Rottman Family Lecture

Join us on February 26 at 6:00 PM at Touro Synagogue for a Book Talk with historian, Pamela Nadell, author of “Antisemitism, an American Tradition.” Nadell will be in conversation with the Grant Center’s Michael Cohen for the 2026 Rottman Family Lecture. Light refreshments will be served before the program.

From the arrival of Jews in New Amsterdam in 1654 to the present day, Nadell traces nearly four centuries of antisemitism in the United States—how it took root, how it has shaped Jewish life, and how Jews have continually resisted prejudice through advocacy, law, and coalition-building. At a moment of rising hate, this book reminds us why understanding this history matters.

Pamela S. Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program. A specialist in American Jewish history and women’s history, she teaches a variety of courses in Jewish civilization. Her awards include AU’s highest faculty award, Scholar/Teacher of the Year (2007). Pamela Nadell’s books include America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today (W.W. Norton, 2019), named Jewish Book of the Year by the Jewish Book Council. Reviewed in the New York Times, America’s Jewish Women was praised as “a welcome addition to the American historical canon.” Past president of the Association for Jewish Studies, Nadell’s other titles include Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women’s Ordination, 1889–1985 (Beacon Press, 1998). She consults for museums including the National Museum of American Jewish History and the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream. She lectures widely, frequently appears on podcasts, and has written for, among others, the Washington Post, The Conversation, and Hadassah Magazine. In 2017, she testified before Congress about antisemitism on college campuses.