Current Challenges & Trauma to the Jewish People

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Current Challenges & Trauma to the Jewish People
In Commemoration of International Holocaust Day

With Spertus President and CEO, Dr. Dean Bell

Monday, January 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM ET

The FJMC Committee to Combat Antisemitism will commemorate International Holocaust Day with a discussion on current challenges and trauma for the Jewish people. 

Dr. Dean Bell, President and CEO of the Spertus Institute will share perspectives on the work of the Spertus Institute to train and educate Jewish leaders to fight antisemitism.

He will also discuss his new book, “Judaism, History and the Environment,” Engaging creatively with Jewish texts and history, this book explores the interplay between history, Judaism, and the environment through the prism of natural disasters.

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