Every suggested post I see on my Instagram feed nowadays contains some form of Christian ideology. I typically have to get to the end before the “thanks to Jesus” or w/e it is, but these algorithms are thrusting Christianity upon us - even when you’re a Jew who devotes her life to Jewishness 🤦‍♀️

People seem more upset about daylight savings than our demented, oligarchical administration. Yet another symptom of the problem…

Everyone give me a moment to breathe

Proud to be a lifelong Bruce fan. “There were bloody footprints where mercy should have stood…”

🧵“How do seemingly ordinary people become agents of state murder?” This is one of the guiding questions I ask students in my graduate class on genocide/state violence. With recent events, it is a question many Americans are asking. I do not have a definitive answer, but here is a reading list: 1/

I bought a snow shovel today so now we won’t even get a snowstorm this weekend. Y’all are welcome.

My article for Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Vol. 38 has officially been published. I wrote this a while ago, so I can’t bring myself to read it just yet. But maybe you will! Thanks so much to the editors for their support along the way and especially to @guesnet.bsky.social for the invitation.

Can Congress do something please.

Can’t wait for our Congress to do nothing about this.

UNC should maintain these centers because it is the right thing to do, but historians will also note that these centers across the US were founded for national security reasons in order to produce scholars, officers, and policymakers knowledgeable about the world. They weakened a country today.

Husband went to the Giant near us because we realized we are out of Hanukkah candles. He asked some employees to point him to where he could find Hanukkah candles - this where they brought him 🤦‍♀️😭😂

So let me get this straight…this Stand up to Jewish Hate commercial claims that an appropriate response to antisemitism is posting a hashtag blue square?? Because “saying something” is too difficult? Doing anything else in response to antisemitism is too hard?? Yeah that sounds about right 🤦‍♀️

Two people at my husband’s family’s thanksgiving had very clearly never heard about the Holocaust when I told them about where I was working now. One is older, maybe 70yr old male. One is around my age. Western Maryland, Pennsylvania born and raised.

My most recent book review has just been published with the Journal of Modern Jewish Studies.

I’m convinced the Deliver Me from Nowhere hate is 97% originating from MAGA trolls.

I watched a group of early high schoolers visit the Holocaust museum’s permanent exhibition today. What did I learn? That digital cameras are cool again. Who knew?

Incredible find, this cemetery dates to 1070CE. A reminder that space matters — “Though Jews were given licence to operate within the old Roman walls of the city, they were obliged to be buried outside it.”

*watching a nature documentary* Narrator: “the female waits by her deceased relatives’ side for 3 days.” Me: “Three days?!?” My non-Jewish husband: “She’s sitting shiva, chill.”

Yesterday, I successfully defended my dissertation. It’s been a wild six years here at UNC, and while pursuing a PhD can be incredibly stressful and frustrating, I do not take for granted the ability to pursue my passion in this way.

My mother used to always say, “You only have to watch the last five minutes of a basketball game” and I never understood that, bc certainly that’s also true for all other sports?? But after catching a few of this season’s playoff games, I fear she’s right about that one too.

Today, more than six months after voters elected me to keep my seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, my opponent conceded the election. Read my statement here.

Thank you, Senator. Proud to have been able to vote for you in the past.

The UNC-CH chapter of the AAUP strongly and unequivocally condemns the targeting of international students and scholars. In light of the April 8 revocation of six UNC student visas, we call on UNC-CH to take concrete steps to support students and scholars at risk: unc-ch-aaup.org/news#2025-04...

No one talk to me for a week after June 27th.

A quick and easy to use tool to email your representatives to save the NEH.

It’s fascinating to watch the reaction to @booker.senate.gov ‘s over 16hr speech on the Senate floor. On the one hand, there’s a lot of applause - others claim he’s not actually doing anything worthwhile. As someone studying historical resistance, resistance takes many forms.

Thanks for the invite! Always love talking about cemeteries!

Very grateful for the support of fellow grad students throughout the PhD process. I recently started a Zoom working group with grad friends I met at various conferences over the years. It’s turned into a super consistent and supportive part of my week. It’s lovely. And grad students are the best.

Just read about Jesse Eisenberg being granted Polish citizenship earlier this week. I looked into this a few years ago - we have so much documentation of my family’s Polish roots but Polish law is quite specific and we wouldn’t qualify. Back then, people questioned why I would want Polish

New thinking point: What would x experience have been like if there had been no men in the room?

It’s been so long since the last time I received genuinely good news that I’m not sure when I’ll ever get good news again.

As a society, we didn’t deserve a good Super Bowl game.

Tomorrow night! Talk includes stories about greedy men, cemetery abuse, and one man that became known as the “King of the Dead.” Register in link below.

From an ad in Gazeta Żydowska for Motl Pinkiert’s funeral business in the Warsaw ghetto. The Pinkiert name would become synonymous with death in the ghetto, particularly as Pinkiert cashed in on high death rates. I’ll be sharing more on this in my Zoom talk, one week from today.

From an ad in Gazeta Żydowska for Motl Pinkiert’s funeral business in the Warsaw ghetto. The Pinkiert name would become synonymous with death in the ghetto, particularly as Pinkiert cashed in on high death rates. I’ll be sharing more on this in my Zoom talk, one week from today.

Another plug for my Zoom talk on Feb 3 with @uncjewishstudies.bsky.social Register for free at link below!

My review of Once There was Warsaw for @ingeveb.bsky.social, an incredibly compelling memoir recently translated into English.

You know you come from a bowling family when you can watch a sitcom episode that takes place at a bowling alley and your mother calls out the main character’s “terrible form” and your father catches another character foul.

In one month (from yesterday 🙄), I will be giving a talk on Jewish burial societies and funeral homes through @uncjewishstudies.bsky.social . Event will be on Zoom and is open to the public but registration is required. See link below. Feb 3rd @ 5:30pm

There’s something special about the last candle to go out on the last night of Hanukkah.

Night 2. The Noah’s Ark menorah was my grandmother’s. I don’t normally light that one as it’s not really my style but as she died earlier this year, my mother and I decided to each light one of her menorahs, as well as our own, in her memory this Hanukkah.

א פרייליכן חנוכה!

When you’re doing a bit of work on the day that Hanukkah begins and stumble across something very timely… “Hanukkah Celebration at Community Shelter” in Głos Gminy Żydowskiej, Dec 1937 🗃️

Jason Kelce (dressed as Santa) saying “Happy Hanukkah” at the end of MNF countdown while everyone else was saying “Merry Christmas” made my night. Appreciate the shoutout, Jason!

An early morning virtual @jewishstudies.bsky.social panel with @wtworek.bsky.social and Olga Petrova on Eastern European Jewish politics and spaces during the interwar period. Special thanks to @oskarcz.bsky.social who agreed to chair the panel at the last minute!

The one benefit of Zoom conferences: when attendees’ cats decide they want some camera time.

Fellow AJS-ians! On Wed, 8.30-10.00am est I'll be presenting on "The Myth of Apolitical Hasidism" in Lubavitch, in a panel with Olga Petrova and @abcurry.bsky.social . On thu, 3.30-5.00 pm est will chair an exciting panel on Women in Hasidism. kumt masnvayz! @jewishstudies.bsky.social

Working on my sixth conference paper of 2024, but also the ninth presentation of my research overall for this calendar year and let me just say: That was too much. Saw some cool places, met some great people…but the burnout is real. I’ll be presenting at AJS on 12/18 if anyone is interested 😅

Working on a review of this recently-translated memoir. Certainly recommend for anyone interested in prewar Jewish life in Warsaw, with particular attention towards the Yiddish press. Kutsher’s fast-paced, humor-filled writing makes for a very dramatic and engaging read.

In February, I’ll be giving the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies’ Emerging Scholars Talk on Zoom. Event page is linked below, but registration won’t be live until January. Mark your calendars for February 3 at 5:30pm EST if you’re interested in Jewish burial societies and funeral homes in Poland.