2nd Annual Jewish Inclusion Seminar Series

March 25 - 27, 2024
A Diverse Picture: Jewish Voices, Images, & Experiences

 
 
 

Overview

In collaboration with several campus and community partners, USU’s Inclusive Excellence is proud to present, USU’s 2nd Annual Jewish Inclusion Seminar Series, scheduled for March 25-27, 2024. USU’s 2024 Jewish Inclusion Seminar Series is titled:

A Diverse Picture: Jewish Voices, Images, & Experiences

The Jewish community in Utah makes up about 0.002% of the population. The majority of Jewish Utahns reside in and around Salt Lake City and Park City. In Cache Valley, there is not a single public Jewish space – neither on the USU campus (e.g., Hillel, a Kosher food vendor on campus, or any other Jewish student organization) or anywhere in Cache Valley (e.g., a synagogue, a Kosher market, a Kosher restaurant, or a Jewish Community Center). Hence, the Jewish community at USU and in Cache Valley is, in many ways, invisible to the non-Jewish community. The objective of USU’s 2024 Jewish Inclusion event is to build on the 2023 Jewish Inclusion inaugural event at USU and take the following steps towards advancing a more welcoming and inclusive environment for Jewish members of our Aggie family. The event seeks to highlight and celebrate the richness and complexity of Jewish experience in Utah, the U.S., and beyond, so that our non-Jewish peers, professors, colleagues, supervisors, and neighbors have the chance to gain a deeper understanding of who we are as a Jewish people. More nuanced knowledge of any minority group brings about stronger connection and greater understanding, thereby promoting a more inclusive communal experience for all involved.

A Diverse Picture: Jewish Voices, Images, & Experiences will present a diverse array of Jewish voices, experiences, and backgrounds. Among the voices and experiences that are confirmed to present at this the event are: 1) leaders from the Utah Jewish community on topics of Jewish women, Jewish education, and Jewish cultural events; and 2) lecturers and filmmakers covering a range of Jewish experiences and backgrounds, including voices and experiences from the Ethiopian, Iranian, and Moroccan Jewish communities, and topics ranging from art and culture to trauma and the Jewish experience.

Utah State University is a premier land-and space-grant institution committed to excellence, access, and inclusion. In keeping with our land and space-grant mission, we strive to:

Embrace Civic Responsibility

Being a part of the Aggie Family means that we share a responsibility toward the common good of every member of the community, the university, and the State of Utah.

Diversity

To value and engage with all dimensions of human experience including but not limited to racial and ethnic background, nationality, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, religious and ethical value systems, disability, age, political positions, and socioeconomic status.

Human Dignity

We affirm the inherent dignity and value of each individual in our university community and are committed to freedom of expression and respectful dialogue.

"The university is operated for the common good which depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to teaching, research, and service... The community also values diversity and respect, without which there can be no collegiality among faculty and students. In addition, the university community values individual rights and freedoms, including the right of each community member to adhere to individual systems of conscience, religion, and ethics. Finally, the university recognizes that with all rights come responsibilities."

USU Policy 401.8.1.1

Learning Objectives

Identify, define, and recognize inclusive excellence and its practices through a public activity that invites every member of the community, the university, and throughout the State of Utah.

Register for Jewish Inclusion Seminar Series

Schedule

Monday, March 25th

Jewish-Ethiopian
Experiences

Presenter:

Roni Fantanesh Malkai is a lawyer, a public figure, and an activist. She is the author of the recently published: Black Strength - Ethiopian Jews and the Journey to Equality (Yediot Books, 2024). Roni holds an MA in Public Policy and Government (with honors) from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as well as an LLB (Law) from Tel Aviv University.

Presentation Title:
Jewish Voices Intertwined: Ethiopia, the U.S., and Israel

Time: 10:00 AM

Location: TSC Aspen Room (TSC 221) or via Zoom

Jerusalem Dream
Jewish-Iranian
Experiences

Presenter:

Yael Gidanyan is an entrepreneur and artist of Jewish-Iranian descent. She is the Director of The Jerusalem Conference on Massortiyut (Conference on traditional Jewish practice). Yael writes and lectures on Jewish-Iranian culture and Jerusalemite identity and culture, and she has facilitated international workshops on these topics. Yael holds an M.A. in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Presentation Title:
From Jerusalem to Isfahan and Back: Following the Jewish-Iranian Community

Time: 12:30 PM

Location: TSC Aspen Room (TSC 221) or via Zoom

Jewish-American
Experiences

Presenter:

Michael Greenfield, R.J.E., is the Director of Education at Temple Har Shalom in Park City, UT, a synagogue affiliated with Judaism’s Reform Movement. He holds Masters degrees in both writing and Jewish education, and is especially interested in the intersection of sacred texts and popular culture.

Presentation Title:
Jewish Voices in an American Key

Time: 2:00 PM

Location: TSC Aspen Room (TSC 221) or via Zoom

 

Tuesday, March 26th

Jewish-American
Experiences

Presenter:

Judi has lived in Ogden, Utah since the mid-90s. Prior to that, she moved around quite a bit: Born in Columbus, Ohio, she spent her teen years in Texas, then earned a music degree from the Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria. After returning to the U.S., she lived in New York City, then in Richmond, Virginia, where she earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Richmond. She continued her studies at Yale University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology (Psycholinguistics) with support from a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship and a Fulbright Foundation pre-doctoral fellowship. Her professional life has followed a similarly (seemingly) random path: In addition to teaching at the university level, she was an editor for several years at an academic publishing company. She then turned to the growing industry of educational technology and spent the last two decades of her career as a strategic consultant for colleges and universities implementing major software systems. While she belongs to a family whose Jewish identity goes all the way back to Abraham and Sarah, Judi feels that she came into her own Jewishly in, of all places, Ogden, Utah. She learned Hebrew and became an adult Bat Mitzvah, but that was just the beginning. She leads worship services, teaches young Bar and Bat Mitzvah students, and also works with adults seeking to convert to Judaism. She serves on the Board of the United Jewish Federation of Utah, and is a board member and past-president of Congregation Brith Sholem in Ogden. Judi and her husband Eric are the proud parents of two wonderful young Jewish men (and their equally wonderful non-Jewish spouses) and take great joy in time spent with their kids and the newest addition to the family, their two-year-old granddaughter, all of whom live in the area.

Presentation Title:
Jewish Mothers and Daughters

Time: 10:00 AM

Location: David B. Haight Center or via Zoom

Jewish-American
Experiences

Presenter:

Upon settling in Sedona, AZ. In 1988,  Renee and Eric Mendelsohn found the 1 stoplight town  of 10,000 people to their liking.  However in the town of 30 or more different houses of worship there was not an active Jewish community or synagogue.  With a handful of other fellow Jews they founded the Jewish Cultural Community.  Eric became the President because no one else wanted the responsibility.  The first celebrations were a Passover Seder and a Yom Kippur Break the Fast.  Food and a social aspect were what everyone wanted from their Judaism

When the Rabbi who had married them retired from the largest Jewish Temple in  Phoenix he offered to come to Sedona and conduct Sabbath Services.  Eric and his wife financed 3 weekends of activities advertising in the local people and serving refreshments and 40-50 people Cosme to the service.  Eric served as President of the growing community  for 8 years.  As others took over leadership Eric felt the reason for  starting the community were for friends and Jewish culture. He then founded with a few others The Jewish Cultural Endowment  Fund. They cohosted concerts with other cutural groups and one event was a lady from Phoenix who had presented a program titled Jewish Women in Film.

This led to the creation of the Sedona Jewish Film Festival which ran 9 years ending in 2020 with the pandemic.  The cultural fund now totals around $50,000 and continues to present cultural events.

Eric and his wife relocated to northern Utah in 2020 and joined Temple Brith Sholem in Ogden in time for that synagogues 100th anniversary celebration.  Together with the Ogden museums the Temple has shown 2 films and this past week the synagogue hosted  Udi Bar David an Israeli American cellist and Houvia Edward's a Native American flutist.

Presentation Title:
Bringing Jewish Culture to the American West

Time: 2:00 PM

Location: David B. Haight Center or via Zoom

Wednesday, March 27th

Jewish-Israeli & Arab-Israeli
Experiences

Presenter:
Dr. Iris Zaki

Presentation Title:

Women In Sink
(film by Iris Zaki)

Time: 10:00 AM

Location: TSC Skyroom or via Zoom

Women In Sink by Iris Zaki
Jewish-Moroccan
Experiences

Presenter:

Prof. Sami Shalom Chetrit is a teacher, poet, writer and filmmaker. Chetrit was born in Errachidia, Morocco. In 1963 he immigrated as a child to Israel, where he grew up and lived since. Chetrit studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Columbia University in New York. Prof. Chetrit is serving as an Associate Professor and the head of the School for Audio and Visual Arts at Sapir College. He also lived in New York City where he served as an associate Prof. at Queens College. His known scholarly book is – Intra-Jewish Conflict in Israel: White Jews, Black Jews – was published by Rutledge, London 2011. Also came out in Arabic: النضال الشرقي في إسرائيل – بين القمع والتحرر، بين التماثل والبديل 1984-2003 / د. سامي شالوم شطريت ; سعيد عياش - عن العبرية- تقديم انطوان شلحت

Rotem Elkayam is a filmmaker. She was born in Sderot, Israel. Cinema was not something she became interested in until later in life. During military service as a medic, she used to spend her Saturdays watching movies and was exposed to cinema that not only provided pleasure but also contemplation and reflection. She found herself pursuing a degree far from where life had led her. Additionally, she works as a video therapy instructor and is currently working on her new documentary on her own feeling as a refuge of the ongoing war (2024) in Israel

Presentation Title:
Remembering Marrakesh

Time: 1:00 PM

Location: TSC Skyroom or via Zoom

Jewish-American
Experiences

Presenter:
Mara Rabin, MD

Presentation Title:
Trauma, Resiliency, and Supporting Trauma Victims - the Story of Utah Health & Human Rights

Time: 2:00 PM

Location: TSC Skyroom or via Zoom

2024 USU Sponsors

Office of the President 
Inclusive Excellence 
College of Humanities & Social Sciences 
Office of Global Engagement 
USU Student Association 
University Libraries 
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education & Human Services  
Division of Student Affairs 
Department of Psychology 
Department of Sociology 
Social Work and Anthropology 
University Marketing & Communications 
The Center for Intersectional Gender Studies & Research 
USUSA Graduate Senator