Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies (IIJS)

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Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies (IIJS) The Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies is Columbia University’s center for the study and discussion of Jewish life, history, and culture!

How immigrant bankers transformed American finance.Join IIJS Prof. Rebecca Kobrin in conversation with Prof. Kim Phillip...
09/17/2026

How immigrant bankers transformed American finance.

Join IIJS Prof. Rebecca Kobrin in conversation with Prof. Kim Phillips-Fein on her new book, Credit to the Nation—exploring how entrepreneurial Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire revolutionized commercial banking and enabled the economic and social advancement of Jews in America.

📅 Thursday, September 24 | 1:00 PM
📍 617 Kent Hall, Columbia University

Co-sponsored by the Harriman Institute.

🎟️ Free event—registration required by Tuesday, September 22 for campus access. Link in bio.

An election about the country's future.Join us for the fall 2026 Abel Lecture with Nadav Eyal on "Israel at the Ballot B...
09/11/2026

An election about the country's future.

Join us for the fall 2026 Abel Lecture with Nadav Eyal on "Israel at the Ballot Box"—examining the forces shaping Israel's most consequential election in a generation and the competing visions of the country's identity and future after October 7.

📅 Wednesday, September 16 | 12 PM
💻 Zoom

🎟️ Free event—registration required. Registered guests will receive the Zoom link via email on the morning of the event. Link in bio.

Mark your calendars, Columbia! Our IIJS Fall events lineup is here—talks, seminars, and community gatherings you won’t w...
09/03/2026

Mark your calendars, Columbia! Our IIJS Fall events lineup is here—talks, seminars, and community gatherings you won’t want to miss.

Swipe through for the full schedule, dates, and how to join.

IIJS Summer Film Series presentsFrom Darkness to Light📆Tuesday, June 23 | 12:00pm ET📍Via ZoomWhat happened to Jerry Lew...
06/15/2026

IIJS Summer Film Series presents

From Darkness to Light
📆Tuesday, June 23 | 12:00pm ET
📍Via Zoom

What happened to Jerry Lewis's lost Holocaust film?

Discover the story behind one of cinema's most enduring mysteries in a virtual screening of From Darkness to Light. The documentary traces the troubled history of The Day the Clown Cried and includes the first publicly screened edited scenes from the unreleased film. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Bob Furmanek, Jerry Lewis's former Archivist.

A life unfolding over decades—and a tradition reimagined in real time.Sabbath Queen is a rare, forward-looking documenta...
04/22/2026

A life unfolding over decades—and a tradition reimagined in real time.

Sabbath Queen is a rare, forward-looking documentary that traces the journey of Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie while asking what it means for Judaism to evolve. Filmed over 21 years by Sandi DuBowski, the film invites viewers to consider their own transformations, identities, and histories.

Join us for a screening and conversation with Sandi DuBowski and Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie.

Part of the IIJS Israeli Film Series
📍Kraft Center for Jewish Life - Rennert Hall
606 West 115th Street
🗓️ Monday, April 20 | 6:00 PM
🔗 Register via link in bio

IIJS Film Series:Sabbath Queen📅 Monday, April 27th | 🕕 6:00 PM📍 Kraft Center for Jewish Life606 W 115th St, Rennert Hall...
04/02/2026

IIJS Film Series:

Sabbath Queen
📅 Monday, April 27th | 🕕 6:00 PM
📍 Kraft Center for Jewish Life
606 W 115th St, Rennert Hall

38 generations. One radical choice.

Filmed over 21 years, this documentary follows Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie as he reimagines Jewish identity, community, and tradition.

Followed by a Q&A with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie.

🎟️ Link to registration in bio

Chag Sameach from IIJS!
04/01/2026

Chag Sameach from IIJS!

The Professor Dan Miron Lecture in Hebrew Literature"Toward a Poetic Genealogy of Israeli Women Poets with Disabilities"...
03/18/2026

The Professor Dan Miron Lecture in Hebrew Literature
"Toward a Poetic Genealogy of Israeli Women Poets with Disabilities"
📅Wednesday, March 25, 6:00 PM
📍617 Kent Hall

Explore the emergence of an Israeli tradition of poetry by disabled women, as contemporary poets reimagine embodiment, gender, illness, and artistic inheritance—assembling a newly visible archive and envisioning bold disability futures.

IIJS Book Talk:Jews in the Soviet Union, Volume 1: Revolution, Civil War, and New Ways of Life📆Wednesday, March 11 • 12:...
03/04/2026

IIJS Book Talk:
Jews in the Soviet Union, Volume 1: Revolution, Civil War, and New Ways of Life
📆Wednesday, March 11 • 12:00 PM
📍617 Kent Hall

How did Jews endure—and participate in—the Soviet system?

Drawing on rare archival sources, Elissa Bemporad’s new volume explores how Jews adjusted to, shaped, and endured the Soviet state in its first decade, both as individuals and as part of a Jewish collective.

University Seminar:“Printed in Ishmael’s Realm: Hebrew Printing in Early Ottoman Constantinople”📅Monday, March 9 • 12:00...
03/03/2026

University Seminar:
“Printed in Ishmael’s Realm: Hebrew Printing in Early Ottoman Constantinople”
📅Monday, March 9 • 12:00 PM
📍617 Kent Hall

How did printing transform Sephardi Jewish life in the early modern world?

This talk offers a glimpse into the unique atmosphere of an early modern Jewish print house in the Islamic world, revealing how Hebrew printing reshaped religious practice, community life, and Mediterranean connections.

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1140 Amsterdam Avenue, 617 Kent Hall
New York, NY
10027

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