Dr. Mia Bloom is an International Security Fellow at New America and a Professor at Georgia State University. She speaks eight languages and has authored six books on violent extremism, including Dying to Kill and Bombshell. Her most recent book, Veiled Threats, coming out Winter 2025, explores the diverse roles of women involved in jihad. Mia has held appointments at Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and McGill, and serves on several Counter-Radicalization boards. She holds a PhD from Columbia University and advanced degrees from Georgetown and McGill. Contact: miambloom@me.com
Yehudit Barsky is founder of Secure Community Network and served as its senior advisor and Middle East specialist for intelligence and analysis. Ms. Barsky is the author of Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement of Palestine, Hizballah: The Party of God, Al-Qaida, Iran, and Hizballah, The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Terrorist Incidents and Attacks Against Jews and Israelis in the US: 1969-2016 and Islamist Antisemitism in the United States.
YEHUDIT BARSKY’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Elman is Executive Director of the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), an educational nonprofit that builds nationwide networks of university faculty and administrators to counter antisemitism and advance the academy’s principles of open inquiry and free expression. Before taking on her position at AEN in 2019, she was a tenured Associate Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University, where she held the title of Robert D. McClure Professor of Teaching Excellence in the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs. An alumna of Hebrew University of Jerusalem (BA) and Columbia University (M.Phil., Ph.D.), Dr. Elman previously taught at Arizona State University and spent several years as a Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She is an award-winning scholar and teacher, has edited seven books, and is the author of nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles and essays. In recognition of her work, she has been listed by The Algemeiner among the top 100 people worldwide who are positively influencing Jewish life. Dr. Elman lives with her family in Fayetteville, NY and serves on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation.
DR MIRIAM ELMAN’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Marcy Braverman Goldstein is Director of Academic Engagement at The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). Her doctoral research was in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and focused on Hindu traditions in India and America. For twenty years she has taught world religions at UNC Charlotte, UC Riverside, American Jewish University, and Davidson College. In addition to her role at ISGAP, she is Founder of Sanskrit Revolution, through which she teaches the language of yoga and history of religions at yoga schools nationwide. Marcy is committed to deepening people’s knowledge, sharpening critical thinking, and inspiring personal growth to foster constructive public discourse and a strengthened civil society.
DR MARCY BRAVERMAN GOLDSTEIN’S LECTURE TOPICS
Educated at Queen Mary, University of London, and UCL, Dr. Lars Fischer has taught at King’s College London, UCL, and the University of Cambridge. A former Secretary of the British Association for Jewish Studies and Councillor of the Royal Historical Society, he now lives in Berlin and runs The History Practice. His research primarily focuses on the history and conceptualization of antisemitism and Frankfurt School Critical Theory. In addition to his numerous scholarly publications, he is the author of the Jews in Old Postcards and Prints book series.
DR LARS FISCHER’S LECTURE TOPICS
Mika Hackner is the Senior Research Associate at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. She has a PhD in Politics from Brandeis University where her research focused on internal challenges to liberal democracy. Her work at JILV continues that theme – focusing on ideological challenges to liberalism particularly as it relates to and/or causes antisemitism. Social media: X: @mikahackner Contact: mika@jilv.org
DR MIKA HACKNER’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Shale Horowitz is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research has examined international and ethnic conflict; the politics of international trade and finance; and the politics of market transition and institutional change. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of five books and over 50 academic articles. His current research interests include ethno-territorial wars and Chinese politics. He regularly visits Israel. Contact: shale@uwm.edu
DR SHALE HOROWITZ’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Barak Mendelsohn is a Professor of Political Science at Haverford College. He holds a doctoral degree in Government from Cornell University, MA in Security Studies from Tel Aviv University, and BA in Middle East Studies from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Dr. Mendelsohn specializes in international security, primarily radical jihadi organizations. He is the author of three books: Combating Jihadism: American Hegemony and Interstate Cooperation in the War on Terrorism (University of Chicago Press, 2009), The al-Qaeda Franchise: The Expansion of al-Qaeda and Its Consequences (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Jihadism Constrained: The Limits of Transnational Jihadism and What It Means for Counterterrorism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). Dr. Mendelsohn is also the author of numerous articles in academic journals and various media outlets.
DR BARAK MENDELSOHN’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki is a historian, editor and co-founder of Tel Aviv Review of Books, and Visiting Fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute. She received her PhD in Modern European history from New York University focusing on inter-group and inter-faith relations as well as nationalism, colonialism, and international politics in the modern period. Contact: olga.kirschbaum@gmail.com
DR OLGA KIRSCHBAUM-SHIRAZKI’S LECTURE TOPICS
Salvador LitvakSal directed Saving Lincoln, based on the true story of Abraham Lincoln and his closest friend & bodyguard, Ward Hill Lamon. This epic indie features a new visual style called CineCollage, which places the actors within actual Civil War photographs. The film’s Gettysburg Address scene has been incorporated into Houghton Mifflin’s standard American history textbook, used by students across the country. Sal wrote all these films with his wife, Nina, and produced them under the banner of his production company, Pictures From The Fringe. Sal & Nina share Jewish wisdom, humor, and history with over a million followers at Accidental Talmudist. He teaches a daily Talmud class to a diverse audience of thousands of people around the world. The project arose from Sal’s faith journey to becoming an Orthodox Jew. His first book, Let My People Laugh: The Greatest Jewish Jokes Of All Time!, published by Skyhorse, is an Amazon bestseller. Sal’s golf game needs work, but he coached the gold medal-winning USA Masters golf team at the 2022 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
SALVADOR LITVAK’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Moskalenko is a social and clinical psychologist studying radicalization, political violence, self-sacrifice, and disinformation. She is a Senior Research Scientist at Design Services Group (DSG), a Research Fellow at Georgia State University, and a subject matter expert at NATO, the European Commission, and the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism’s Behavioral Insights Hub. Dr. Moskalenko has published over 70 peer-reviewed academic papers and several books, including the award-winning Friction: How Conflict Radicalizes Them and Us and Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon.
DR. SOPHIA MOSKALENKO’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Andrew Pessin is Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Studies at Connecticut College and Campus Bureau Editor of the Algemeiner. His many books include Anti-Zionism on Campus, Poisoning the Wells: Antisemitism in Contemporary America, and The Jewish God Question, as well as several novels. His most recent novels are Nevergreen, a satirical account of campus cancel culture and its deleterious impact on the Jews, and Bright College Years, about the shortest, gladdest years of life and their impact on our future trajectories. Long ago he enjoyed some moments of fame portraying “The Genius” on the David Letterman Show. More information about him and his work may be found at www.andrewpessin.com. Contact: andrew.pessin@gmail.com
DR ANDREW PESSIN’S LECTURE TOPICS
Daniel Robbins is an NYC-based filmmaker acclaimed for his versatility across genres. He directed the horror hit Pledge (2018), which earned him Best Director at Screamfest and was distributed by IFC Midnight, as well as the comedy Bad Shabbos (2024), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won the coveted Audience Award.
Asaf Romirowsky PhD, is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) and the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Asaf is also a senior nonresident research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) and a Professor [Affiliate] at the University of Haifa. Trained as a Middle East historian he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London, UK, and has published widely on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and American foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as on Israeli and Zionist history.
Asaf is co-author of Religion, Politics, and the Origins of Palestine Refugee Relief and a contributor to The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel. Recently, he co-edited Word Crimes: Reclaiming the Language of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, a special issue of the Journal of Israel Studies.
Asaf’s publicly-engaged scholarship has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The American Interest, The New Republic, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet and Tablet, among other online and print media outlets.
DR ASAF ROMIROWSKY’S LECTURE TOPICS
Dr. Ilai Saltzman is an Associate Research Professor of Israel Studies, and the Director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. His scholarship and teaching focus on international security, Israeli foreign and security policy, US foreign policy, and political psychology. Dr. Saltzman is the author of Securitizing Balance of Power Theory: A Polymorphic Reconceptualization (2012). He has also written numerous scholarly articles, and book chapters, as well as commentaries in the Los Angeles Times, Ha’aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and other prominent outlets. Dr. Saltzman earned his Ph.D. in International Relations in 2010 from the University of Haifa and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the International Security Program (ISP), Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (2009-2010).
DR ILAI SALTZMAN LECTURE TOPICS
Scott A. Shay, Chai Mitzvah’s Board President, is a businessman, thought leader and author of three books. Scott’s most recent book, Conspiracy U: A Case Study (Wicked Son, 2021), challenges the proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories championed on college campuses from the far-right and far-left. His second book, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism (Post Hill Press, 2018), explores the most common critiques of monotheism and incorporates Jewish, Christian, and Muslim voices. His first book, Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry (Devora, 2007), focuses on the core issues facing American Jews. Scott has been a long time Jewish activist and has served on the boards of local, national, and international Jewish organizations. Scott has been very active on college campuses and high schools, educating students and alumni about the impact of Anti-Zionist Conspiracy Theories. He is taking his message into the business world as well. More information about him and his work may be found at www.scottshay.com. Contact: info@scottshay.com
Dr. Brandy Shufutinsky is a social worker, writer, and researcher working to counter the illiberal takeover of our education system. Dr. Shufutinsky has been published in Newsweek, Jewish Journal, the Jerusalem Post, Sapir, White Rose Magazine, and JNS. She has worked towards advancing the rights of victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault within the military community through practice, education, and research. Dr. Shufutinsky was a 2021 Scholar-in-Residence at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism & Policy Oxford Summer Institute, where she worked to develop curriculum in Critical Antisemitism Studies. She is the Director of Education and Community Engagement with North American Values Institute.
Dr. Jarrod Tanny is Professor of History and the Charles and Hannah Block Distinguished Scholar in Jewish History at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Between 2008 and 2010 he was the Schusterman post-Doctoral Fellow in Jewish Studies at Ohio University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on Russian and Jewish history. Originally from Montreal, Canada, he completed an M.A. at the University of Toronto and a B.A. at McGill University.
His monograph, City of Rogues and Schnorrers (Indiana University Press, 2011), examines how the city of Odessa was mythologized as a Jewish city of sin, celebrated and vilified for its Jewish gangsters, pimps, bawdy musicians, and comedians.
He is currently working on a larger study on Jewish humor in post-World War II America and its place within the larger context of the European Jewish past. This project has yielded multiple scholarly essays on Jewish comedy and popular culture.
Given his academic work on Jewish humor, Tanny just published a book titled The Seinfeld Talmud (Academica Press, 2023) a satiric take on the hit TV series, in which the great rabbis of the Talmudic era gather in the Yeshiva to discuss and debate the issues raised in each Seinfeld episode weighed against Judaic law. In 2025, he independently published a short semi-biographical set of stories titled Tales of a Yid in Dixieland: Bible Jokes, Southern Folks, and the Woke Who Shame the Jews.
He has also published numerous op-eds on antisemitism in The Forward, Tablet Magazine, The Times of Israel, The Jewish Journal, and The Jewish Review of Books.
Tanny’s growing alarm over the rise of antisemitism on college campuses and the seeming indifference of faculty led him to establish the Jewish Studies Zionist Network, an association for Jewish studies scholars who are pushing back against the demonization of Israel and its supporters in the academy.
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