Dedicated to deepening student and community understanding of Israel, and the advancement of peace, through education
Charleston students on their visit to the Bank of Israel.
Photo Credit: Joshua Shanes
The Norman J. and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies provides students at the College of Charleston, as well as members of the broader community, a deeper understanding of Israeli history, culture, and society through academic coursework, community outreach, student events, faculty exchange, and subsidized student travel to Israel.
Our Center not only brings students to Israel – and Israeli faculty, business and technology leaders to Charleston – but also builds bridges within the college and broader community with its distinctive partnership wtih the School of Business and on Israel’s start-up culture and high-tech business environment.
Students at the SodaStream factory in Israel.
Professor Joshua M. Shanes
Professor of Jewish Studies Joshua Shanes joined the College of Charleston in 2006 and was named head of the Center for Israel Studies in 2019. Professor Shanes teaches ancient and modern Jewish history, Zionism and modern Jewish politics, nationalism, and various courses on Jewish religion.
He has published widely on modern Jewish history, Israel, religion, politics, and antisemitism in both academic and popular outlets such as the Washington Post, Slate, The Conversation, and Haaretz. His first book, “Diaspora Nationalism and Jewish Identity in Habsburg Galicia” (Cambridge, 2012) explained the birth of Zionism in late 19th-century Europe. He is currently completing a history of Jewish Orthodoxy from its German origins until today.
Events
96 Wentworth Street
Charleston, SC United States
Israel has a thriving jazz scene today, but the story of how jazz arrived and took root there is far less known. Dr. Leonard Stein traces that history, exploring how the reception of American music in Israel was shaped by the country's shifting demographics before and after 1948 — including successive waves of immigration from Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East — as well as by the broader nationalist project of forging a distinctly Israeli cultural identity.
At the center of Stein's talk are two Jewish American musicians who immigrated to Israel shortly after statehood and dedicated their lives to teaching and spreading jazz throughout the country — through radio broadcasts, lectures, jam sessions, performances, and writing. At a time when American records were scarce, their efforts were foundational in cultivating the first generation of Israeli jazz musicians and listeners.
Central to this work was the task of explaining where jazz comes from. In doing so, many Israelis encountered, for the first time, the African American experience, the musical roots of blues and spirituals, and the cultural history of the American South. Dr. Stein's talk ultimately illuminates a surprising and resonant bridge between Southern culture and Israeli society — one built through music.
Hybrid event. In-person brunch meets at Arnold Hall, 96 Wentworth Street, Charleston, SC 29424
Sponsors: Norman J. and Gerry Sue Arnold Center for Israel Studies; Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture; Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina
Doors open for brunch at 9:00 AM.
Religious discourse in Israel since the attacks of October 7 is deeply focused on national pride and vengeance, topics that lay at the center of Manekin's recent study of his Religious Zionist community.
96 Wentworth Street
Charleston, SC United States
We invite you to join Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Noor A’wad as they share their personal, interconnected stories and present the groundbreaking and challenging grassroots work of Roots. They do […]
