DRAFT PROGRAM
CLICK HERE for Registration, Hotel info, Schedule and post-conference tours.
For reference:
2026 Conference Call for Papers
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2026 WESTERN JEWISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION
CONFERENCE
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER
DENVER, CO | MARCH 22-23, 2026
Lawrence Baron, Founding President
Amy Hill Shevitz and Seth Ward, Co-Presidents
Joshua Furman, Conference Chair
Program Committee: Joshua Furman, Alan Levenson, Seth Ward
Baron Award Jury: Lawrence Baron, Joel Gereboff, Shira Klein,
The WJSA Appreciates the Financial Support It Has Received from
Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver
Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society, University of Denver
Program in Jewish Studies, University of Colorado, Boulder
JEWISHColorado
Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado
Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
WJSA 2026 Schedule
Sunday, Mar 22
8:00-9:00 AM Registration and Coffee/Pastries: Sturm Hall, University of Denver,
2nd Floor Lobby
9:00 AM-10:15 AM Session 1
Panel 1 (Sturm
254): Sharing, Stealing, and
Surviving—Stories from the Nazi Era and Beyond
Chair: Amy Shevitz, Loyola University Chicago
Elizabeth
Campbell, University of Denver
Under Duress:
The Sale and Long Recovery of the Dorville Art Collection
David Fasman,
University of Denver
A Survey of the
German Foreign Book Exchange, Their Activities, and the Relationships They
Maintained
Nancy Segal,
California State University, Fullerton
The Last
Twins: An Overview and Excerpt of the
Voices of Twin Survivors from Auschwitz-Birkenau
Panel 2 (Sturm
286): Antisemitism
and Philosemitism
Chair: Alan Levenson, University of Oklahoma
Eli Alberts,
Colorado State University
The Stories We
Tell Ourselves: From the Mongol Horde to Anti-Jewish Violence
Daniel Lapidus,
University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology
The Long Shadow
of Marcion and the Development of Christian Anti-Judaism).
10:15 AM-11:45 AM Session 2
Panel 3 (Sturm
254): Jewish Musical Performance and Interpretation
Chair: Brian
Wilson, Sonoma State University
Mitchell
Ohriner, University of Denver
Listening to
Acculturation in Chazzan David Kusevitsky’s Cantorial Recitative “L’eil Boruch”
Yonatan Malin, University
of Colorado, Boulder
Gurevich’s
Greeting and the Analysis of Klezmer Music
Michelle Green
Willner (Independent Scholar)
La Señora:
Sephardic Musical Memory and the Reimagining of Doña Gracia Nasi
Panel 4 (Sturm 286): American Jewish Biographies
Chair, Sarah
Imhoff, Indiana University
Mara Cohen
Ioannides, Missouri State University
Nathan Baron Dannenberg:
Jew, Soldier, Confederate, Husband of a Cherokee
Esther Carmel-Hakim,
University of Haifa
Judge Julian
Mack – First President of the American Jewish Congress: Mediator and
Facilitator
Ava F. Kahn,
Independent Scholar
Seymour Fromer:
Producer of Los Angeles’s Festival of Faith and Freedom
Panel 5 (Sturm
275): Assessing the Spanish Inquisition
Chair: Seth Ward, University of Wyoming
Rebecca Wartell,
Earlham College
Who was Doña Majora?:
Portuguese conversas in the sixteenth-century Papal State
Roger
Martinez-Davila, University of Colorado–Colorado Springs
Conversos in
the Making of Spanish Florida: Ancestry and Networks Revealed in the Musters of
St. Augustine, 1569–1587
Isaac Amon,
Washington University School of Law in St. Louis
1826–2026: The
Inquisition’s Last Victim, the Founders’ Final Hour, and the Unfinished Work of
Conscience
12:00-1:00 PM Lunch, Community Commons, Rm 1600
Welcoming remarks:
Adam Rovner, Director
of the Center for Judaic Studies
Josh Furman, Conference
Chair and Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society Director
Presentation of
the Baron Prize for Best Graduate Student Paper and Remarks:
Lawrence Baron,
Founding President
1:15-3:00 PM Session 3
Panel 6 (Sturm 254): Jewish Philosophy and Ethics
Chair: Sarah Pessin, University of Denver
Amy Shevitz,
Loyola University Chicago
The Afterlife
of Franz Rosenzweig’s Lehrhaus
David Gottlieb,
Spertus Institute
Embodied Remembering: Paul Mendes-Flohr and the Poetics of Listening
Hadar Aviram, UC Law San Francisco,
Tov Aruḥat Yarak: Theological and Ideological Jewish Support for
Vegetarianism at the Turn of the 20th Century
Panel 7 (Sturm 286) Jewish Integration/Politics in Shanghai, Istanbul, and Canada
Chair: Jonathan Sciarcon, University of Denver
Fred Lazin, Ben
Gurion University
Shanghai as a
Refuge for Jews Fleeing Hitler
Cenker Sarikaya,
Koç University, Turkey
Linguistic
Boundaries and the Integration of the Jewish Community in Early Republican
Istanbul
Marcin Janzcak,
University of Toronto
Inventing Aaron
Hart – The Literary and Historical Faces of the Founder of Canadian Jewry
Hailey Kobrin,
York University
Beyond Decline:
Reframing the Canadian Jewish Left through Avrom Yanovsky’s Graphic
Satire.
Panel 8 (Sturm
275) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Bible
Chair: Elias Sacks, University of Colorado, Boulder
Alan Levenson, University
of Oklahoma
Rembrandt on
Genesis
Elyse Pierce,
University of Denver & Iliff School of Theology
Elijah as a
Minimally Counterintuitive Figure in Judaism),
Roberta Sabbath,
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Rebecca the
Prophet
Tal Granovsky
Amit, Florida Atlantic University
Acoustic
Territories and Sacred Bodies
3:15-4:45 PM Session 4
Panel 9 (Sturm
286): Zionism, Anti-Zionism, and Alternative Zions
Chair, Dov
Waxman, UCLA
Amie Thurber,
Portland State University
Rabbi Irving
Reichert Makes the Case for the American Council for Judaism
Gilad Cohen,
Brandeis University
Reuben Brainin
and the Jewish Polity Roots of Zionism
Adam Rovner,
University of Denver
An Alternative Zion Down Under
Panel 10 (Sturm
275): Exploring Contemporary Jewish Identity
Chair, Jennifer
Thompson, California State University, Northridge
Carolin Aronis,
Colorado State University
Israel-Colorado: A Jewish split heart poetry
Evelyn Stovin,
Duke University
Race Making in the Jewish Community
Roberta
Waldbaum, University of Denver
Visions of
Italian Culture and Identity.
Panel 11 (Sturm 254): Analyzing and Using Archives
Chair: David Fasman, University of Denver
Eleanor Kaufman,
UCLA
What Slips
between the Archive Cracks: Traces of Antisemitism in the Oral History Archive
Ellen Kowitt,
Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado
Linking
Synagogue Record Collections to Genealogists and Scholars
Melissa
Cohen-Nickels, Rice University
Opening the
Box: Using Archival Sources to Bring Jewish History to the K-12 Audience
5:00-6:00 PM Reception,
Community Commons 4th Floor
For conference attendees and Livingston-Abrams VIPs
6:00-7:30 PM Keynote, Community Commons Grand Forum, Rm 1700
Livingston-Abrams Lecture in American Jewish History:
THE STATE OF AMERICAN JEWRY
Introductory Remarks: University of Denver Provost Elizabeth Loboa and RMJHS Director Joshua Furman
Moderator: Frederick Greenspahn (Florida Atlantic University)
Panelists: Sarah Imhoff (Indiana University), Jennifer Thompson (CSUN), Dov Waxman (UCLA).
7:30 PM – Dinner on your own – options near University of Denver or near your hotel
Monday, Mar 23
8:00-9:00 AM Coffee and pastries, WJSA Board meeting in Room 286
9:00-10:30 AM Session 5
Panel 12 (Room
254) European Jewish History–Britain, France, and the USSR
Chair:
Hillel Kieval, Washington University in St. Louis
*Note: This panel will run until 10:45 AM
Gregory Brown, UNLV
The Right of a
Jew to Bear Arms in Late Old Regime France);
Nadia Ertz,
Washington State University
Marxism and the
National Question
Haim Sperber,
Western Galilee College
Philanthropy
and social control in mid-nineteenth century Britain
Kostia
Moharychev, Purdue University
In Search of a
Jewish Territory in the USSR: a Polemic between Yuri Larin and Abram Merezhin
in the Late 1920s
Panel 13 (Room 286) Rabbinic Literature and Jewish Mysticism
Chair: TBD
Aaron Adler,
Herzog Academic College
Ashkenazic Prayers and Blessings in Maimonides’ Codes
Yosef Rivlin, Bar-Ilan
University
The Encryption
of Names in Responsa Literature
Avishar
Har-Shefi, Bar-Ilan University
From Myth to
Narrative: The Reincarnations of the Enoch–Metatron Tradition in Hasidic and
Modern Literature
Panel 14 (Sturm
275): Depicting the Holocaust in Literature and Comics
Chair: Laurie
Baron, San Diego State University
Or Rogovin,
Bucknell University
Salamandra at 80:
Emerging Trends in the Study of Ka-Tzetnik 135633
Selena Naumoff,
University of Denver
Superhero
Survivors and Other Comic Tales
10:45 AM-12:15 PM Session 6
Panel 15 (Room
254): Jewish History in the American West
Chair: Ellen
Eisenberg, Willamette University.
Becky Black,
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
Design Thinking
for Care: Architectural History of the Jewish Consumptives’ Relief Society
Jordan Bennett,
University of Denver
Beatrice
Sanders and the Survival of Jewish Life in Trinidad, Colorado
Linda Goff, New Mexico Jewish Historical Society
(NMJHS)
Early Jewish Pioneers in Northern New
Mexico
Panel 16 (Room
286): Exploring Jewishness on Screens Big and Small
Chair: Adam Rovner, University of Denver
Lawrence Baron,
San Diego State University
Beyond the
Beard: The Depiction of Women Rabbis in American Feature Films
Victoria
Khiterer, Millersville University
Laughing To
Tears: Jewish Humor in Mel Brooks’ Film “The Twelve Chairs”
Yvonne K. Golan,
University of Haifa
The Birth of a
Nation: On the Revival of the Hebrew Language in Israeli Media Culture
12:15-1:15 PM Lunch, Community Commons, Rm 1600
Remarks:
Seth Ward and
Amy Shevitz, WJSA Co-Presidents;
Samira Mehta, Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Memorial
Tribute to David Weinberg
Remembering
Jacob Hellman
1:30-3:00 PM Session 7
Panel 17 (Room 286): Yiddish Culture from East to West
Chair: Joshua Furman, University of Denver
Samuel Page,
Stanford University
The Centrality
of the Dinstmeydl in Warsaw Yiddish Folkloristics
Serra Bardin,
University of Oklahoma
A Yiddish
Oasis: The Los Angeles Yiddish Cultural Club, the American West, and Postwar
Yiddish Culture
Chloe Resler,
Temple Shalom of the South Bay
"Yiddish
is a flame which flickers but refuses to die:" Meaning Making and Yiddish
Theatrical Music in Denver
Panel 18 (Room
275): Approaches to Queer Jewish Identity and Queer Theory in Jewish Studies
Chair: TBD
Sarah
Schwartzman Ramsey, University of Colorado, Boulder
Queer Jewish
Time and Contemporary Fiction
Shlomo Gleibman,
York University
How Do We Study
Jewish Homoeroticism?
Laurie Fisher,
University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology
Critical
Fabulation and Feminist Historiography