For the past 30 days, this feed has been a living gallery of the Jewish American experience. We’ve looked at so many stories of vibrant, brilliant, and unyielding Jewish joy.

But as May comes to a close, we have to look honestly at the landscape around us. According to recent national data from the ADL and Hillel International, while we have seen a push for greater institutional accountability on college campuses, harassment, vandalism, and physical assaults remain at staggering, historically high levels compared to just a few years ago.

Our campus is feeling that tension. It can feel exhausting to walk through spaces where your identity is hyper-scrutinized, debated, or targeted.

But Jewish heritage is not a story of victimhood. It is a story of vibrant resilience.

True solidarity means celebrating our culture while actively protecting our community. To our peers, faculty, and neighbors on campus who have asked how to support us during this tense time: allyship is an active, daily choice.

3 Ways to Be an Ally Right Now

1) Do Not Force Jewish Individuals to Be Political Monoliths: Build Nuance.

Recognize the vast diversity within the Jewish community. Jewish students and faculty hold an incredibly wide range of perspectives, beliefs, and relationships to global events. Avoid demanding that your Jewish peers answer for, explain, or defend complex geopolitical issues just to justify their presence on campus.

2) Call Out Everyday Hate Speech: Interrupt the Bias.

Don't wait for a major crisis to speak up. When you hear a casual stereotype, a harmful conspiracy theory masked as a "joke," or see exclusionary language in student groups, interrupt it. True allyship means carrying some of the weight so that Jewish students aren't always forced to be the only ones defending their own humanity.

3) Show Up for Our Joy, Not Just Our Trauma: Celebrate Inclusion.

Don't only text your Jewish friends when a hate crime makes the news. Countering hate requires building genuine, proactive cultural bridges. Show up to cultural events, learn about Jewish history outside of the Holocaust, support Jewish creators, and celebrate the rich traditions that make this community thrive.

Tikkun Olam (Healing the World): A core tenet of Jewish tradition teaches that we are not obligated to complete the work of perfecting the world, but neither are we free to abandon it.

Thank you for spending this month learning, listening, and celebrating with us. Jewish American heritage didn’t start on May 1st, and it doesn't end today. Let's work together to make our campus a place where Jewish students don't just survive, but openly and joyfully thrive.

As an esteemed culinary historian, educator, and James Beard Award-winning author, Michael W. Twitty has carved out a unique and profound space in American cultural dialogue. He masterfully illuminates the intersections of his identities as an African American, a gay man, and a Jewish American.

Rather than viewing his heritages as separate or competing, Twitty treats them as deeply intertwined strands of a singular tapestry—a concept he famously explores through his writing, teaching, and what he terms "identity cooking."

A Childhood Calling and the Journey to Judaism

Raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (including Silver Spring, Maryland), Twitty grew up in close proximity to vibrant, observant Jewish neighborhoods. He felt a spiritual calling to Judaism at a very early age. 

"Kosher Soul" and Culinary Intersectionality

Twitty is widely recognized for his groundbreaking work in food history, using the kitchen as a site for historical excavation, healing, and cultural synthesis. Under his personal brand, Kosher/Soul, he explores how complex multi-ethnic identities can be expressed through food.

His critically acclaimed 2022 memoir,Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew, serves as a masterclass in this intersection. He highlights the striking commonalities between African American and Jewish culinary traditions, noting that both are defined by:

• Cuisines of Diaspora: Foods shaped by migration, exile, and the crucial reliance on collective memory to preserve a sense of home.

• "Struggle Meals" Born of Resilience: The creative brilliance of making celebratory, deeply meaningful food out of poverty and oppression (such as comparing the cultural weight of gefilte fish to dishes like gumbo).

Twitty famously brings these worlds together on his own dinner table, crafting inventive hybrid dishes for Shabbat and holidays—such as West African brisket, mac-and-cheese kugel, matzo ball gumbo, and kosher "soul-rolls" stuffed with pastrami and collard greens.

Before achieving widespread fame as an author, Twitty spent years working directly within the Jewish community as a Judaics and Hebrew school teacher, instructing students across Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Renewal streams.

Through his lectures, food demonstrations, and public speaking, he uses the Hebrew concept of L'dor V'dor ("from generation to generation") to emphasize the critical importance of ancestral memory. By introducing audiences to the shared histories of trauma, survival, and ultimate resilience within both Black and Jewish experiences, Twitty serves as an invaluable bridge-builder—proving that food can be the ultimate vehicle for cultural preservation and communal healing.

Are you interested in some summer reading? The Faculty & Staff Care and Belonging Committee will be hosting a three-part book discussion in Fall 2026 and we want to give everyone (including ourselves!) the opportunity to get some reading done before the semester starts.

The Caring University: Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace After the Great Resignation
Kevin R. McClure (2025)

Co-facilitated by Orianne Smith (English) and Monica Green (The Center for Well-Being).

From the book summary: “At the heart of the caring university is the premise that all employees have talent, all employees should be treated as whole people, and all employees deserve to be cared for as essential contributors to organizational success. This essential book reimagines the higher education workplace as a site where all employees can thrive." 

• Full summary and reviews here 
• You can access and download the ebook by clicking here. If you are off-campus you will be prompted to login.
• You can also search the online catalog and this link will get you to the record. From there you can click on the EBSCOhost Ebooks link.

All three sessions will be held from 10 – 11:30 a.m. (room TBA). These discussions will be in person with a virtual option. 

Would you like to register now? No problem!

• Session 1: Friday, 9/18
• Session 2: Friday, 10/23
• Session 3: Friday, 11/13

You can also register anytime on the website.

Questions?

Contact Orianne Smith osmith@umbc.edu or Monica Green mgreen13@umbc.edu 

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) was born on June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents from Poland. A largely self-taught artist, Sendak illustrated over one hundred books during his sixty-year career.

The books he wrote as well as illustrated include Kenny’s Window, Very Far Away, The Sign on Rosie’s Door, Nutshell Library (consisting of Chicken Soup with Rice, Alligators All Around, One Was Johnny, and Pierre), Higglety Pigglety Pop!, Where the Wild Things Are, In the Night Kitchen, Outside Over There, We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy, Bumble-Ardy, My Brother’s Book, and Presto and Zesto in Limboland (co-authored by Arthur Yorinks). He has collaborated with such celebrated authors as Meindert DeJong, Tony Kushner, Randall Jarrell, Ruth Krauss, Else Holmelund Minarik, and Isaac Bashevis Singer. And he has illustrated classics by Mother Goose, the Brothers Grimm, Herman Melville, and Leo Tolstoy.

Sendak began a second career as a costume and stage designer in the late 1970s, designing operas that included Krása’s Brundibar, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, and Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, as well as Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker. He also designed the sets and costumes, as well as wrote the book and lyrics for the musical production of Really Rosie.

Maurice Sendak remains the most honored children’s book artist in history. He was the recipient of the 1964 Caldecott Medal, the 1970 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 1983 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the 2003 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. In 1996 President Bill Clinton presented him with the National Medal of Arts in recognition of his contribution to the arts in America.

In 1972 Sendak moved to Ridgefield, Connecticut with his partner of fifty years, the psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Glynn (1926-2007). Since Sendak’s death in 2012, The Maurice Sendak Foundation has overseen the publication of virtually all of his picture books in new and faithfully rendered editions.

Few figures have done more to shape the landscape of American comedy while proudly, boisterously centering their Jewish identity than Mel Brooks. As a director, writer, actor, and producer, Brooks transformed twentieth-century humor by taking the specific cadences, anxieties, and perspective of the post-war Jewish-American experience and making them universally beloved.

From Melvin Kaminsky to the Borscht Belt

Born Melvin Kaminsky in 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, Brooks grew up in a working-class household of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine and Germany. He cut his comedic teeth in the legendary "Borscht Belt"—the summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains that served as a crucible for Jewish entertainers who were largely excluded from mainstream, mainstream gentrified American entertainment venues.

A promotional portrait of Mel Brooks, whose comedic style was forged in the rich traditions of New York Jewish storytelling.. Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

It was here that Brooks mastered the rapid-fire timing, sharp satire, and self-deprecating wit that defined Yiddish theater and secular Jewish humor. When he made the leap to television in the 1950s—writing alongside Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon for Your Show of Shows—he helped inject this distinct cultural sensibility directly into the living rooms of mainstream America.

Comedy as a Weapon Against Fascism

For Brooks, Jewish identity was never just a source of punchlines; it was a shield, a weapon, and a survival mechanism.

During World War II, Brooks served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer, clearing landmines during the Battle of the Bulge. Seeing the horrors of totalitarianism firsthand fundamentally shaped his philosophy on art: the absolute best way to strip power from monsters, tyrants, and bigots is to make them look utterly ridiculous.

"If you can reduce them to ridicule, then they can't conquer you. You can laugh at Hitler because you can't kill him with a joke, but you can defang him."

— Mel Brooks

This conviction famously culminated in his 1967 directorial debut, The Producers. By featuring a garish, upbeat musical number titled "Springtime for Hitler," Brooks committed a radical act of post-war Jewish defiance: he took the architect of the Holocaust and turned him into a pathetic, laughingstock cartoon.

Subverting the American Narrative

Throughout his career, Brooks used genre parodies to sneak outsiders into the heart of classic American mythology, subtly challenging who gets to belong in these stories.

• Blazing Saddles (1974): A fierce, groundbreaking satire of the classic American Western that targets racism and prejudice. It features a Black sheriff, a washed-up alcoholic gunslinger, and Brooks himself playing a foolish governor alongside a Yiddish-speaking Native American chief.

• Young Frankenstein (1974): Beyond its brilliant parody of classic horror, the film acts as a metaphor for the assimilation struggle—dealing with a complex, terrifying family legacy, trying desperately to appear "normal" to society, and ultimately learning to embrace your inner monster.

• History of the World, Part I (1981): Brooks tackled historical anti-Semitism head-on, turning the terrifying Spanish Inquisition into a grand, Esther Williams-style synchronized swimming musical routine to strip the historical inquisitors of their dark solemnity.

An Enduring EGOT Legacy

Mel Brooks is one of the rare creators to achieve EGOT status (winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), a testament to how his specific style of boundary-pushing, immigrant-rooted storytelling conquered every corner of the entertainment industry. By refusing to dilute his Jewishness for broad appeal, Brooks proved that the more deeply specific and authentic a story is, the more universally resonant it becomes.

Let's take a look at how Stan Lee’s identity deeply shaped the golden age of American comic books.

While the general public knows him as the energetic, cameo-loving face of Marvel Comics, his narrative lens was forged in the experience of a first-generation Jewish American navigating the mid-20th century.

From Stanley Lieber to Stan Lee

Born Stanley Martin Lieber in 1922 to Romanian Jewish immigrant parents, he grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan, during the Great Depression. Like many Jewish creatives of his generation—including his frequent collaborators Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) and Joe Simon—he entered the fledgling comic book industry because more prestigious publishing avenues were largely closed to Jewish writers and artists.

Initially, he divided his name into "Stan Lee" as a pen name, intending to save his real family name for a future "Great American Novel." Instead, the moniker became a global brand.

Jewish Themes in the Marvel Universe

Lee’s secular Jewish upbringing and the cultural anxieties of the post-WWII era heavily influenced the themes, morality, and subtext of Marvel's most iconic characters.

• The Outsider Narrative: Characters like the X-Men and the Hulk served as profound metaphors for prejudice, otherness, and assimilation. The X-Men, co-created with Jack Kirby, directly mirrored the struggles of marginalized groups fighting for acceptance in a society that feared and hated them for being different.

• The Flawed Hero: Before Marvel, comic heroes like Superman were flawless, godlike figures. Lee introduced characters with deep-seated neuroses, financial struggles, and family issues. Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is a quintessential New York archetype—fraught with guilt, self-doubt, and the heavy burden of responsibility.

• The Golem Myth: The concept of the Hulk and the Fantastic Four's Thing (whom Kirby later explicitly confirmed as Jewish) pull heavily from the Jewish folklore of the Golem—a creature made of clay or stone brought to life to protect the vulnerable, but burdened by its own monstrous nature and strength.

• The Fight Against Tyranny: Growing up as Jewish refugees fled Europe, Lee and his contemporaries used their medium to fight fascism. During World War II, Lee enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving domestically as a "playwright" writing training manuals, slogans, and cartoons.

A Lasting Cultural Legacy

Stan Lee’s work helped shift comic books from disposable children's entertainment into a modern American mythology. By anchoring fantastic stories in real New York neighborhoods and injecting them with a distinct immigrant-driven ethos—the struggle to fit in, the obligation to protect the community, and the idea that anyone can be a hero—his Jewish heritage became permanently woven into the fabric of global pop culture.

Shavuot Customs and Traditions

Shavuot began as an ancient agricultural festival marking the end of the spring barley harvest and the commencement of the summer wheat harvest. In antiquity, it served as a seasonal pilgrimage festival where people brought the "first fruits" (bikkurim) of their harvest to Jerusalem as a celebration of the earth's fertility.

In modern times, while the ancient agricultural rituals have evolved, Shavuot remains a popular cultural holiday. Today, it is celebrated as an occasion to honor lifelong learning, explore Jewish literature and ethics, and connect with cultural heritage.

In the Community: A Celebration of Learning

One of the most popular modern customs is staying up late—or even all night—to engage in intellectual discussion and study. This tradition, known as Tikkun Leil Shavuot ("Shavuot Night Gathering"), originated with 16th-century mystics but has transformed into a widespread secular and cultural phenomenon.

Rather than focusing strictly on religious texts, modern gatherings feature diverse presentations on philosophy, literature, social justice, history, and current events. It has become a vibrant celebration of fellowship, open dialogue, and the Jewish cultural tradition of debate and education.

For early Zionists and founders of the kibbutz movement, who consciously de-emphasized religious theology to focus on cultural and historical identity, Shavuot was revitalized as a secular harvest festival. For decades, collective farms held elaborate pageants and parades showcasing the season's fruits, new agricultural technology, and babies born during the year, accompanied by folk singing and dancing. Today, this rich cultural duality persists: some celebrate the holiday through community-wide intellectual marathons, while others focus on its deep connection to nature and the land.

In Literature and Education: The Book of Ruth and Graduation

Traditionally, the Book of Ruth is read and discussed during Shavuot. From a secular perspective, this narrative is celebrated as a profound humanistic story of loyalty, migration, and inclusivity.

Ruth, a Moabite woman, chooses to bind her fate to her mother-in-law, Naomi, famously declaring that Naomi's people and culture will become her own. Her story is embraced as a universal symbol of choosing to join a community, celebrating cultural diversity, and recognizing the shared humanity and dignity of immigrants and newcomers.

"Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people..."

— The Book of Ruth

Additionally, many communities use Shavuot as a time for educational milestones. High school students who have continued their cultural education often participate in graduation or confirmation ceremonies, marking their transition into independent, mature engagement with their community's history and values.

At Home: Nature and Culinary Traditions

• Bringing the Outdoors In: Decorating homes and community spaces with fresh greenery and seasonal flowers is a central Shavuot custom. This tradition honors the holiday’s agricultural roots, celebrates the peak of spring, and connects urban life back to the natural world.

• The Dairy Feast: Culinary traditions are a major highlight of the holiday, with families and friends gathering to share meals centered around dairy dishes, most notably cheesecake and blintzes. Culturally, these foods symbolize the sweetness of learning, the abundance of nature, and the historic connection to the land.

Preparing for the Holiday

Historically, the holiday was preceded by a period of intentional preparation. Today, the days leading up to Shavuot can be used as a secular period of reflection. It offers families and communities an opportunity to slow down, consider their personal values, and prepare for a meaningful celebration of knowledge, community, and the changing seasons.

Image credit TEDxMidAtlantic, Chris Suspect

In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, we’re proud to share a reflection from Michaela Wilson, a young adult living in Charles Village, about her family’s connection to Julius Rosenwald.

Working in partnership with Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald helped fund and build thousands of schools that expanded educational opportunities for Black communities across the South.

Michaela’s reflection highlights the lasting impact of philanthropy, partnership, and community investment, and the ways those values continue to inspire future generations.

Julius Rosenwald, Education and Jewish American Philanthropy

By Michaela Wilson, Marketing Manager, The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore

During Jewish American Heritage Month, I’ve been reflecting on my family history, particularly my great-grandfather’s cousin, Julius Rosenwald. Rosenwald is best known for his partnership with Booker T. Washington to help fund what became known as Rosenwald Schools, an effort that shaped access to education for Black communities across the segregated South.

Rosenwald Schools

Rosenwald’s partnership with Washington led to the creation of nearly 5,000 schools and educational buildings across the South, at a time when public investment in Black education was both inadequate and deliberately limited. The Rosenwald Schools helped expand educational access for generations of students and became one of the largest school‑building efforts in American history. Notable Rosenwald alumni include Maya Angelou, Medgar Evers, members of the Little Rock Nine and Congressman John Lewis.

What makes the Rosenwald Schools particularly notable is how they were built. Funding required contributions from local Black communities and public‑school systems, alongside Rosenwald’s support. That structure emphasized partnership rather than charity, and shared investment rather than top‑down philanthropy. The goal wasn’t just to build schools, but to create sustainable access to education.

Rosenwald did not seek public attention for this work and often preferred to remain in the background, focusing on outcomes rather than recognition. The schools themselves—and the communities that sustained them—were meant to stand at the center of the effort.

Read more on Rosenwald schools and view images here.

Business Success and Philanthropic Purpose

Julius Rosenwald’s ability to support this work came from his success as a businessman. After building a career in the clothing industry, he became a part‑owner and later president and chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, helping grow it into a national retail enterprise. He directed much of the wealth generated through Sears toward philanthropic efforts during his lifetime.

Rosenwald’s work was shaped in part by his background as the child of Jewish immigrants from Germany. Like many Jewish Americans of his era, he understood how structural barriers could limit opportunity, and his philanthropy reflected a practical response—focused on removing obstacles rather than offering symbolic gestures.

Rosenwald’s philanthropy also extended to individuals through fellowships from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. Writers, artists and scholars such as Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson and Augusta Savage received direct support that helped sustain their work in a period when institutional backing was often unavailable to Black professionals.

Documenting Family History

Members of our family fled Germany in the 1930s as antisemitism intensified, and assistance from relatives in the United States, including Julius Rosenwald, helped make their escape possible. In 2017, my family donated a collection of family materials documenting that period to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The collection includes correspondence, immigration documents, financial records and family photographs.

The materials offer a window into how access—to money, to paperwork, to people willing and able to help—can be decisive. The collection is publicly available and can be explored through the Holocaust Museum’s online archives here.

A Legacy Within Jewish American Heritage

For me, Jewish American Heritage Month is a time to reflect on this history. Julius Rosenwald’s philanthropy extended across many areas, reflecting a broad commitment to widening access and opportunity during a period of entrenched exclusion. Taken together, his work points to a strain of Jewish American philanthropy grounded less in recognition than in action, and shaped by the belief that material support, applied practically, could have a lasting impact.

~ Thank you to the Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Jewish Connection Network - an agency of The Associated - for sharing this with us.