Community and Events
CJFS has hosted several events to nourish and sustain thoughtful discussion and community on our campuses and beyond.
Antisemitism: What It Is, What It Is Not, and What to Do | Webinar hosted by Boston University School of Social Work | November 13, 2025
Join us as an experienced panel of scholars explores the historical roots of antisemitism, tracing how it has evolved over time and continues to shape public discourse. We will discuss how to differentiate between legitimate critiques of governmental policies and harmful rhetoric or actions that perpetuate antisemitic ideas. The program will also highlight the work of Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff, who are actively engaged in addressing antisemitism while building bridges across movements for social change.
This BUSSW Equity & Inclusion Speaker Series will also consider how antisemitism intersects with other forms of oppression, including racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia, while also acknowledging its unique characteristics. By situating antisemitism within both intersectional and distinct frameworks, we invite participants to deepen their understanding of its impact in professional, academic, and community contexts.
Featured Speakers:
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Margaret Litvin, Associate Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, Boston University
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Adam B. Seligman, Professor of Religion, Boston University
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Frances Tanzer, Rose Professor of Holocaust Studies and Jewish Culture, Clark University
Difficult Conversations Workshop and Labs | Boston, MA | September 10, and October 23, 2025
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“Difficult Conversations” is a workshop series at BU School of Social Work, co-sponsored by CJFS. The series offers techniques for dealing with divisive political subjects as they come up in classroom discussion, with a special focus on antisemitism. Labs strategize approaches to real-life encounters in the classroom.
Plans for continued workshops in the Spring 2026 semester will be available soon. To find out more about the series, please email us at swequity@bu.edu.
Our team created a variety of curricular resources for the Difficult Conversations Workshop and Labs; contact concernedjfaculty@gmail.com for resources you can use on your own campus.
Jewish Faculty Speak Out | Watertown, MA | May 28, 2025
Members of Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff - Boston Area spoke on Jewish support for protest over Palestine at the First Parish Church in Watertown, MA. Featuring Professors Marjorie Feld, Babson College; Professor Jonathan Feingold, Boston University; and Professor Mneesha Gellman, Emerson College.
Freedom Seder | Boston University | April 17, 2025
Capping the 2025 Day of Action for Higher Education, the April 17, 2025 Freedom Seder gathered over 90 faculty and staff members, students, partners, and friends for a joyous and painful evening of ritual, song, food, and discussion. Our seder nodded to the original 1969 Freedom Seder and took stock of the challenges we face today. Boston University Howard Thurman Center Nick Bates hosted and read from Thurman’s work. Rabbi Toba Spitzer, of Congregation Dorshei Tzedek, officiated.
The Four Cups honored inclusion, collective liberation, academic freedom, and our dreams of the world as it should be: “a world where we do not just welcome the stranger but instead reject the whole idea of people being strangers to us.”