTG82TjSQu
EVENT POSTPONDED! Thursday, April 15 join the JSSA for a Round Table Chat with M.A. Student Julie Sharff
Did you know that Yiddish was sometimes referred to as “vaybertaytsh”? This word translates roughly to women’s print and was used to distinguish Torah commentaries intended for women written in Yiddish from Hebrew texts intended for men. Today there is a feminist podcast in Yiddish called vaybertaytsh. Did you know that Yenta, the name for the matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof, is also a word people use to describe a gossiper? i.e. They are such a yenta! Did you know that there is a drag comedy group, the Kinsey Sicks, that released a Yiddish song on one of their albums "Oy Vey in a Manger"? Need proof, here is a live performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azcrfEdI50E . If you want to learn more about these facts or anything else about gender and sexuality in Yiddish literature, join the JSSA for an informal chat with Julie Sharff, a second year M.A student. Julie will talk a little bit about her research on Yiddish gender identity, her thesis, and grad school in general. You won’t want to miss this, so come ready to learn something new!
Julie Sharff is completing her M.A. in the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University in the Spring of 2021. She researches Jewish identity with attention to gender and sexuality in Yiddish literature. This spring, she is completing her Master’s thesis, “Reading between the Lines: Consent and Coercion in Yiddish Women’s Literature.” This thesis examines the marriage plot in how Puah Rakvosky and Esther Singer Kreitman write about consent, sexuality, and breaking from traditional Judaism in their autobiographical and semi-autobiographical writing. In the fall of 2021, she will begin work as a Ph.D. student.
September 3, 2019 JSSA sushi dinner.
Interested? Want more information? Want to become a member?
Visit, call, or email the Borns Jewish Studies Program, Global & International Studies Building 4-East, 812-855-0453, iujsp@indiana.edu
