This semester will feature an expert on Jewish Physicians in the Holocaust, a leading scholar on Jewish-Black relations in America, one of the most influential voices in contemporary Jewish social activisim, and more.
September programming includes Philip I. Eliasoph Open VISIONS Forum lectures from Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt and Arthur C. Brooks, the opening events for Fairfield University Art Museum’s Hieroglyphs to Hype: The Modern Afterlife of Ancient Egypt and James Welling: Cento, theatrical and circus performances, and more. Taking place at venues across campus, this month’s offerings highlight contemporary creativity, global perspectives, and creative conversations.
The Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield University will host an impressive slate of lectures this fall, welcoming distinguished academics and religious leaders to campus for insightful discussions. Continuing the vision of Carl and Dorothy Bennett, the Center promotes learning experiences and campuswide awareness about Jewish history, ethical values, and religious observances.
All of the Center’s efforts are led by Yaron Ayalon, PhD, who began his new role as director in September of 2025. Dr. Ayalon also serves as a professor of religious studies at Fairfield University. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Middle East history and education from Tel Aviv University, and his doctorate in Near Eastern studies from Princeton University in 2009. His expertise includes Sephardic Jews, the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, and Israel, using an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates history, psychology, sociology, climate science, and disaster studies. He is the author of two books: Ottoman Jewry: Leadership, Charity, and Literacy (Brill, 2024), and Natural Disasters in the Ottoman Empire: Plague, Famine, and Other Misfortunes (Cambridge, 2015). Dr. Ayalon has written more than 20 articles and has served as an editor for the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Additionally, from 2020-24 he co-chaired the Sephardi/Mizrahi division of the Association for Jewish Studies. Dr. Ayalon came to Fairfield after an academic career at four institutions. For more than five years, he served as director of the Yaschik/Arnold Jewish Studies program at the College of Charleston.
“In these tumultuous times, as the atmosphere on so many college campuses—especially in the Northeast—is extremely challenging for Jewish students, Fairfield offers a safe and exciting space for rigorous learning, networking, and professional growth,” said Dr. Ayalon, whose long-term goal at the University is to establish the Bennett Center’s prominence and to lead with innovation.
For more information, please visit fairfield.edu/bennett or contact the Bennett Center at bennettcenter@fairfield.edu.
FALL 2026 EVENTS
Bennett Center for Judaic Studies Lecture
Sari Siegel, PhD
“Jewish Prisoner-Physicians in Auschwitz-Birkenau”
Tuesday, September 22 | 5:30 p.m.
Dogwood Room, Barone Campus Center
Dr. Siegel is an expert on Nazi medicine and on the history of Jewish physicians in the Holocaust. She is a visiting scholar at the Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research at the University of Southern California Los Angeles. Since receiving her PhD in history from the University of Southern California, Dr. Siegel has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Yale Fortunoff Video Archive and the Cedars-Sinai Program in the History of Medicine. She subsequently became an assistant professor and the founding director of the Center for Medicine, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (MHGS) at Cedars-Sinai. During its four-year existence, MHGS developed a reputation for outstanding interdisciplinary programming and impactful mentorship of fellows, hosting two international symposia. Dr. Siegel has published articles in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Journal of Genocide Research, among other peer-reviewed journals. An adaptation of her dissertation, her monograph, Jewish Doctors in Nazi Camps: Conscription, Coercion, and Resistance During the Holocaust, 1940-1945, is slated for publication by Yale University Press in 2027. She was a member of the Lancet Commission on Medicine, Nazism, and the Holocaust and was co-author of the eponymous report that appeared in The Lancet medical journal.
Bennett Center for Judaic Studies Lecture
Yaron Ayalon, PhD, and Gavriel Rosenfeld, PhD
“The Evolution of Jewish Power: An Interview with Dr. Yaron Ayalon and Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld”
Tuesday, October 6 | 7 p.m.
Dogwood Room, Barone Campus Center
Gavriel Rosenfeld, PhD, President of the Center for Jewish History in New York City and professor of history at Fairfield University and Yaron Ayalon, PhD, professor of religious studies, Carl and Dorothy Bennett Chair in Judaic Studies, and the Director of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, will discuss Dr. Ayalon’s recent and ongoing research. Dr. Rosenfeld, professor of history, serves as president of the Center for Jewish History in New York City. As an expert on Nazi Germany, Holocaust memory, and the politics of history, he is known for bringing scholarly insight to contemporary conversations—from remembrance of the Holocaust in the United States to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Lectures
Aaron Rock-Singer, PhD, and Cara Rock-Singer, PhD
“An Evening with the Rock-Singers”
Thursday, October 22 | 5:30 p.m.
Kelley Presentation Room, Aloysius P. Kelley Center
Aaron Rock-Singer, PhD, is a transnational historian of the modern Middle East with a particular focus on Islamic and Jewish movements that fuse religion and politics, Dr. Rock-Singer is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Michigan’s Raoul Wallenberg Institute and teaches courses in Judaic Studies, Middle East Studies, and History. Dr. Cara Rock-Singer is the Lama Shetzer Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she is also affiliated with the Gender and Women’s Studies Department and the Science and Technology Studies Program.
The Joan and Henry Katz Lecture in Judaic Studies:
Marc Dollinger, PhD
“A Conversation with Marc Dollinger”
Thursday, November 12 | 7:30 p.m.
Kelley Presentation Room, Aloysius P. Kelley Center
Marc Dollinger, PhD, is among the leading scholars of Jewish-Black relations in America and holds the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility at San Francisco State University. He has served as research fellow at Princeton University’s Center for the Study of Religion as well as the Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow and Lecturer in the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, where he coordinated the program in Jewish Studies.
The 29th Annual Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, PhD
“A Moral Emergency: What Judaism Demands of Us Today”
Thursday, November 19 | 7:30 p.m.
Event Hall, Charles F. Dolan School of Business
Join us for a timely and thought-provoking talk with Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, PhD, one of the most influential voices in contemporary Jewish social activism. He will reflect on ethical leadership, justice, and the role of faith in addressing today’s most urgent social challenges, drawing from his work as a rabbi, educator, and community organizer. Rabbi Dr. Yanklowitz is a sought-after educator, social justice activist, and motivational speaker, as well as the author of nineteen books on Jewish spirituality, social justice, and ethics. He has published three books with CCAR Press, Pirkei Avot: A Social Justice Commentary (2018), The Book of Jonah: A Social Justice Commentary (2020), and The Book of Proverbs: A Social Justice Commentary (2022).
The Bennett Center for Judaic Studies
Continuing the vision of Carl and Dorothy Bennett, the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies fosters learning experiences about and campus-wide awareness of Jewish history, ethical values, religious observances, and Israeli culture and politics. Looking forward, the Bennett Center aims to become the most active public-facing and academic center devoted to Judaic and Israel-related topics between New York and Boston.
