Save the Dates for this year’s (virtual) Institute!
21st Annual Greenfield Summer Institute
“Jews and Politics: America, Israel, Europe”
July 19-22, 2021
Via Zoom
Click here to register online
Registration Info
Click here to see the brochure, which includes detailed information about the lectures, schedule of events, and registration packages.
About This Year’s Theme: Jews and Politics
This year’s Greenfield Summer Institute will take place on the heels of an exceptionally eventful period in politics. The year 2020 witnessed great social unrest, a sharply politicized pandemic, and a contentious U.S. presidential election. In early 2021, a new administration set a dramatically different course for America, while Israel prepared for another national election—its fourth in two years. Throughout these changes, Jews and issues of Jewish concern have been highly visible. To help us make sense of these developments, Greenfield 2021 will focus on the political history of Jews in America, Israel, and Europe. What role have Jews played in modern politics? Is there a distinctly Jewish political identity? How do Jewish politics vary across time and place? Join us in exploring these and similar questions with distinguished scholars from across fields.
Registration is now open! Click here to register online.
You can read more about the program, schedule of events, and registration packages in the brochure
Important Note Regarding the Format
This year’s Greenfield Summer Institute will be held online via Zoom. To accommodate the different schedules of our attendees, we are offering a variety of registrations options. We hope that you will be able to join us for the whole conference, but you may also select a smaller package of four or six lectures.
Next year we plan to return to the usual format with a four-day conference in Madison.
Questions or concerns?
Please contact the Center for Jewish Studies by email (greenfield@cjs.wisc.edu) or phone (608-890-3572). Please note that our staff members are still working remotely and as a result will be able to respond more quickly to an email than a phone call or voice message.
In Review: 2019 Institute
Over 130 people gathered last July to participate in lectures and discussions around the theme “Business, Labor, and Social Justice: Jewish Perspectives, Jewish Traditions.”
Select lectures from the 2019 conference are available via the links below:
- Jonathan Z. S. Pollack (MATC and UW-Madison) – “Jewish Philanthropy at UW-Madison”
- Jordan Rosenblum (UW-Madison) – “Business, Labor, and Social Justice in the Talmud”
- Skye Doney (UW-Madison) – “The Mosse Family and German Jewish Philanthropy”
- Marina Zilbergerts (UW-Madison) – “The Philanthropic Legacy of Moses Montefiore”
- Tony Michels (UW-Madison) – “American Jews in the Shmateh Trade”
About the Greenfield Summer Institute
As the premiere outreach event of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, the Greenfield Summer Institute demonstrates our commitment to lifelong learning and testifies to the vision, legacy, and generosity of Center founders Laurence Weinstein and George Mosse. The Greenfield Summer Institute was the brainchild of Larry Greenfield, a member of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies Board of Visitors, who first proposed the idea of an adult summer institute in the mid-1990s. The first Greenfield Summer Institute in 2000 brought together people from the Madison community and beyond to participate in a unique blend of continuing education, entertainment, and fellowship. Now underwritten by the generosity of Larry and Ros Greenfield, the Institute showcases the research of UW–Madison faculty and acclaimed Jewish studies scholars from around the country.
Each year the Institute’s lectures center around a theme. In addition to lectures that explore the year’s theme in depth, the Institute also features concerts, dinners, and other opportunities to socialize.
Past Greenfield Summer Institutes
Click below to donate to the Greenfield Fund in Jewish Studies: