Reposted by Rachel B. GrossMegan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 26/01/2026Everybody in higher ed has questions these days. For example, admins ask "how can we get faculty to incorporate AI into their classes?" while faculty ask "can I come in to campus to teach my classes without being abducted by an unlawful paramilitary force?" 118942
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossMartha Lincoln @heavyredaction.bsky.social · 21/01/2026Cal State University’s deal with OpenAI — providing ChatGPT to all faculty, students, and staff — will expire in June 2026. Amid the prospect of layoffs in the CSU, we’re asking the chancellor not to renew this costly and demoralizing contract. Link below and anyone can sign: 8502213
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossElizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 28/01/2025So a little bit about federal grants being suspended from the perspective of a retired person who was funded by NIH grants for 20-odd years. I first want to extend my sorrow to colleagues who are affected by this. Next, for those of you who don’t work in academic science, I want to share how…1/4 425082
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossKendra, spooky version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social · 09/01/2025I can't stop thinking about these people risking their lives to save this city and the people in it who voted just a few months ago to keep them working in these unimaginable conditions 111819784
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossLiz Shayne @lizshayne.bsky.social · 09/01/2025Mask bans in NY are once again being portrayed as necessary in the fight against antisemitism. This ableist piece of security theater is bad for everyone so if you are Jewish - and especially if you live in NY and most especially if you have a title like Rabbi - please sign.jewsformaskrights.comJews for Mask Rights Open Letter Against Mask BansNew York is proposing mask bans under the guise of "Jewish safety," but these policies put Jews and all New Yorkers in danger. Join us in saying #NoNYMaskBan! 177
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossKathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 03/01/2025ILL librarians are real live heroes of the revolution 1216
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossNora Rubel @therubellion.bsky.social · 31/12/2024From Rubel, this: “You can get pickle everything now. This is really my time.” 021
Reposted by Rachel B. Grossdrjoshmeyers.bsky.social @drjoshmeyers.bsky.social · 31/12/2024Still thinking on @rachelbgross.bsky.social’s point. There’s something lovely about a certain kind of innovation, one made intentionally to enhance a tradition. Many of my favorite traditions became traditions within living memory! 111
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 30/12/2024We're not ruining holidays, we're enhancing them ✨🤣 040
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossJ. The Jewish News of Northern California @jewishsf.bsky.social · 30/12/2024Potato latkes aren't really that old — but they *feel* old. That's what scholars call an "invented tradition," writes SF State Professor @rachelbgross.bsky.social:jweekly.comOPINION | The true history of the potato latkePotato latkes aren't really that old — but they *feel* old. That's what scholars call an "invented tradition," writes SFSU Prof. Rachel Gross. 033
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 30/12/2024My thoughts on the very recent history of potato latkes, now online as an opinion piece in @jewishsf.bsky.social: Hanukkah potato pancakes are less than 200 years old, but learning how quickly new rituals become meaningful can add to holiday magic if we let it. jweekly.com/2024/12/30/p...jweekly.comOPINION | The true history of the potato latkePotato latkes aren't really that old — but they *feel* old. That's what scholars call an "invented tradition," writes SFSU Prof. Rachel Gross. 0144
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 28/12/2024In @theguardian.com, Deena Prichep tells us about the Reformed Druids of North America, the religion that began as a way to get around a @carletoncollege.bsky.social requirement. I love this so much. #AmRel www.theguardian.com/society/2024...theguardian.comAmerican druid: how a 1960s campus prank became a serious lifestyleWhat began as a protest against a college religion requirement led to sects nationwide and, arguably, a religion 091
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossJordan Rosenblum @profrosenblum.bsky.social · 27/12/2024Read some great food history! 096
Reposted by Rachel B. Grossdrjoshmeyers.bsky.social @drjoshmeyers.bsky.social · 27/12/2024Love this! And yes, to punch up Rachel’s closing point—understanding how rituals become meaningful makes them all the more meaningful, not less! 262
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 27/12/2024I wrote about the shockingly recent history of potato latkes and teaching about the development of holiday traditions for @jewishsf.bsky.social, included in a recipe booklet sent out to donors PDF: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/fu583... 3446
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 19/12/2024Appreciate this! My work is challenging conventional narratives of Mary Antin, esp.: "She disappeared into relative obscurity, spending much of the rest of her life in and out of mental hospitals" In fact, she spent 3 decades immersed in exciting spiritual communities that supported her like family 120
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossHadassah Brandeis Institute HBI @hadassahbrandeis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024... and HBI's Scholar in Residence Program. The deadline to apply for the 2025-26 academic year is coming up in February. bit.ly/HBIScholar /endbit.lyScholars in Residence Program 002
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossHadassah Brandeis Institute HBI @hadassahbrandeis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024More on the HBI Research Awards... bit.ly/HBIResearchA... 2/3bit.lyHBI Research Awards 101
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossHadassah Brandeis Institute HBI @hadassahbrandeis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024 Congratulations to @rachelbgross.bsky.social on this publication in the AJS @jewishstudies.bsky.social Perspectives. HBI is delighted to have supported Gross’ work on her Mary Antin project through a Research Award and HBI Residency. 1/3 233
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossRyan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 16/12/2024I will never stop being aghast that the United States built a higher education system that was literally the envy of the entire world—our bitterest political enemies nonetheless sent their children to us to be educated, it was so good—& then just decided to systematically, ruthlessly dismantle it 10958781346
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossMichelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 13/12/2024SO VERY EXCITED to share this NEH Summer Institute website on Jewish print culture!! #nehgrant @nehgov.bsky.social @barbaramann.bsky.social #bookhistory 📜 artsci.case.edu/neh/artsci.case.eduBetween Memory and the Archive: Jewish Print Culture – NEH Summer Institute 32915
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 13/12/2024Thrilled to have a short piece on my current project—the spiritual adventures of 20th-century Jewish writer Mary Antin—in @jewishstudies.bsky.social Perspectives, in the fascinating new conversion issue. Full issue: www.associationforjewishstudies.org/docs/default... 2246
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossNate Holdren @nhold.bsky.social · 12/12/2024hey bluesky, in case anyone's interested, I wrote this for my students about why I don't want them to use anything AI in my classes. It interrupts the course calendar part of the syllabus, coming immediately after the first day there's a writing assignment assigned. docs.google.com/document/d/1...docs.google.comA note on AI usageA note on AI usage I genuinely want you to succeed in this class. One of my very favorite things about my job as a professor is when students are succeeding and I feel like I helped. I want you to suc... 771060235
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossDavid M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 12/12/2024Hi @adriennelaf.bsky.social. There have been some studies on medieval violence published since 1939. Would you like to know more? 26779140
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossBenjamin Park @benjaminepark.bsky.social · 11/12/2024Are you a PhD student working on a dissertation that somehow deals with Mormonism? You should apply for the University of Utah's phenomenal graduate fellowship. They have a great record of helping a long line of stellar scholars. mormon.utah.edu/graduate-res...mormon.utah.eduGraduate Research Fellowship in Mormon Studies - Mormon Studies - The University of Utah 0116
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossErika Meitner @rika99.bsky.social · 10/12/2024I taught at Virginia Tech from 2007-2022 with Nikki Giovanni, whose office was a few doors down the hall from mine. Her spirit was as big as her laugh, and her poems always brought people together. There was often a film crew making some kind of documentary parked in our hallway. 🧵 2496
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 10/12/2024Wednesday 12/11, 12 pm at San Francisco State University: funeral march for longtime lecturers who are suddenly losing their jobs Context: www.kqed.org/news/1201631... 092
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossJason Farr @jsfarr.bsky.social · 04/12/2024A t-shirt for mid-career academics that says, “As I have argued elsewhere.” 620228
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 03/12/2024Appreciative of good coverage of the bad situation at SF State by @katiedebe.bsky.social at @kqednews.bsky.social. Hundreds of lecturers are being laid off and the administration threatens program cuts.kqed.orgSF State Lecturers Rattled by Looming Job Cuts as Enrollment Slides | KQEDSome longtime San Francisco State University lecturers say they haven’t been rehired for next semester. 141
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 03/12/2024In joyous things, it was my birthday on Thanksgiving and I claimed the apple pie as my birthday cake 5160
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossChris Cantwell @cdc29.bsky.social · 29/11/2024I wrote a history of the hymn my father sang to me as a kid & ended up finding that it locates the origins of white evangelical nostalgia. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.org“No Place Is So Dear to My Childhood”: Evangelicalism, Nostalgia, and the History of an American Hymn | Church History | Cambridge Core“No Place Is So Dear to My Childhood”: Evangelicalism, Nostalgia, and the History of an American Hymn - Volume 92 Issue 3 2121
Reposted by Rachel B. Grossmaimonides nutz @maimonidesnutz.bsky.social · 25/11/2024Optimist: The cup is half full Pessimist: The cup is half empty Gemara: If it is exactly 26 minutes or more after sundown then you can say the bracha over the half full cup, however if it is before that you must say the bracha over the half empty cup. 25210
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossSam Brody @samuelhayimbrody.bsky.social · 24/11/2024there are more people on bluesky than there are Jews in the world 0222
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024@davidamwilensky.bsky.social in @jewishsf.bsky.social 060
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024Looking forward to being in conversation with @laura-yares.bsky.social, Cara Rock-Singer, and Chumie Juni about lived religion and U.S. Jewish studies, with @mariegriffith.bsky.social chairing, at #SBLAAR24 on Monday, 3:00–4:30 pm Image from AJHS, HIAS collections: www.instagram.com/ajhsnyc/p/DB... 0102
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024It's my last year as co-chair of the AAR Religion & Memory Unit! We've got 3 great panels: The Costs of Memory *w/the Religion and Economy Unit* Saturday, 9:00 am-11:00 pm Feat. Laura Simpson, Zachary Taylor, Jeannine Hill Fletcher. Rebecca Bartel presiding, Timothy Rainy responding. #SBLAAR24 1141
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossPaul Prins @paul.urbanmonastic.org · 16/11/2024I made a feed for #SBL and #AAR discussion ahead of the annual meeting next week. It grabs a bunch of related tags and gives us all one place to look. Check it out and share it! Tags are not case-sensitive, including: #sbl #aar #aarsbl #sblaar #aarsbl24 #sblaar24 38533
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 19/11/2024A colleague's therapist: "Are you depressed or is it week 13 of the semester?"media.tenor.coma little girl is asking why not both while standing in a kitchen .Alt: a little girl shrugging and asking why not both while standing in a kitchen 2181
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossDr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi @rjelevi.bsky.social · 04/10/2023Fantastic piece from my friend Michal Raucher in The Revealer: "Jewish advocates for reproductive justice in America have an opportunity to push back against [anti-choice claims]. But if they remain preoccupied with proving their religious authenticity in conservative terms, they’ll squander it."therevealer.orgThe Religion of Reproductive Rights Claims: The Jewish Fight to Legalize Abortion — The RevealerInstead of using conservative Christian religious freedom strategies, Jewish groups should draw on their history of reproductive rights activism 476
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossFaisal فيصل @faisalhamadah.bsky.social · 19/09/2023A bit silly to call academia a job when its actually like 12 jobs in a coat pretending to be one job 113936
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 20/09/2023Love the amazing CFA union posters appearing around campus at SF State 2114
Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 10/09/2023This 1897 Rosh Hashanah blessing from the Emanu-El (now J. The Jewish News of Northern California) is my current favorite thing. Thanks to David A.M. Wilensky for sharing it in his latest J. Sunday newsletter: “To our readers, all hail! May the new year bring them life, health and happiness.” 150
Reposted by Rachel B. GrossLincoln Mullen @lincolnmullen.com · 08/08/2023Hi folks. I am creating a custom feed for scholars of American religion on Bluesky. If you would like to be on the feed, please sign up: forms.gle/ZSh8Y5YjcTPrtCyd7 Here is the feed: bsky.app/profile/lincolnmullen.com/… 124