EMU Center for Jewish Studies marks anniversary

By Shayla Mostyn

This year marks 13 years of Jewish academia at Eastern Michigan University. EMU’s Center for Jewish Studies provides Jewish students, staff, and faculty with a space for their voices to be heard and for unique educational opportunities to be explored.

In addition to offering a Jewish Studies minor, advanced undergraduate research opportunities, and travel courses, the Center for Jewish Studies also strives to provide innovative and accessible programming for the EMU community as well as for the larger southeast Michigan community. Among the opportunities that the Center provides, the travel courses taking place in Israel, Poland, or New York are subsidized to help students afford and take part.

“I don’t think anyone expected it to grow into what it has become, that it would have made as many inroads into the larger community beyond campus as it has,” Robert Erlewine, EMU’s Center for Jewish Studies Director and Professor of Religious Studies, Department of History & Philosophy, said.

The EMU Center for Jewish Studies actively engages with the EMU administration in an effort to better the campus climate and ensure student safety on campus.

“After October 7 [2023], this element increased significantly. As director of the Center, I found myself regularly meeting with the chief of campus police and our chief diversity officer,” Erlewine said, “both of whom were amazingly supportive and concerned to ensure that we preserved a campus that was safe and civil for all of our students.”

In addition to working with administration on campus safety, the Center held events geared towards unifying the Jewish community on and off campus. While the Center currently serves as a safe space for Jewish students, faculty, staff, and community members, it was a difficult process getting to this point.

“In the beginning, the CJS [Center for Jewish Studies] had to constantly demonstrate its relevance to the EMU administration. We had to show our ability to attract support both from students and the community,” Martin “Marty” Shichtman, Professor Emeritus English and founding director of the Center for Jewish Studies, said.

The desire to create a Jewish studies department stemmed from a team-taught class, Culture and the Holocaust. Every semester, the class drew many students, both Jewish and not, who were interested in the Jewish academic field.

After engaging with a multitude of EMU professors, the Dean of Arts and Sciences, and receiving a program send-off from Senator Carl Levin, “we were able to formulate a program that would correspond to Eastern’s identity, a program that would invite both students and members of the community to explore Judaism, both the religion and the culture(s),” Shichtman said.

With the help of generous donors and sponsors, the Center for Jewish Studies hosts programming opportunities that educate students and community members on various Jewish themes. For instance, right before Halloween 2023, the Center for Jewish Studies had every seat filled at their event teaching about the Jewish monster, the Golem. The Center has also hosted well-known comedians to perform and had presentations on the Jewish history of comic books from both scholars and comic book authors. There have been musical acts, chefs, and pollsters talking about Jewish voting patterns, as well as scholars reflecting on theological issues, like the significance of climate change and AI for Jewish thought. The Center even brought Israeli playwright and TV writer Ori Urian to EMU theatre for an English language debut of his play Connected. Ori engaged in various groups in the community by doing a workshop for the Ann Arbor Hebrew Day School, running meetings with Israelis living in Ann Arbor, and meeting with community members to discuss the current state of theatre in Israel.

“We educate our students about the complexity and richness of Jewish history. We show them Jewish joy and vitality,” Erlewine said.

The Center for Jewish Studies has grown substantially in the last four years. In September 2024, the Center hosted a dedication ceremony celebrating their new office location in the newly renovated first floor of Hallel Library. With this new office, Jewish students, faculty, and staff have a corner of the campus to call their own. Both EMU and surrounding community members came out to support the dedication, including EMU president James Smith, who talked about the importance of having the Center for Jewish Studies on EMU’s campus. In addition, in March 2025, the Center for Jewish Studies partnered with Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor hosting an Antisemitism Summit, where over 250 people were in attendance. In January 2025, the Center co-sponsored an event with SAJE (Seminars in Adult Jewish Education) at the JCC in West Bloomfield and plans on doing so again in 2026.

Whether you are in the Jewish academic field or simply looking for an opportunity to learn something new, the Center for Jewish Studies welcomes everyone.

“While there is intellectual heft to what we do, our presentations are not scholarly in focus. Our events are accessible and engaging to a broad audience,” Erlewine said.

To stay up to date on all programming and opportunities offered by the Center for Jewish Studies, email [email protected] to join the mailing list, and follow us on Facebook @ EMU Center for Jewish Studies and Instagram @cjsatemu.