A New Program from the Spertus Institute to Combat Antisemitism

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Hear about the new Spertus Institute program to prepare
Jewish professional and lay leaders to combat antisemitism

Spertus President and CEO, Dr. Dean Bell, will share the tools and training needed by Jewish leaders to respond to the complex and challenging threats reflected in contemporary antisemitism. A new Spertus Institute certificate program addresses this need with the expertise it demands.

The synagogue attack in Colleyville, Texas, in January. The physical assaults against Jews following the May 2021 war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Jewish college students under a constant barrage of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions resolutions on campus. With antisemitism running at historically high levels, Jewish leaders are having to navigate a treacherous minefield when it comes to community relations, especially in the age of social media.

The situation is prompting Chicago’s Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning & Leadership to launch a new certificate to provide Jewish leaders with the tools and training to respond to the complex threats reflected in contemporary antisemitism, Dean P. Bell, Spertus’ president and CEO, told eJewishPhilanthropy. The Leadership Certificate in Combating Antisemitism program follows the Spertus approach of “applying Jewish learning and using experiences to help engage and address contemporary and emerging issues,” Bell said.

Dr. Dean P. Bell is the ninth President and CEO of Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, where he also holds a faculty appointment as Professor of History.

He has served on the faculty of institutions including DePaul University, Northwestern University, Hebrew Theological College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of California, Berkeley.

A leading voice for the advancement of Jewish higher education, Dr. Bell has served as President, Vice-President, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Midwest Jewish Studies Association and has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Jewish Studies.

A historian by training, he is widely published in the areas of medieval and early modern Jewish history as well as early modern cultural responses to disaster. His book Plague in the Early Modern World: A Documentary History (Routledge) was published in late 2019, uncannily just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. He served as an expert on pandemic history for a range of media and organizations during the height of the COVID-19 crisis.

His current research and publications focus on explorations of vulnerability, resilience, and religious leadership.

Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership is an institution of higher Jewish education headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It offers learning opportunities that are “rooted in Jewish wisdom and culture and open to all.  https://www.spertus.edu

FJMC Combating Antisemitism Initiative web page