By Dirk Langeveld

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield University has announced a series of upcoming fall semester lectures at the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies, welcoming academics and religious leaders for a series of discussions.

Since 1993, the center has worked to encourage learning experiences and campus-wide awareness of Jewish history, ethical values, religious observances, and Israeli culture and politics. Named for Carl and Dorothy Bennett, it aims to be the most active public-facing academic center related to Judaic and Israel-related topics between New York and Boston.

The center’s efforts are led by Yaron Ayalon, PhD, who assumed the role as director in 2025. Ayalon is also a professor of religious studies at Fairfield University.

“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 Ayalon.

The first lecture will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at the Dogwood Room in the Barone Campus Center. Dr. Sara Siegel will present “Jewish Prisoner-Physicians in Auschwitz Birkenau.

This presentation will examine the history of Jewish physicians during the Holocaust. A visiting scholar at the Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research at the University of Southern California Los Angeles, Siegel has published numerous articles on the Holocaust and genocide studies. An adaptation of her dissertation, the monograph Jewish Doctors in Nazi Camps: Conscription, Coercion, and Resistance During the Holocaust, will be published by Yale University Press in 2027.

A discussion entitled “The Evolution of Jewish Power” will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6th in the Dogwood Room. Ayalon will sit down with Gavriel Rosenfeld, president of the Center for Jewish History in New York City and professor of history at Fairfield University, to discuss Ayalon’s ongoing research.

“An Evening with the Rock-Singers” will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 22nd at the Kelley Presentation Room in the Aloysius P. Kelley Center. This event will feature Aaron and Cara Rock-Singer, historians whose work has focused on the Middle East as well as Islamic and Jewish movements that “fuse religion and politics.”

At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12th, Marc Dollinger will give a presentation in the Kelley Presentation Room. Dollinger, the chair of Jewish studies and social responsibility at San Francisco State University, is a leading scholar of Jewish-Black relations in the United States.

The series concludes with the 29th Annual Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture. Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz will present “A Moral Emergency: What Judaism Demands of Us Today” at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19th at the Event Hall of the Charles F. Dolan School of Business.

Yanklowitz is an educator, social justice activist, and motivational speaker who has written extensively on Jewish spirituality, social justice, and ethics. His lecture “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.

For more information on the fall lecture series, visit fairfield.edu/bennett.

Expanded coverage of Fairfield County cultural events is made possible with support from the Fairfield University Quick Center for the Arts

Dirk Langeveld

^{_{Dirk Langeveld has worked as a news reporter, content marketing specialist, and freelance writer. He is the author of “The Artful Dodger: The 20-Year Pursuit of World War I Draft Dodger Grover Cleveland Bergdoll” and has contributed to several books on Connecticut history.}}