On Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 7:30 p.m., Fairfield University’s Judaic Studies Program and the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies will welcome Joshua Shanes, PhD, associate professor of Jewish Studies and director of the Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston, to kick off the spring lecture series. The virtual lecture is free, open to the public, and will be delivered as a Zoom webinar. Register to attend at fairfield.edu/bennettprograms.

Shanes’ lecture, “A Growing Schism: Politics and Identity Among Orthodox and Non-Orthodox Jews,” will explore the emerging divergence in political identity between Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews in the context of broader American trends — what Shanes calls the “evangelicalization of Orthodoxy," as well as the role of Jewish politics as a debate about the meaning of Jewishness itself.

"At a time when American Jews are becoming just as divided as American society itself, Joshua Shanes brings analytical incision and a moral perspective to an issue that should concern everyone in the American Jewish community, whatever their affiliation," said director of the Judaic Studies Program and professor of history Gavriel Rosenfeld, PhD.

Dr. Shanes is an associate professor of Jewish Studies and director of the Arnold Center for Israel Studies at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. He has published widely in academic and popular outlets, on modern Jewish politics, culture, and religion, as well as contemporary politics and antisemitism. He is currently writing a history of the word "Orthodoxy" from its German origins until today, for the Rutgers series on "Key Words in Jewish Studies."

The February 9 lecture will be held online and is free and open to the public. Register at fairfield.edu/bennettprograms.