Sermon by Dr. Cassen followed by another learning/discussion opportunity after kiddush.

Sermon Topic:
What Do We Do with the Histories We Inherit?
Drawing on family stories from the Holocaust and colonial Africa, this talk reflects on how we inherit pasts that are painful, complicated, and unresolved. It explores how engaging these histories honestly—without judging the past or excusing it—can help us understand our responsibilities in the present.

 

Antisemitism Today: The Problem with Holocaust Analogies
In moments of crisis, many Jews ask whether history is repeating itself. Is today’s antisemitism best understood through the lens of the Holocaust—or do other historical periods offer more useful ways of thinking? This session invites a discussion about how historical analogies shape our fears, our expectations, and our responses, and whether medieval Jewish history may help us better understand the coexistence of vulnerability and protection in Jewish life today.

Flora Cassen Bio:

Dr. Flora Cassen is the inaugural Lavine Family Director of the Brandeis Center for Jewish Studies. She is also the Director of the Sarnat Center for the Study of Anti-Jewishness.

Prior to being at Brandeis, Dr. Cassen was at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, where she served as Senior Faculty. She remains affiliated as a Senior Fellow in the Kogod Research Center. In this capacity, she plays a key role inbringing Jewish scholarship and ideas into public life, working with Jewish leaders and communities across the United States in synagogues, JCCs, and other communal settings. Her public voice also extends through essays and op-eds in Haaretz, The Forward, Slate, Aeon, Sources, and Smithsonian Magazine, where she writes on topics ranging from antisemitic imagery in European culture to memory, identity, and her own family’s story.

Dr. Cassen was an Associate Profession of History and Associate Professor of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Washington University.  She is an accomplished scholar with a wide range of research interests, Dr. Cassen has published extensively on early modern Jewish history, including her book Marking the Jews in Renaissance Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2017). Her forthcoming book, Stained Glass: A Reflective History of Antisemitism will be published by the New Jewish Press, an imprint of the University of Toronto Press, in March 2026. During her time at Washington University, she served as chair of the Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies, bringing valuable administrative experience to her new role. Before her arrival at WashU in 2019, she taught at the University of North Carolina (2011–2019) and the University of Vermont (2007–2010).

A native of Antwerp, Belgium, Dr. Cassen earned her BA in History and Law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, her MA in Comparative History from Brandeis University, and her PhD in Hebrew and Judaic Studies from New York University.