Women’s Initiative for Jewish Studies (WIJS) at Young Israel of New Rochelle is proud to present Dr. Jenna Weissman Joselit on Monday, May 9 at 8:30 p.m. (ET) on Zoom. Weissman Joselit will be the final speaker of the 2021-2022 season in the monthly scholarly programming offered by WIJS at YINR.

The lecture is titled “From Mount Sinai to Main Street: The Americanization of Shavuoth.” During the lecture, Weissman Joselit will examine the variety of ways by which American Jews of the late 19th and 20th centuries transformed the ancient festival into a modern-day phenomenon, whose emphasis is more on children and the senses than on the Ten Commandments and the law.

Weissman Joselit, the Charles E. Smith professor of Judaic Studies and professor of history at the George Washington University is an historian of American Jewish culture and daily life, as well as a monthly columnist for Tablet magazine. She holds an A.B. from Barnard College as well as a master’s degrees in history and philosophy and a Ph.D. in history, all from Columbia University. She has extensive academic and consulting experience and a long list of awards, grants and fellowships. Currently at work on a biography of Mordecai Kaplan for Yale’s prestigious “Jewish Lives” series, she is the author of the award-winning book “The Wonders of America” and “Set in Stone: America’s Embrace of the Ten Commandments.” Weissman Joselit’s work has appeared in The New York Times, the New Republic, the Forward and Gastronomica.

All WIJS programming is open to women and men. Please visit www.yinr.org/wijs to view the complete WIJS 2021-22 schedule. For more information, to be added to the WIJS email list, or for Zoom information, please call 914-636-2215 or email: [email protected]. Individuals on the WIJS mailing list will automatically receive the Zoom information.

By Tamar Croog