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Rachel B. Gross

@rachelbgross.bsky.social
1.9K followers 909 following 40 posts

Studying U.S. Jews and finding religion in unexpected places | Assoc. Prof. at SF State | Author: Beyond the Synagogue | Now: Mary Antin’s spiritual adventures | linktr.ee/rachelbgross

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Reposted by Rachel B. Gross
Megan L. Cook @meganlcook.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Everybody 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?"
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Martha Lincoln @heavyredaction.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Cal 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:
Action Network petition: Cancel ChatGPT Edu. Invest in Humans.

In February 2025, the California State University system announced a $17 million contract with OpenAI to provide ChatGPT Edu to all faculty, staff, and students on its 22 CSU campuses as part of a larger “AI-Empowered University” initiative. This is the largest contract ever established between a university system and an artificial intelligence company.

Despite the name, ChatGPT Edu is not educational technology. It is a general-purpose chatbot that is not designed, trained, or optimized for education. Beyond its privacy and security features, ChatGPT Edu is identical to the free online version of ChatGPT. ChatGPT Edu does not use reliable peer-reviewed sources to answer students' questions and is indifferent to whether its answers are correct. Experts argue that ChatGPT Edu is harmful to academic working conditions, diminishes the quality of teaching and learning, introduces new forms of discrimination, and is dangerous to students' mental health.

Recent polling shows that CSU students share these concerns, with the majority of students expressing that they are worried about the negative impacts of generative AI on human creativity and the environment.
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
So 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
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Kendra, spooky version @kendrawcandraw.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
I 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
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Liz Shayne @lizshayne.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Mask 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.com
Jews for Mask Rights Open Letter Against Mask Bans
New 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!
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Kathleen E. Kennedy @themedievaldrk.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
ILL librarians are real live heroes of the revolution
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Nora Rubel @therubellion.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
From Rubel, this: “You can get pickle everything now. This is really my time.”
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drjoshmeyers.bsky.social @drjoshmeyers.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Still 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!
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
We're not ruining holidays, we're enhancing them ✨🤣
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J. The Jewish News of Northern California @jewishsf.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Potato 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.com
OPINION | The true history of the potato latke
Potato latkes aren't really that old — but they *feel* old. That's what scholars call an "invented tradition," writes SFSU Prof. Rachel Gross.
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
My 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.com
OPINION | The true history of the potato latke
Potato latkes aren't really that old — but they *feel* old. That's what scholars call an "invented tradition," writes SFSU Prof. Rachel Gross.
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
In @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.com
American druid: how a 1960s campus prank became a serious lifestyle
What began as a protest against a college religion requirement led to sects nationwide and, arguably, a religion
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Jordan Rosenblum @profrosenblum.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Read some great food history!
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drjoshmeyers.bsky.social @drjoshmeyers.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Love this! And yes, to punch up Rachel’s closing point—understanding how rituals become meaningful makes them all the more meaningful, not less!
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
I 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...
Magazine article with photo of latkes with the headline potato latkes, an invented tradition, byline Rachel B. GrossSecond page of article about the history of potato latkes
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Appreciate 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
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Hadassah 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 /end
bit.ly
Scholars in Residence Program
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Hadassah Brandeis Institute HBI @hadassahbrandeis.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
More on the HBI Research Awards... bit.ly/HBIResearchA... 2/3
bit.ly
HBI Research Awards
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Hadassah 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
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Ryan Cordell @ryancordell.org · 16/12/2024
I 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
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Michelle Margolis @mmargolis.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
SO 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.edu
Between Memory and the Archive: Jewish Print Culture – NEH Summer Institute
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Thrilled 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...
Black and white photo from 1916 of Mary Antin, a white woman with curly hair, showing an American flag to four seated white children
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Nate Holdren @nhold.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
hey 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.com
A note on AI usage
A 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...
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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
Hi @adriennelaf.bsky.social. There have been some studies on medieval violence published since 1939. Would you like to know more?
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Benjamin Park @benjaminepark.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Are 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.edu
Graduate Research Fellowship in Mormon Studies - Mormon Studies - The University of Utah
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Erika Meitner @rika99.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
I 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. 🧵
Nikki Giovanni and Tim Seibles in the hallway of Shanks Hall at Virginia TechNikki’s note on one of my poemsButtons I made as tribute to Nikki when I directed the creative writing program at Virginia TechNikki giving the english department graduation speech in regalia at VT in 2017
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Wednesday 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...
bright pink flyer with elaborate border for funeral march on Wednesday December 11, noon, 19th and Holloway
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Jason Farr @jsfarr.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
A t-shirt for mid-career academics that says, “As I have argued elsewhere.”
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Appreciative 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.org
SF State Lecturers Rattled by Looming Job Cuts as Enrollment Slides | KQED
Some longtime San Francisco State University lecturers say they haven’t been rehired for next semester.
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
In joyous things, it was my birthday on Thanksgiving and I claimed the apple pie as my birthday cake
seated woman blows out a birthday candle on an apple pie
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Chris Cantwell @cdc29.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
I 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
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maimonides nutz @maimonidesnutz.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Optimist: 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.
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Sam Brody @samuelhayimbrody.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
there are more people on bluesky than there are Jews in the world
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
@davidamwilensky.bsky.social in @jewishsf.bsky.social
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Looking 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...
black and white photo of a woman in a headscarf waving her hands to say the Jewish blessing over Shabbat candles alongside a man and a cheerful baby
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
It'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
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Paul Prins @paul.urbanmonastic.org · 16/11/2024
I 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
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
A colleague's therapist: "Are you depressed or is it week 13 of the semester?"
media.tenor.com
a 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
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Dr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi @rjelevi.bsky.social · 04/10/2023
Fantastic 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.org
The Religion of Reproductive Rights Claims: The Jewish Fight to Legalize Abortion — The Revealer
Instead of using conservative Christian religious freedom strategies, Jewish groups should draw on their history of reproductive rights activism
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Faisal فيصل @faisalhamadah.bsky.social · 19/09/2023
A bit silly to call academia a job when its actually like 12 jobs in a coat pretending to be one job
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 20/09/2023
Love the amazing CFA union posters appearing around campus at SF State
Flyer with a print of a red snake above red text saying will strike if provokedFlyer with image of a bullhorn with text that says when you try to silence lecturer faculty we get louder
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Rachel B. Gross @rachelbgross.bsky.social · 10/09/2023
This 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.”
Page of the Emanu-El newspaper, San Francisco, September 24, 1897
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Lincoln Mullen @lincolnmullen.com · 08/08/2023
Hi 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/…
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