Our 2026 Sit-a-Spell Virtual Summer Lecture Series will include three online lectures on lesser-known elements of Southern Jewish history:

• Southern Jews and Comedy on Thursday July 23rd, 6:00 pm CT

• "Xueta Island" Filmmaker Talk on Thursday July 30th, 12:00 pm CT

• Southern Jewish Mayors on Thursday, August 6th, 6:00 pm CT 

The first lecture installment, "Southern Jews and Comedy," (7/23) will feature Jennifer Caplan, Associate Professor & The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati Chair in Judaic Studies at University of Cincinnati. Caplan will discuss some contemporary Jewish comedians who use their experiences growing up Jewish in the South in their comedy, such as Matthew Broussard, Amanda Marks, and the legendary Kinky Friedman. We will also discuss the roots of the misapprehension that Jews do not, and have not, lived in large numbers outside of the east and west coasts.

The second installment (7/30) is a talk with Dani Rotstein, the producer and co-director of the documentary "Xueta Island." Rotstein will discuss his experiences on Mallorca, studying and filming a small Catholic community that has faced discrimination and stigma: descended from Jewish conversos during the Spanish inquisition, they have at times been deprived of their rights on the basis of suspected Jewish ancestry. Recently, some members of the community have embraced their Jewish identity, prompting controversy about their standing in Mallorca's Jewish community. We are partnering with the "Xueta Island" filmmakers to distribute an at-home screener, free for MSJE members. Click here to learn more about the screener.

The final installment (8/6), on Jewish mayors in the post Civil-War South, will be led by Dr. Jacob Morrow-Spitzer. Morrow-Spitzer, a recent PhD in History from Yale University, will serve as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University in the fall. This talk will focus on the trend of Jewish mayors during a period of political instability, as local offices came to be occupied by a more racially and religiously diverse group of leaders. The talk will hone in on Isaac Lowenburg, a prominent resident and the mayor of Natchez, Mississippi during the 1880s.