Learning from Our History: Anti-Semitism in the United States and Current Racial Injustice

After learning about the history of enslaved people in Longmeadow and in our own church, we now turn to an often overlooked chapter of American History and reality: Anti-Semitism. An increase in Anti-Semitic attacks in the US, in MA, and in our own communities in recent years has alerted us to offer an evening of discussion and learning about the deeper roots of Anti-Semitism in this country.  For this program, we invite Dr. Rachel Rubenstein to lead our presentation and discussion. 

Dr. Rachel Rubinstein, Dean of the School of Arts  and Sciences at Springfield College, Springfield MA. Rubinstein was a Professor of American Literature and Jewish Studies at Hampshire College for sixteen years. Most  recently, she has been serving as Senior Advisor to the Deputy  Commissioner of Academic Affairs and Student Success at the  Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, where she has focused on  supporting initiatives in the State’s Equity Agenda.

The  child of immigrants from Mexico, her scholarship focuses on migration,  multilingualism, racial formation and literary nationalism, as well as  on pedagogies in the fields of ethnic and race studies.

She  is the author of Members of the Tribe: Native America in the Jewish  Imagination, as well as the co-editor of Arguing the Modern Jewish Canon  and most recently, Teaching Jewish American Literature, a volume in the  MLA’s Options for Teaching series. Rubinstein  received her BA from Yale University in English and her PhD from  Harvard University in English and American literature.