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Community Outreach
Community Advisory Board
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The Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program
Dr. Martin Perlmutter, Director
Community Outreach
The Jewish Community of South Carolina has been the inspiration for the program and its guiding force since the Program’s inception. It has embraced the Program’s offerings, supported the Program financially, and promoted it to the College community. Community members regularly take Jewish Studies courses, sometimes for credit, but more often as auditors. The Community Advisory Board serves as the Program’s liaison to the larger community of Charleston, of South Carolina, and beyond. Some highlights of the outreach efforts: 1. Three-Rabbi Panels: Each semester, the leaders of each of the three congregations in Charleston meet to discuss Jewish perspective on an issue of general interest. Rabbi Ari Sytner (Orthodox: Brith Sholom-Beth Israel), the rabbi from Synagogue Emanu-El (Conservative), and Rabbi Anthony Holz (Reform: Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim) discuss issues such as the source of authority, the place of women, death and the afterlife, and intermarriage and conversion. These panels are scheduled twice a year and coincide with the spring and fall semesters at the College of Charleston.
3. The Jewish Choral Society: A group committed to learning and performing Jewish music meets every week in Arnold Hall at the Jewish Studies Center on the College of Charleston campus. Under the leadership of Madeline Hershenson, the Choral Society's performances receive rave reviews. As a result, they are in regular demand throughout the community. They now perform every year at a concert as part of A World of Jewish Culture at Piccolo Spoleto.
4. A World of Jewish Culture at Piccolo Spoleto: Begun in 1998 to highlight Israel’s fiftieth birthday, the annual event celebrates Jewish contributions to the arts. The past few year's programs have been made possible by a generous gift from the Herzman-Fishman Foundation, which continues to be the mainstay of A World of Jewish Culture at Piccolo Spoleto. 5. Jewish Studies Elderhostel: The Jewish Studies Program sponsors an Elderhostel each year in late May (to coincide with the Spoleto festival) on South Carolina Jewish history. The focus of the week-long session, which is housed in historic Charleston, is Charleston, which has a three-hundred year Jewish history, once having been the city with the largest Jewish population in the New World. Elderhostel programs are for persons over 55 years of age. 6. The Milton and Freddie Kronsberg Memorial Lecture Series: The Milton Kronsberg Lecture Series began in the Fall of 1999 as a result of a generous endowment by the Kronsberg family. In the Fall of 2002 with the passing of Freddie, the series became the Milton and Freddie Kronsberg Memorial Lecture Series. The series honors the Kronsbergs’ life-long commitment to Jewish ideas and values.
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The Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program
Dr. Martin Perlmutter, Director
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Service
to the community has been a hallmark of the Jewish Studies Program since
its inception. The Program has always been committed to providing educational
and cultural programming for the larger non-academic community, thereby
bridging the gap between town and gown. Concerts, seminars,
three-rabbi panels, Sunday Morning Brunches, brown bag
lunches, the Jewish Choral Society, a World of Jewish Culture at Piccolo
Spoleto, and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina are all
part of the regular fare of the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies Program at the
College of Charleston.
2.
The
Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina (JHSSC): Located at the
College of Charleston, the Society is the largest statewide Jewish organization
in South Carolina. Committed to preserving South Carolina Jewish history,
the Society hosts two annual meetings each year, one in a smaller city
in South Carolina and one in Charleston or Columbia. JHSSC was a major
sponsor of an ambitious museum exhibition documenting the South Carolina
Jewish history, which toured four cities in the US in 2002-2003. It has a cultural arm, aimed at promoting Jewish culture and arts throughout
the State.